Even though there's no expectation of a flu epidemic this year, it's a good idea to think ahead about the impact of illness (yours or a student's) on your teaching. It's best for students and instructors who are ill, especially ill with flu, to stay home in order to help slow the spread of illness. Requiring a note from a doctor or clinic for an excused absence encourages people to go to the doctor or clinic when they wouldn't otherwise, spreading illness and wasting resources. Therefore you are encouraged to accept students' word about illness.
This has multiple implications for you as an instructor. A mild case of flu can keep someone home for 4-6 days, more severe cases for longer. You should plan for the possibility that you or some of your students may miss 2-3 classes in a row, or more.
Note: The first symptoms of influenza usually are fever and head and body aches. Respiratory symptoms come later. A stuffy nose or cough with no fever or aches is probably a cold or allergy.
If possible, coordinate your course planning with another instructor of the same course who can substitute for you, and for whom you can substitute. Ideally, you will have the same or almost the same homework assignments and perhaps the same quiz/test schedule.
If this is not possible, try to find someone who has taught the course recently. If your planned sub has not taught the course recently, be sure your lecture plans are made in advance so you can hand them over to a sub on short notice.
Post all assignments and other announcements on your class website. List the material covered in each class (at least after the class, if not before). Encourage students to exchange contact information so they can get notes from someone when they are absent.
Consider setting up an electronic class discussion board on Canvas. Students can use this to ask questions when they are studying material on their own after missing class, and to find someone who lives near them to share notes, bring homework to class, etc.
It's usually not a good use of grader time or your time to grade late homework. Here are some more practical suggestions. Drop the lowest one or two homework scores. Allow students (or their roommates or other friends) to deliver homework to your office later in the day. Tell students they can email you a pdf (if they type up their homework -- a surpising number will do so -- or scan in handwritten work) if they are sick. You can print it to give to the homework grader, or just forward the email. You might want to have your grader pick up the homework the day after it is due, to allow time for these alternative ways of receiving homework.
If you have quizzes, drop the lowest one to three scores. Or just use quizzes to give you and the students information about how well they are doing with the material, don't count the scores for course grades. If you are giving two midterms, plan to drop one, or replace the lower score by some appropriate weighted average of the other midterm and the final, or use either of these plans just for students who miss a midterm with a good excuse.
If you don't want to drop test scores, make it easy to write comparable makeups. Provide review material and sample tests that give as much information before the regular test as knowledge of the regular test will give about the makeup. Perhaps write the regular and makeup tests at the same time; make them as parallel as possible.
If you say no homework will be accepted after 5 PM on the due date, don't make an exception even for a student who has the best reasons in the world for special treatment. Another student with equally good reasons may have taken you at your word, and not come to ask. If you decide you need to make a change in policy, announce it to the whole class.
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Most recently updated on September 20, 2018