Guidance for Fall 2021
For Students Heading link
This guidance applies to all undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Please be aware that students in the Health Sciences Colleges or those who work at UI Health may have additional requirements.
Vaccination Requirements, Saliva Testing and Daily Healthcheck
Students who plan to come to campus, or are engaging in academic and clinical activities or field placements off-campus, are required to be vaccinated.
To be on campus, students who have received vaccine exemptions or have received one vaccine dose and are scheduled for their second dose must do daily UIC Healthcheck and saliva test two times per week.
- Healthcheck App
- Locations for testing
- Students should plan their saliva testing carefully and get it done at the beginning of their day before they go to classes.
- Students should request a receipt at the testing site in the event they are asked to demonstrate that they have tested that day.
Please do NOT COME TO CAMPUS if you have COVID-19 symptoms. See the Healthcheck app for a list of these symptoms.
Classes
Students are expected to attend on-campus and hybrid courses IN PERSON* if they
- Have received a COVID-19 vaccination (full vaccination series complete)
- Have received a vaccine exemption and are saliva testing two times per week and completing their daily Healthcheck
- Are partially vaccinated and are saliva testing two times per week and completing their daily Healthcheck.
All students are expected to WEAR A MASK that is tight-fitting and covers both the mouth and nose when inside any building at UIC including classrooms, regardless of vaccination status. Students may remove their masks when alone in a private office or personal residence hall room, or if they have a medical condition, disability or other reason that prevents them from safely wearing a face mask.
Students who cannot come to campus should immediately check with their instructors to determine whether:
- There are required in-person course components and/or examinations.
- Their class will be live-streamed and/or video recorded.
- There are other mechanisms to obtain course content.
And, using this information, students will need to decide whether it’s feasible for them to take that particular course in the Fall semester or consult with an advisor to determine the best possible route by which to continue their intended program of study.
* If social distancing rules are reinstated at any point during the semester, these guidelines will be modified.
Students on campus who need to log into synchronous online courses.
All synchronous online courses have been assigned a classroom where students who are on campus can go to log into their online course. These courses will still be taught online, but you will be able to use the designated classroom to join the online course. Be ready to use your headphones so you do not disturb others.
Students who cannot come to campus to complete course requirements but have in-person examinations.
These students are subject to testing in the UIC saliva testing program and completion of the UIC Healthcheck. Saliva testing must be completed at UIC not earlier than 48 hours and not more than 72 hours ahead of the exam date, so that the test result is available (and negative) by the date of the examination. For example, if you have an in-person exam at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, you must complete your saliva testing no later than 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday but no earlier than 3:00 p.m. on Monday. Students must be prepared to present their UIC Daily Pass at the examination site. Note that the Saliva Testing Badge AND the Healthcheck Badge must be “green” to sit for the examination. A process for validation of the UIC Daily Pass prior to in-person exams is under development.
What happens if students do not follow these guidelines?
- Students who are not wearing a mask will be asked to get a mask before returning to class. If the student refuses, then they will be asked by the instructor to immediately leave class and will be reported to the Dean of Students using the COVID-19 Non-Compliance Report.
- If a student refuses to wear a mask and refuses to leave the classroom this is considered student misconduct and will be reported to the Dean of Students using the Student Misconduct Incident Report Form.
- Students on campus who are unvaccinated (without vaccine exemption) OR who are in groups required to saliva test and do the daily Healthcheck and are not complying with these requirements will be reported to the Dean of Students via the campus monitoring system.
- In these cases, the Dean of Students will proceed as described in the Student Disciplinary Policy.
Questions?
If you have additional questions about the campus response to COVID-19 and the Fall 2021 semester, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
For Instructors Heading link
This guidance applies to instructors for all undergraduate, graduate and professional student courses. Please be aware that students, faculty and staff in the Health Sciences Colleges or those who work at UI Health may have additional requirements.
Classroom Expectations
- Everyone is required to wear masks indoors, including in the classrooms, hallways, offices, conference rooms, etc.
- At this point, there is no social distancing requirement in classrooms, but this may change if infection rates increase or as public health guidance dictates. Note the “sit here” and capacity signage for six-foot spacing has been left in place or newly applied in classrooms in the event we need to reinstate social distancing at any time during the semester.
- Even in situations where no social distancing is required, some students may want to stay physically distant from others and this should be allowed when feasible.
- Please encourage students NOT to come to class if they have COVID symptoms (see Healthcheck app for these symptoms).
- You are not required to monitor vaccination status or vaccination exemption status of the students in your classroom. UIC will monitor with regular Healthcheck reports to the Dean of Students who is responsible for taking the appropriate disciplinary actions.
- Please do make sure that students wear masks and stay masked during your class. It is essential that you address this classroom policy on the first day of class and include language in your syllabus as follows:
Face Masks: Masks covering both the mouth and nose must be worn at all times by all students, faculty, and staff while inside any campus building regardless of vaccination status. If you do not wear a mask, you will be asked to leave the classroom and will not be allowed back in class unless or until you wear a mask. If you have forgotten your mask, you may pick one up from one of the student information desks on campus during the first two weeks of classes. Students who do not comply with the mask-wearing policy will be reported to the Dean of Students. Eating and drinking are not allowed in classrooms.
If a student comes to class without a mask, send them to one of the student center information desks or the Daley Library which will be handing out face masks only for the first two weeks of the fall semester.
If a student refuses to wear a mask, ask them to leave the classroom and inform them that they will be reported to the Dean of Students and file a COVID-19 Non-Compliance Report.
If a student refuses to wear a mask and refuses to leave the classroom try to deescalate the situation by taking the discussion outside the classroom or even dismissing the class. This is considered student misconduct and should be reported to the Dean of Students using the Student Misconduct Incident Report Form.
If the student refuses to leave the classroom and is disruptive and the instructor considers this a nonemergency situation, then they should contact the Dean of Students Office at 312-996-4857. For an emergency situation, where the student threatens violence or poses an urgent safety threat, please call the UIC Police at 312-355-5555.
Read the Student Disciplinary Policy for details, including process.
We will be including links to these guidelines (provost.uic.edu) and the Responding to Student Behavior guidelines from the Dean of Student’s Office as information on the Blackboard site.
Checking students’ daily passes
Instructors are not asked to check students’ daily passes. However, if you do find that a student is not compliant with the daily Healthcheck or saliva testing, please ask them to immediately fill out the Healthcheck questionnaire and get their saliva test. Their non-compliance will be reported to the Dean of Students via other pathways.
Contact Tracing in the Classroom
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, we are considering ways to do contact tracing in the classroom more effectively. Please look for more information before census on September 3, 2021. Implementation will take place after that.
Assisting Students Who Cannot Come to Campus Complete Course Requirements
The goal in this transition semester (Fall 2021) is to help every student, whether or not they can come to campus, complete course requirements when feasible.
Instructors should strive to provide course content to students not able to come to campus via live streaming or video recording the on-campus sessions or providing course content in another equitable way.
It is understood that:
- Some courses require in person components (e.g. labs, clinical experiences) and will not be available for off-campus students.
- Not all courses can be effectively live-streamed or video recorded because of delivery method or technology challenges.
Some students may have accommodations from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) that permit them based on ADA guidance to take on-campus or hybrid courses remotely. Representatives from the DRC will work with course instructors to determine the best way forward, and if there is no reasonable way for the student to obtain course content and complete course requirements remotely, they will go back to the student and recommend another academic plan for the semester.
Students who cannot come to campus to complete course requirements but have in-person examinations
These students are subject to testing in the UIC saliva testing program and completion of the UIC Healthcheck. Saliva testing must be completed at UIC not earlier than 48 hours and not more than 72 hours ahead of the exam date, so that the test result is available (and negative) by the date of the examination. Students must be prepared to present their UIC Daily Pass at the examination site. Note that the Saliva Testing Badge AND the Healthcheck Badge must be “green” to sit for the examination. A process for validation of the UIC Daily Pass prior to in-person exams is under development.
It is essential that you address this testing requirement on the first day of class and include language in your syllabus to communicate this requirement. For example:
On-Campus Exams: This course will require students to be on campus for in-person exams on (dates). If you are a student who is not coming to campus to attend classes, you will be required to adhere to the campus COVID-19 testing requirements and have a saliva test prior to coming to campus to take the exam. Saliva testing must be completed at UIC not earlier than 48 hours and not more than 72 hours ahead of the exam date, so that the test result is available (and negative) by the date of the examination. For example, if you have an in-person exam at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, you must complete your saliva testing no later than 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday but no earlier than 3:00 p.m. on Monday. You must be prepared to present your UIC Daily Pass at the examination site. Note that the Saliva Testing Badge AND the Healthcheck Badge must be “green” to sit for the examination. A process for validation of these badges prior to in-person exams is under development and will be communicated via an email announcement through our Blackboard course site as well as an announcement during class. All students are responsible for monitoring the Blackboard course announcements to ensure such messages do not get missed.
On-campus exams for online courses: We want to discourage faculty from mandating that students registered for online classes take exams in person unless it is absolutely necessary. If an instructor does hold an in-person exam, they are asked to accommodate any students who cannot come to campus with an alternate mode of testing.
Training for New Technologies and Technical Assistance in the Classroom
Training
- Two types of trainings were offered this summer (teaching with Flames Flex Workshop + Technical Walkthrough and Technical Walkthrough) with final sessions on August 17 and 19. Read more about the Flames Flex Workshop and find related resources.
- Instructors can still schedule group technical walk-throughs after the above dates (they just need to self-organize into groups of 5 or more people) by using this link. The CATE team can then check the classroom schedule and try to accommodate one of three possible dates/times that those who sign up must provide in the form.
- Instructors can chat with an instructional designer anytime. They can schedule a consultation.
- Instructors can watch videos of technical walk-throughs for the Plug & Play classrooms and the IML (integrated media lectern) classrooms that faculty will be able to watch anytime in place of a technical walk-through. Folks will be able to find links to the videos via our “on campus instruction” webpages.
Direct links to the videos, organized based on classroom AV system, are as follows:
Plug-and-Play
Integrated Media Lectern (IML)
- Classroom tech tour video
- Advanced features
- Adding personal devices
- Instructors may still participate in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence (CATE) Summer Institute, which is composed of 5 asynchronous online Blackboard modules. Please visit the CATE website to register using your NetID. Course materials will be available to those who register throughout the fall semester.
Technical Assistance in the Classroom
At the start of fall semester, CATE will be introducing a new level of tech support to make sure classroom technical problems can be resolved as quickly as possible. Students wearing CATE T-shirts will be on campus to help with teaching technology in the classroom. There are three levels of support:
- In-Classroom Support: CATE has hired 35 students to help this fall. These students will be on-site and deployed throughout the lecture centers to be on-demand to support instructors who need help with AV equipment and streaming or recording technologies such as Echo360.
- Tier 1 Support: If the classroom tech support students are unable to immediately resolve your problem, you may call in the CATE Tier 1 support team. At this level, this team can help with more complicated requests such as broken equipment or system failures. The phone number to contact the tier 1 team can be found on monitors and/or touch screens in the classrooms.
- Tier 2 Support: If the CATE Tier 1 team is still unable to resolve the problem, they will pull in our IT experts who are able to fix more complex issues in our classrooms and engage UIC’s vendors as needed.
- For any questions about classroom support, contact the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence (CATE) Support team at lts@uic.edu. See CATE website for more information:
Questions?
If you have additional questions about the campus response to COVID-19 and the Fall 2021 semester, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions webpage.