Elearning:ACT
What is it?
Time to ACT (Academic Continuity Toolkit)
ACT provides UBC instructors with a very brief introduction to various tools and techniques that can be used to extend the classroom in face-to-face education and synchronous/asynchronous distance education. The toolkit will provide you with detailed information including:
- How to get started
- Where to learn more
- How to get help
- What you need to know about a selection of UBC supported tools
This toolkit contains a series of recommendations to help instructors prepare for a possible disruption to campus operations (for example, a pandemic or extended severe weather). UBC supports a number of learning technology tools to that can help make this process simple and straightforward. ACT will help you to:
- Set Up Access
- Digitize & Distribute
- Communicate with Students
- Teach Your Class
Some Comments Before You Begin
ACT is not a definitive list of technology resources, nor is it designed to address non-technical issues, such as attendance policies or pedagogical best practices. And, keep in mind, that the tools and processes discussed in the toolkit can help you in your everyday teaching practice as well. You will not need to take action on every recommendation in the toolkit. Simply pick and choose the information that is most useful for your teaching context.
As part of your preparations, protect your remote location (home) computers with anti-virus software to help ensure they will be reliable when you need them.
Your next step: Take the Get Your ACT Together Quiz
We wish to acknowledge and thank The University of Washington’s UW Technology unit, which gave us permission to borrow from their academic continuity toolkit. This site was built by UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology with direction provided by the Academic Continuity Instructional Support Task Force.
Uses and Benefits
UBC’s Academic Continuity Instructional Support Task Force (ACIS) was struck to identify critical infrastructure and service needs and strategies to support the university’s ability to maintain timely academic program delivery in the event of a disruption of service caused by an emergency or disaster situation. And, ACT was built to support this process.
Academic continuity is the process of maintaining continuity of learning in a crisis situation caused by a pandemic, natural disaster, human-induced (“man-made”) disaster, or other precipitating factor. Academic continuity is vitally important because it focuses on maintaining the core function of education: providing students with the opportunity to learn.
We wish to acknowledge and thank The University of Washington’s UW Technology unit, which gave us permission to borrow from their academic continuity toolkit. This site was built by UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology with direction provided by the Academic Continuity Instructional Support Task Force.
Get Started
Take the Quiz!
Step by Step
This section contains a 4-step action plan to assist you in maintaining academic continuity during a long-term service disruption at the university. These steps are intended to serve as a starting point – tangible items that you can modify and tailor according to the current requirements of your course. We hope you find them helpful!