Campus News
Rockford.edu / News
Online Instruction beginning 3/23
03/18/2020 2:50 pm
Beginning Monday, March 23, Rockford University will transition all courses to online delivery. This will continue through Friday, April 10, and face to face instruction is currently set to resume Monday, April 13. As this remains an extremely fluid situation, the University will communicate in a timely fashion any necessitated changes to these dates.
During the extended Spring Break of this week, faculty have been working diligently to translate current course offerings into online formats. As part of this preparation, several training sessions have occurred throughout the week, wherein faculty and staff volunteers helped colleagues prepare. Moreover, departments met to address unique offerings, such as labs, studios, and activity courses, all of which require new creative and innovative approaches. Throughout the process, we have been committed to retaining continuity of instruction through the end of the spring 2020 semester.
Alongside the work done with our course offerings, The Center for Learning Strategies and the Library will also be available in an online format. Peer tutors, professional tutors, and supplemental instruction services will be delivered online. In addition, the Library will no longer be physically open and will move to operating remotely. Students will still have full access to our digital collection. Detailed information on both services is forthcoming.
Be assured that faculty understand our students did not anticipate participating in this level of online instruction, and that there may be varying levels of comfort with moving so quickly to this new method of instruction. Indeed, many of your faculty are in the same situation. Together, with patience, kindness, and teamwork, each class will find its way to continue and complete the good work that began during the first half of this spring semester.
Faculty will be notifying students via email as well Canvas on next steps. As such, it is now more important than ever that you regularly check your Rockford University email. Indeed, check your inbox, and if it is full, make sure that you clean out old emails and open up space in your inbox. Furthermore, check-in regularly on your Canvas course shells and establish a consistent line of communication with your advisors and professors. Now, more than ever, we need to remain in constant contact.
I state the obvious when I mention that none of us asked for this, expected this, or in all honesty, are fully prepared for this. But together, we can make it through this, learn from this, and come out on the other side with an experience that will see us all grow in ways we had never anticipated.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Perry, Ph.D.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
