Disruptions can affect access to campus, technology, course materials, communication, or other aspects of teaching and learning. Planning ahead can make it easier to adapt your course when normal teaching arrangements are unavailable.
Academic continuity does not necessarily mean continuing a course without interruption or moving teaching online. The appropriate response will depend on the circumstances and guidance from the University, your division, faculty, department, or program.
The following practical steps can help you prepare for a range of potential disruptions. Where possible, consider incorporating them into your usual course planning and practices, rather than creating separate or duplicate processes.
Plan for Academic Continuity
Know Where to Get Information
Consider bookmarking key University and divisional sources to support access to authoritative information and consistent messaging during a disruption.
- Check U of T Campus Status for the current operating status of the St. George, Mississauga, and Scarborough campuses and information about active alerts.
- Check ITS System Status for the current status of central IT services and information about service disruptions.
- Follow UTogether for broader University-wide updates, information, and resources.
- Know how to contact your division, faculty, department, or program for guidance specific to your teaching context, including your divisional teaching support contacts.
Plan How You Will Communicate
Consider how you would communicate with students if your usual communication channels were disrupted.
- Identify an alternative way to communicate important course information to students.
- Keep an up-to-date class roster and student email addresses so that you can identify and contact students if Quercus is unavailable. Store this information securely in your institutional U of T OneDrive.
- Let students know where they should look for course updates and what to do if normal course systems are unavailable.
- Encourage students to keep copies of important course information and their own submitted work.
- When sharing information about a disruption, refer students to authoritative University or divisional sources where appropriate.
Keep Essential Course Information and Materials Accessible
Keep backup copies of essential course materials so that they remain available if a system is temporarily unavailable.
- Store current source files for your syllabus, course schedule, instructional materials, and other essential course information in your institutional U of T OneDrive.
- When storing or accessing student information, use your institutional U of T OneDrive or another approved U of T service, and follow University requirements for privacy, security, and records management.
- Make sure course materials are in accessible formats.
- Where appropriate, make essential course materials accessible to other members of the teaching team so that access does not depend on one person.
- Consider which materials students would need most if your usual course platform were temporarily unavailable.
Plan for Assessments and Grades
Consider what information you would need and what adjustments might be possible if access to campus, Quercus, or another system were temporarily unavailable.
- Export the Gradebook regularly to keep a record of grades, and store the exported file securely in your institutional U of T OneDrive.
- Consider how planned assessments might be adapted if students cannot access campus, technology, or other required resources.
- Consider where flexibility in deadlines, workload, format, or timing might be possible while still supporting the course learning outcomes.
- Make sure critical assessment and grading information does not depend on access by only one member of the teaching team.
Plan for Changes to Course Meetings
Consider how essential course activities could be adapted if you, your students, or members of your teaching team cannot access campus or usual course technologies. Focus on supporting the most important learning outcomes rather than reproducing every element of the course in another format.
- Identify which course activities depend on being in a particular physical or digital environment.
- Consider reasonable alternatives for essential activities if normal arrangements become unavailable.
- Where appropriate, explore options for capturing or sharing instructional materials to support continuity if regular course meetings are disrupted.
- Discuss roles and responsibilities with your teaching team so that essential course functions do not depend unnecessarily on one person.
During a Disruption
The appropriate response will depend on the nature and duration of the disruption. Follow relevant University and local guidance before making significant changes to your course.
- Check authoritative information. Follow University and divisional communications for guidance about the disruption.
- Communicate with students. Let students know what they need to know about the course, including when they can expect further information if decisions have not yet been made.
- Identify what needs to change. Consider which aspects of the course are affected rather than trying to redesign the entire course.
- Prioritize essential learning. Use your course learning outcomes to determine what needs to be maintained and what could be adjusted, postponed, reduced, or approached differently.
- Consider accessibility, flexibility, and capacity. Disruptions may affect students and members of the teaching team differently. Consider accessibility, workload, technology access, and capacity to participate when selecting alternatives.
Related Resources
- Teaching Without Quercus: Options for communicating with students, sharing course materials, collecting assignments, and supporting other course activities without Quercus.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (UTORMFA): Information and guidance on U of T’s multi-factor authentication service.
- Divisional Support Contacts: Teaching and educational technology support available through your division, faculty, or campus.