My requirements for attendance, engagement, and participation are founded on the idea that university-level humanities is enacted less by receiving information passively and more by making real contributions to the ongoing discussions among profs and peers, made possible by congregating on campus: any substitutions or modifications must involve the active contribution of ideas to such a discussion already underway in real time, rather than being isolated in private, asynchronous communication.
Students who present to me and their TA, within or before the first three weeks of class, an official letter from Accessibility Services (one that specifically recommends modifications to attendance requirements) can attend as many lectures online as they wish—but they must still attend 10 of 12 lectures in real time, at the scheduled hours, in order to receive full attendance credit.
However, if any of those students, having presented their AS letter within or before the first three weeks of class, misses more than 2 real-time lecture sessions, I will offer them the option after term to make up for the missed sessions—the way that I will require after-term make-ups to be done is based, again, in the active contribution of ideas to such a discussion already underway in real time. Here are some options for how we’ll do it:
You can drop into any undergraduate course taught by me in any future term, having done the readings well enough to contribute a productive question or comment during the session (you can, as always, opt to attend using online mediation, and opt to participate using alternative avenues) and to answer comprehension questions from me. Email me ahead of time to learn about when my classes meet and what the assigned readings are. As long as you have made the necessary arrangements with campus administration to allow late work to be submitted, I’ll gladly restore attendance credit after the fact: every drop-in class attended will count against one missed class session.
You can accompany me to any scholarly event dealing with literature before 1700 that I have already made plans to attend: email me ahead of time to learn about what events I’m planning to attend. It will be easier if you can join me in person, but if need be, I’ll bring my laptop and webcam, so you can attend with me remotely (and using that option, you can even join me at events I attend outside Toronto; should connectivity issues or other technical difficulties mess with our efforts, we will have to make arrangements to try again at a later date). You’ll have to attend to the event well enough to contribute a productive question or comment during the event, and then you and I will also have to have a short chat after the event in which I’ll give you the opportunity to reflect on, and comment on, what we both learned. Assuming that the chat shows you’ve absorbed, understood, and thought critically about the ideas presented at the event, and as long as you have made the necessary arrangements with campus administration to allow late work to be submitted, I’ll gladly restore attendance credit after the fact: every event attended will count against two missed class sessions.
This is a very new course policy as of June 2021, inspired by what we learned during pandemic teaching—we’ll have to work out the glitches as we go, but I expect these will allow students with accommodations a fair way to make up for missed real-time sessions, while still ensuring that their voices and ideas are included in campus discourse.