Thursday 25 October 2007

Disaster planning

Another early start this morning. I'm still not sure what possesses Americans to start conference sessions at 8am.
Interesting session on planning for continuity in teaching in the event of a major disaster such as Pandemic Flu. Lots to think about, especially in terms of a communication plan - as one of the presenters said, if you can't reach em, you can't teach em. Some things being considered :
Find out where your students are likely to go if the campus closes- have international students got relatives nearby they might go to?
Everyone to have an email address which isn't the uni one - keep these on record, staff and student
Keep paper as well as electronic records of all student contact details at home and at work
All faculty to have contact details ready to give to all students in case of emergency - ie home/mobile number, non uni email etc.

Lots of discussion of how Blackboard/WebCT might be used to deliver all teaching. Interestingly many uni's are opting to have it hosted remotely by Blackboard. Again, interesting to note that we're much further on in our used of a VLE than many unis over here.

Some unis have disaster plan/business continuity wiki to share info.

Now, off to get a coffee before the next session.

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