UB Transitions to Remote Learning

Colleagues:

Today, as we to transition to remote learning for the rest of the semester, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the tremendous efforts of UB faculty who have been the innovators and drivers of this remarkable transition. As a campus community, we have succeeded in moving more than 99% of our classes and the vast majority of our labs to a remote learning format more quickly and efficiently than any of us would have thought possible.

I would also like to thank UB staff, in particular those across UB’s IT landscape and the Center for Educational Innovation (CEI), for their tremendous support in making this unprecedented change. Since we announced that we were transitioning to remote learning, faculty across the university have worked with staff in central UBIT, their unit Nodes, CEI, the libraries, and others to move approximately 4,000 courses to remote learning format.  As classes get underway this week, UB’s academic support offices are available to help:

• Zoom is now available in UBlearns so all faculty have access to both Zoom and Webex from within UBlearns.
• UBIT plans to offer webinars this week for faculty on using Zoom.
• A “Teaching Community of Practice” is now live in UBlearns for faculty to share best remote teaching practices with each other.
• CEI will continue working remotely with faculty and offering online training resources.
• UBIT is providing support for faculty this week through their help desk or through department Nodes.
• Research administration and support infrastructure is essentially 100% operational with employees working remotely.

As our remote classes get underway today, we should expect challenges as faculty, students and staff adjust to this massive change in our educational delivery.  Your flexibility and understanding will be critical as we work together to be successful.

Finally, while classrooms will be available for faculty to record lectures and research deemed essential continues in our labs, if you are able to work from home, please do so.  It is important to keep the number of people on campus to a minimum to protect the health and safety of the entire community.

Recently, I was asked by someone from outside the UB community what I had learned since taking the position of Provost.  Without hesitation, I replied that I had been humbled and deeply gratified by the tremendous spirit of cooperation that you, as faculty and staff, have demonstrated in achieving our common purpose of transitioning to remote learning within 10 days. Together we will ensure that we are continuing to deliver the very best education possible to our students in these extraordinary times.

With gratitude,

A. Scott Weber                                                                                      Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs