{"74291":{"#nid":"74291","#data":{"type":"news","title":"What Does Tech Think: Would You Allow a Small Child in Class?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Situation:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA student, who is the single parent of a small child, has emailed you hours before class to let you know that she can\u2019t find childcare and has to bring her child to class. You\u2019ve made it clear that students can\u2019t miss this particular class. How would you handle the situation?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Response: \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a parent of two children, Kelly Comfort, an assistant professor in the School of Modern Languages, is understanding of this situation. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI would tell that student that she is welcome to bring her child to class this one time, provided that the child were not a distraction to her or to others,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cBut if the child were to fuss, I would expect her to leave the class and return only if the child had calmed down.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe added that the student would be welcome to record the class to get any missed information. \u201cI would also talk to the student about back-up childcare options and underscore that bringing a child to class cannot be a recurring situation,\u201d Comfort added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKatja Weber, co-director of the European Union Center in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, would put the student in touch with the Women\u2019s Resource Center to ensure that she is aware of the childcare options that Tech offers. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019d also encourage the student to come to my office before class and would offer to assist in finding a babysitter, since there are typically students in our computer lab who would be willing to help out in a pinch,\u201d Weber said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJoyce Weinsheimer, associate director for faculty development in the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), suggested that the faculty member should utilize technology to deal with the situation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhenever we want students in class because of what we will cover, we should consider how technology might help us out,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, there\u2019s a tool called \u2018Wimba\u2019 that is integrated with T-square and allows for synchronous instruction at a distance.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWimba provides audio, video, content display and application sharing, so even if an instructor and students are not in the same physical location, class can go on. \u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA student, who is the single parent of a small child, has emailed you hours before class to let you know that she can\u2019t find childcare and has to bring her child to class. You\u2019ve made it clear that students can\u2019t miss this particular class. How would you handle the situation?\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A student, who is the single parent of a small child, has emailed you hours before class to let you know that she can\u2019t find childcare and has to bring her child to class. You\u2019ve made it clear that students can\u2019t miss this particular class. How would"}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-12-15 15:05:35","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:50","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-12-12T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-12-12T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"397","name":"children"},{"id":"4743","name":"class"},{"id":"1506","name":"faculty"},{"id":"15077","name":"What Does Tech Think"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}