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Fall 2020 term information
The public health situation means that while large courses will happen online, we may be able to offer some activity in person. Clearly, if we are going to be able to deliver programming on campus, we need to make important decisions about what instruction will take place in person if circumstances allow it.
Spring 2020 term information
We have made the difficult decision to continue with an alternative delivery system for Spring Term. This means that we are not going to deliver in-person course activity. All courses and exams, including graduate research milestones, will take place online.
The spring term will start on May 11, 2020
All courses will happen online or using alternative delivery methods starting May 11, 2020 – a week later than originally scheduled.
Courses will run for a full 12-week term, to August 5, 2020. There will be a limited one-week exam period, ending, August 15, 2020, during which there may be online exams or final assessments due.
To prepare for the alternative delivery of courses, we have revised some important dates to the Spring Term.
Revised important dates to note:
- April 2-3: Drop/Add Period begins with gradual appointments in Quest
- April 4 to May 25: add period for all students
- April 8: tuition fee bills viewable in Quest
- May 11: classes and co-op work terms begin
- May 15: deadline to pay tuition and fees or become fees arranged
- June 1: last day to drop classes with 100% refund
Course programming
With no in-person course activity this term (with the exception of CLIN and PRA courses), all classes and exams will be online. This may mean that we will not be offering students some courses and/or labs.
Faculties and departments are working on contingency plans to allow students to complete their programs as efficiently as possible. I am grateful to instructors and staff for their extraordinary efforts to provide students with a quality learning experience during the Spring Term.
Maintaining accommodations and accessibility
While offering online courses or facilitating remote graduate milestones, instructors and faculty are required to accommodate students with disabilities.
While the AccessAbility Services (AAS) and the Exam Centre are temporary closed, AAS will continue to facilitate alternate format production for course materials as required, as well as ensure students have access to course notes, assistive technology, learning strategy support, and accommodation consulting to ensure they are supported in the online space.
New tools and resources for instructors
- Updated Faculty Notification Letter (FNL)
- The FNL includes updated descriptin for each accommodation that articulate roles and responsibilities for facilitating accommodation in the online environment.
- Faculty Module in AAS’s Online System ‑ Instructors can log into AAS’ online system to:
- view a dashbard of the students and their accommodations for each of your courses,
- exprt a list of students by accommodation,
- receive real-time updates t accommodation plans,
- navigate between sectins and courses, and
- submit and make changes t your Alternative Testing agreement.
- Updated faculty and staff resources on AAS website
- 1:1 Consulting
- Speak directly with AAS staff abut a student’s accommodation plan or confirm that your online course is meeting the specific disability-based needs of students.
AAS is here to help
Support is also available to help instructors in using technology that will enable their online course or remote milestone (e.g., remote defenses and proposals) to meet the accommodation needs of students with disabilities. Please contact AccessAbility Services at access@uwaterloo.ca to be directed to the student's Accommodation Consultant or Adaptive Technologist.
Stay well, stay home and watch for more information
This continues to be an exceptional time. We know we need to keep taking action that will slow the spread of COVID-19. We also know we have an important job that we must keep doing.
There are people across the University community who are available to support our students along the way. We know we can’t provide you with answers to all your questions at this time, but there are people working tirelessly to make sure we can answer those questions soon.
