Unless you’ve been cut off from all news media over the past few months, most of the world is concerned about the spread of H1N1, aka Swine Flu. How will this affect online instructors?

Well, first of all, wash your hands! (As if you haven’t been doing that already…) If a vaccine is available to you, by all means be sure to take advantage of it.

The folks at Prof Hacker have come up with a more extensive list of preventive acts for the on-campus instructor, including wiping down your desk/table/podium prior to each class and carrying your own sanitized office supplies instead of using communal staplers, dry erase markers, and the like.

You may need to repeat information about flu prevention to your students, in case they have cut themselves off from news media or haven’t taken the warnings seriously (which, frankly, might be possible–especially with undergrads). If your on-campus courses incorporate some online course management system for grades or resources, you might ask students to use the course website for additional course functions and make it possible for them to keep up with assignments and announcements if they have to miss class.

Even if you teach off-campus and never leave your home in an underground bunker, however, there’s still a chance the flu could impact your courses this season if one (or more) of your students gets sick. Depending on how many days or assignments your students miss, you may need to be flexible with your participation grades and deadlines. This might be asking a lot of an instructor if you worry that some of your students might take advantage and claim false sicknesses to get extensions on their assignments.

You may have to use your best judgment here and compare the claims to the rest of the student’s behavior. If a student really does have the flu, that student may not have to worry about missing classroom attendance but the quality level of work is not likely to be as good. Would you rather have that student wait and complete an assignment when all the proper neurons are firing, or would you rather have them reach a finish line and be more lenient with your grading system?

The screencast “For Learning Technologists” (no author’s name is given on the Jing website, unfortunately) describes what online instructors should prioritize when making accommodations for sick students: chiefly, making lectures available online is not as crucial as figuring out what to do about completing or grading assignments. One suggestion offered, besides extended deadlines, is deciding if you are willing to waive any missed assignments. Again, you may have to make some executive decisions depending on what you want students to learn in your course and how badly your course is affected by sickness.

How are you bracing for flu season in your courses? Sound off in the comments section!

CDC’s Guidance for Responses to Influenza for Institutions of Higher Education during the 2009-2010 Academic Year

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