Uchicago Philosophy Department COVID-19 resources

With the big increase in use of Zoom there is a new phenomenon, nicknamed "Zoom-bombing," where outsiders get into a Zoom session and post unwanted content -- including pornography and racist slurs, among other things. This can be incredibly disturbing and destroy a meeting. There are a number of articles online about how to prevent this from happening. One good idea seems to be to use a separate meeting ID for each meeting and pair it with a password. Another is to now allow anyone but the host to share their screen. Here is a blog post from Zoom on how to avoid Zoom-bombing. Most of the articles I have seen online about this seem to recycle the same ideas.

We are in danger of losing many of the things most distinctive to our neighborhood. If you have a little money to spare, consider donating to our local independent bookstore (one of the few great academic bookstores left).

Prof. and Dr. Emily Landon, UChicago Medicine epidemiologist, gave a widely acclaimed speech at the announcement of Illinois governor J B Pritzker's "shelter in place" executive order, on May 20. The transcript is also available at the link above. There is also a Q&A with Dr. Landon here .

Anastasia Berg (PhD, Social Thought and Philosophy, 2017) has some important thoughts on what we are doing and why in the Chronicle of Higher Education . This article is behind a paywall, but the library has a subscription. This is exactly the situation that calls for the ProxyIt! bookmarklet (see previous post).

This is a very handy tool for accessing library resources remotely. The instructions for downloading it are here . I will give an example where this can be used in the next post.

Advice for those living in joint housing arrangements This provides great advice for those living with roommates or housemates (as many of us do). Thanks to Jason Bridges for the tip.

A  simple but powerful thought from Jennifer Frey (former Harper-Schmidt Assistant Professor in the College, now Assistant Professor of Philosophy, South Carolina)

Zoom tutorials Zoom's own basic tutorials located here seem to be useful and all of them are less than three minutes long. There are tons of tutorials on youtube. I looked a little and these seem like good starting points. This is 20-minute tutorial covering some of the same basics. Recommended by Branden Fitelson of Northeastern University. This is a medium length 10 minute tutorial.

Zoom demo by Branden Fitelson (Northeastern University) This is not a tutorial, but more of a demonstration of what he does with Zoom; at the end of the demo he has links to things that are tutorials for basic Zoom actions. It begins with a 2-minute preamble, then some music, then the demo proper starting at 6:45, followed by a Q&A with people who were participating. During the demo he creates a "scribbles" illustrator document (a substitute for a blackboard). There are slides from the demo as well. There are valuable links at the end.

Thinking Philosophically about Pandemics -- some resources Guest Post by Timothy Hoff, alumnus and Digital Editor, American Medical Association Journal of Ethics As communities and nations work together to confront the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, difficult decisions lie ahead that raise potential challenges, such as rationing limited health care resources, imposing restrictions to individual movement and liberties, and upholding professional duty to treat in the face of personal danger. The AMA Journal of Ethics has collected resources in its COVID-19 Ethics Resource Center that aim to promote ethical reflection and decision making during this pandemic. All content is freely available to all. In “ Oscaring Parasite ,” Journal editor-in-chief Dr. Audiey C. Kao, MD,  PhD, explores the phenomenon of anti-Asian racism around COVID-19 and reiterates the need for science-based, civil, and compassionate leadership in uncertain times. Text available in Spanish an

The College has designed a form that can be used to survey students concerning their access to and ease of use of remote learning platforms. Some students will remain on campus, but the majority will be returning home, where they will be working in different time zones, with varying access to stable Internet connections, and in some cases with additional responsibilities. This link takes you to a Googleforms survey that you can use as a model for how you might seek feedback from students as you redesign your course. You are welcome to create your own form. If you choose to use the above form   rather than create your own, you will need to make a copy for your own use. To do so, please click on the 3 vertical dots on the upper right hand corner of the page, select “make a copy,” rename and save, and modify as you see fit. To distribute the form to your students, click “send” in the upper right corner of the form, and either enter your students’ emails and click send, or clic

The following tips are taken from an email sent out by Christopher Wild, Master of the Collegiate Humanities Division. They complement the information provided by Academic Technology Solutions accessible at https://teachingremotely.uchicago.edu/ ; and the Pedagogical Guidelines for Remote Teaching articulated by the Chicago Center for Teaching, accompanying this document. Also please check out the guidance put together by Bridget Madden of our own Visual Resource Center: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hefZxUGd5FVFwv7PjXp8cDyMgOW3LnevRrZLSyYk43s/edit Of course, there are a myriad sources out there as all other institutions of higher learning are rushing to move instruction online. If you find something particularly useful, please point others in their direction by linking to them in the newly established Remote Teaching Blog of the Humanities Division: https://voices.uchicago.edu/remotehumanities . Particularly useful sources will be archived in the new Wiki “Remote Humanit

Pedagogical Guidance for Remote Teaching in Response to COVID-19 The University’s teaching remotely website provides guidance on setting up tools such as Canvas and Zoom to enable online instruction. Additionally, the office of Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) will be offering trainings on using Canvas and Zoom for remote teaching. To supplement these resources, this guide: 1.        Summarizes some good pedagogical practices for this transition. 2.        Provides models for how you might translate common face-to-face teaching practices to remote practices. 3.        Provides a curated list of further references and resources. Contents I.          General Approach II.        Other General Considerations III.      Models A.       Before Class Begins B.       Teaching by Discussion C.        Interactive Lecturing D.       Assessing Student Learning E.        Creating an Inclusive Environment F.        Teaching Lab Classes IV.     References a