University COVID-19 update

The University of Waterloo is constantly updating our most Frequently Asked Questions.

Questions about buildings and services? Visit the list of Modified Services.

Please note: The University of Waterloo is closed for all events until further notice.

COVID-19 information for faculty and staff

For the most up-to-date information from the University about the coronavirus, see the COVID-19 website.

Moving to online courses

Resources

Several sources of support are available, including:

Microsoft Teams

If you are setting up communications through Teams, you can access it through the Microsoft Office 365 site.

  • You may need to activate your account if you haven't already and you can find instructions on the site.
  • You can access Teams via the web or as an app on your preferred device.
  • Everyone has full privileges to set up meetings, chats, etc., though Teams need to be set up through IST.

Communication with students

We want to make sure to reassure our students during this stressful time. We will have more information through the week of March 16th with regards to communication with students. There are a few things we know at this time:

  • If your course had an assignment due next week, please communicate with your students as soon as feasible to advise them about a new assignment due date
  • We are focusing first on putting in place plans for online delivery. We will be meeting early in the week of March 16th to provide guidance about assessments for the courses. As soon as decisions and best practices are determined, we will encourage instructors to share that with students.
  • There are no formal course activities the week of March 16-22, though our students may still have questions. We encourage instructors to be available through online channels, including email, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Piazza, LEARN, etc.

Closures

All the computer labs are closed to protect our students as we cannot ensure that all the keyboards and surfaces are clean at all times. We are directing students to instructions on how to connect from home.

FAQs

We will add FAQs for the most common questions as they come. This will be accessible through SharePoint with a login soon. Please send your questions to MathFaculty-COVID@uwaterloo.ca.