Even if you offer Zoom connections or Kaltura recordings for your classes, absent students can benefit from connecting to their classmates to keep caught up (and reduce the amount of direct questions you may get). Since not all students will have equal social networks within the class to draw upon, consider building “mutual support teams” early in the semester. These can be small groups of students who take and share notes, and who can be resources for each other if/when any of them are absent. If you build these into your course from the start, you assure that all students will be part of a mutual support team, which promotes equity in the course. And just knowing someone has their backs can help students cope in challenging times. See our page on Supporting Student-Led Study Groups for some related ideas.
This idea comes from our recent blog post on Keeping Students Engaged Despite Absences.
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