From Provost Arden: Change in Spring 2020 Schedule and Move to Online Instruction

MEMORANDUM

TO:  All NC State Instructors of Record, Spring 2020

FROM:  Warwick Arden, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

SUBJECT: Change in Spring 2020 Schedule and Move to Online Instruction

DATE:  March 11, 2020

On March 5, I sent a memo to all NC State Instructors of Record, asking you to create academic continuity plans for each of your Spring 2020 courses in response to emerging concerns of COVID-19. I shared resources to assist you via NC State’s Keep Teaching website, which includes a basic template with several questions to consider as you develop your plans. 

Earlier today, Chancellor Woodson sent the NC State community a memo informing us that spring break will be extended until March 20 and asking us to restrict gatherings of large groups of people, consistent with recommendations from the UNC System Office as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health experts. This social distancing is an important preventive strategy to minimize community-level transmission of the virus. This includes our courses whenever possible.

When classes resume on March 23, your courses should not meet face-to-face but rather use the alternate methods, including online methods, for course delivery that you have developed in your academic continuity plans. Exceptions will be allowed in limited circumstances and must be approved by your college.  As the Chancellor noted in his memo, our campus will remain open. Office buildings, labs, libraries and other campus buildings will be accessible. However, as the Chancellor noted in his memo, large events with more than 100 attendees will be prohibited, and all members of the campus community are strongly encouraged to practice social distancing as a preventive strategy. 

Please use the week of March 16-20 to get the elements of your continuity plan in place, communicate with your students, and make sure that you have the materials or the technology at hand to implement your plan. Keep in mind that my office, together with the Office of Faculty Development, DELTA, and NC State Libraries, has developed resources and workshops to help you prepare and implement your course continuity plans. These include:

• Online resources: Keep Teaching is NC State’s online resource to help you develop continuity plans and use university-supported tools to maintain courses during a disruption.

• Workshops: Online workshops, designed for instructors who want guidance in constructing and implementing academic continuity plans for their courses, are being offered throughout the month of March. Workshop information is available at reporter.ncsu.edu by searching for “continuity.” 

• Hardware: NC State is purchasing additional peripherals, such as web and document cameras, and a limited number of additional laptop computers for instructors’ use during this time. NC State Libraries will serve as a check-out point if you need equipment that your department does not already have available. 

• Local consultation: Your department head, unit leader, and dean’s office are always important resources for local information, including how to request continuation of face-to-face instruction in a course. 

I realize that the COVID-19 outbreak is a unique situation for many of us, and that moving so quickly to develop and deploy a continuity plan in your courses is challenging. We are taking these actions today to help protect the health of everyone in the NC State community. By reducing the number of gatherings of people, we are doing our part to help slow the spread of the virus. 

Chancellor Woodson and I know that as a naturally collaborative and engaged campus, we often want to work and meet with one another in person, and we do so in many ways every day. This outbreak is going to challenge us to maintain our Think And Do spirit and find new ways of collaborating with one another. I am confident that we can do that as a community, just as I am confident that as instructors you can help guide our students in doing the same.

At the same time you are implementing your plans at the course level, I and other institutional leaders are monitoring the COVID-19 situation and making decisions at the university level to further reduce our campus’ risk of a widespread outbreak. Please continue to visit www.ncsu.edu/coronavirus for updates and guidance. 

Thank you again for all of your efforts.

Link to PDF version of memo.