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Communications related to COVID-19: Implications for CUPE Local 3904, Units 1 and 2

1. Faculty/Course Survey (FCS)

The FCS process for CUPE 3904 Unit 1 and 2 members teaching online courses will continue online.

For clarity, online courses are those that are traditionally taught fully online without an in-person component and virtual courses are those normally taught in-person but transitioned to a virtualized format due to the pandemic.

CUPE 3904 Unit 1 and 2 members will be given the option of whether or not they wish to submit their online FCS results, as part of their application process, as the official results for the in-person or virtual course(s) they are teaching.

FCS results for Fall 2020, Winter 2021, and Fall 2021 will not be automatically uploaded to CUPE Unit 1 currency reports. CUPE 3904 Unit 1 members who want to include these FCS results in their currency reports must upload them manually.

A negative inference will not be drawn if these are not submitted. In addition, Contract Lecturer Appointments Committees (CLACs) should not provide additional scoring to applicants who provide their FCS scores in their application.

In reviewing FCS results for the Fall 2020, Winter 2021, and Fall 2021 terms, units are strongly encouraged to give consideration to any challenges that may have been imposed by teaching during the pandemic.

2. In-class teaching assessments

Winter 2022

In light of the current remote teaching situation, with the intention of returning to in-person teaching this term, the process for in-class teaching assessments for Winter 2022 are still being confirmed. A communication outlining the process for this term will be circulated in the near future.

Fall 2021

The normal process regarding communications to CUPE 3904 Unit 1 Contract Lecturers as to the number of assessments and the scheduling of these will continue as per the Collective Agreement.

1. In the Fall 2021 term, Contract Lecturers may elect whether they wish to have their normally scheduled teaching assessments take place.

a. For the Fall 2021 term Contract Lecturers shall have the option whether they wish to have an in-class teaching assessment. Contract Lecturers may opt for an assessment by writing to the Chair/Director prior to September 20, 2021.

b. If no election is made by the timeline for Fall 2021 above, the default will be that a teaching assessment shall not be completed for Fall term.

2. Contract Lecturers who elect to have their scheduled teaching assessments conducted will also be given the opportunity to elect if they wish to have this teaching assessment(s) as an official assessment that will be included in their Service Record File (SRF).

  • To facilitate this, when an assessment is completed, the assessor must provide it only to the Contract Lecturer within three weeks of the class visit and advise the Chair/Director that the assessment has been completed. No copy will be placed in the SRF.
  • Within two weeks of receiving all of their in-class teaching assessments, Contract Lecturers must notify the Chair/Director in writing if they wish one or more of the assessments to form part of their SRF. If they so elect, the Contract Lecturer will provide the assessments(s) to the Chair/Director who will forward it to the Dean, CUPE 3904 and for filing in the SRF.

3. Contract Lecturers who have elected either to waive the normally scheduled assessments or declined to use the teaching assessment(s) in whole or in part, will be required to have additional teaching assessment(s) as set out below:

a. Additional teaching assessments will occur following the resumption of in-person teaching.

b. Additional teaching assessments will occur at least one every term the Contract Lecturer teaches after the resumption of in-person teaching until they reach the required number of assessments per Article 18.2.b.

c. No adverse inference shall be drawn because a Contract Lecturer has fewer than 8 teaching assessments as a result.

4. The Contract Lecturer and a potential assessor are strongly encouraged to have a discussion to determine the most appropriate manner to carry out the assessment taking into consideration the mode of delivery.

5. The unavailability of an assessor will not negatively affect a Contract Lecturer.

6. Assessors and those reading assessments shall be informed that, while not devaluing excellence in innovation and technology, they ought to be cautious in placing undue weight on technology management where a course has been converted to virtual or remote delivery.

7. The following statement will be appended to the Contract Lecturer’s Fall 2020, Winter 2021, and Fall 2021 Teaching Assessments that are included in their SRF: “This Teaching Assessment is based on virtual teaching during the challenging conditions caused by the pandemic and should be viewed in that light. It is understood that the Contract Lecturer may not have had the opportunity to demonstrate the normal range of in-person teaching skills.”

3. TA/GA performance evaluations

For the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 terms, faculty members and contract lecturers who are Supervising Instructors for TAs/GAs are required to complete a performance evaluation of the TA/GA prior to the end of the semester.

Supervising Instructors are encouraged to communicate with their TA/GA to advise them when they can expect the evaluation. 

For your reference, an electronic copy of the performance evaluation form that is required to be completed can be found at on the CUPE Local 3904, Unit 3 Collective Agreement web page.