If you have to adjust your instruction during a campus closure, you may want to consider some of the following suggestions to clarify and set expectations for your students. The Continuity of Instruction Preparedness Checklist offers various elements to consider.

• Seek details of the closure.
  Humboldt's Emergency Info Page. Having a clear understanding of how long the campus is to be closed will help you plan instruction and communicate expectations to students.
• Contact your department. 
  Find out the specific expectations of your department and your specific courses so you can better plan next steps.
• Communicate with students as soon as possible. 
  It is important to let students know that there will be some changes coming due to the closure and that you will provide clear instructions as soon as possible to ensure that they still have access to their coursework during this time. Clarify your expectations of them in checking email. 
• Set realistic goals for continuing instruction. 
  Consider your syllabus and schedule to get a clear picture of what you believe students can realistically accomplish during the closure. Will there be readings and assignments during this time?  Do you want students to engage with one another and you via technologies during this time? Engaged with the course content somehow? What might that look like?
• Review your course schedule to determine priorities. 
  Identify your priorities during the disruption—providing lectures, structuring new opportunities for discussion or group work, collecting assignments, etc. What activities are better rescheduled, and what can or must be done online? Give yourself a little flexibility in that schedule, just in case the situation takes longer to resolve than you think.
• Review your syllabus for points that must change. 
  What will have to temporarily change in your syllabus (policies, due dates, assignments, etc.)? Since students will also be thrown off by the changes, they will appreciate details whenever you can provide them. 
• Pick tools and approaches familiar to you and your students. 
  Try to rely on tools and workflows that are familiar to you and your students, and roll out new tools only when absolutely necessary. The closure itself can be taxing everyone's mental and emotional energy; introducing a lot of new tools and approaches may leave even less energy and attention for learning.
• Identify your new expectations for students. 
  You will have to reconsider some of your expectations for students, including participation, communication, and deadlines. As you think through those changes, keep in mind the impact this situation may have on students' ability to meet those expectations, including illness, lacking power or internet connections, or needing to care for family members. Be ready to handle requests for extensions or accommodations equitably.
• Create a more detailed communications plan. 
  Once you have more details about changes in the class, communicate them to students, along with more information about how they can contact you (email, online office hours, etc.). A useful communication plan also lets students know how soon they can expect a reply. They will have many questions, so try to figure out how you want to manage that.
• Simplicity is key.