From Provost Arden: Academic Continuity Plans for Spring 2020

MEMORANDUM

TO:  All NC State Instructors of Record, Spring 2020

FROM:  Warwick Arden, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

SUBJECT: Academic Continuity Plans for Spring 2020

DATE:  March 5, 2020

As Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Charles Maimone and I shared with campus earlier this week, NC State continues to monitor the evolving outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The first reported case in North Carolina was confirmed in Wake County this week, but the risk to campus remains low. Regular campus updates about novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are posted on the main university webpage (ncsu.edu/coronavirus).

Currently, central campus units are planning ahead and preparing to respond swiftly should the need arise. Organizations like ours are being encouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plan now for the possibility of absences and quarantine scenarios. While we hope the effects of COVID-19 on NC State’s operations remain minimal, we are taking this opportunity to strengthen our readiness to continue academic operations during a pandemic or other significant disruption to our mission. 

I am asking you to create academic continuity plans for each of your Spring 2020 courses. A brief template has been developed for your use at go.ncsu.edu/course-continuity. Submit your course plans to your department head or unit leader no later than March 20.  

During a period of disruption, flexibility and communication are key. Keep the following items in mind as you create your plans. 

• Where possible, course plans should accommodate the possibility that you and/or a significant proportion of enrolled students may be ill or under a recommended self-quarantine for a period of 10 to 14 days or longer.

• Self-quarantine periods should be respected. Consider any changes needed to absence policies and/or assignments such that students can continue to meet course requirements, as well as the possibility that such disruptions may occur during exam periods. 

• Consider how to communicate any changes in the course to students in a timely manner, as well as how you want students to communicate to you in the event they are affected.

• Test any technologies with a colleague or support staff to be sure that the proposed plans will work. 

My office, together with the Office of Faculty Development and DELTA, has developed resources and training to help you prepare “disruption ready” plans to keep teaching courses in the event of a campus emergency. These include:

• Online resources: Keep Teaching is a new web resource designed to help NC State instructors work flexibly, quickly and collaboratively to preserve and continue classes. Content includes tips for getting started on a continuity plan, strategies for communicating to students and preserving or modifying course requirements and unique features, university-supported tools to help maintain courses during a disruption, and a fillable template for creating a continuity plan for each course.

• Training: Face to face and online workshops, designed for instructors who want guidance in constructing a basic academic continuity plan for their courses, will be offered beginning next week. Workshop information is available at reporter.ncsu.edu by searching for “continuity.” 

In addition to these resources, your department head or unit leader is a good first contact for local questions. I will discuss academic continuity planning with department heads at their upcoming meeting on March 18. 

At the same time you are making plans at the course level, I and other institutional leaders will continue to strengthen our preparedness at the university level. The preparation we do today will benefit NC State now and in the future, as other disruptions are sure to come. We are working to make academic continuity planning a regular part of our course and curricular planning practices over time. 

Thank you in advance for your efforts. 

Link to pdf version of memo.