The countdown continues — eight weekdays to go!
Thank you for your patience regarding a summer course announcement. As with all of our announcements, we balance the timeliness of the information you require with ensuring we have sufficient information to make the best decision.
It’s clear now that COVID-19 and related changes to our daily lives will be with us for some time, and so we have decided that our summer courses will be offered remotely rather than in person, as is now the situation with current courses. Although you should only plan to take remotely offered courses, we will consider adding additional in-person courses in July and August (the S session) if the situation improves. For now, please only make decisions based on our planning to offer remote courses.
By offering our summer courses through remote delivery, we are making these available to A&S undergraduate students both near and far, which ensures maximum flexibility during a time of rapid change and uncertainty.
We know that many students are interested in summer courses that involve lab-based, experiential and international research components and opportunities, including ROP, REP, NSERC USRA and UTEAs. We are currently exploring whether and how these opportunities could proceed. We will provide an update when we have more information.
The University and the Faculty will be providing course instructors with many supports for delivering their summer courses by remote delivery, and instructors will now have more time to prepare to teach in this new format — compared to last week’s rapid transition. With these increased supports and extra time for planning, we are confident our instructors will continue to provide you with thoughtful and substantial learning experiences.
We know you are eager to learn more about this summer’s course offerings; I ask for your patience as we work with departments, programs and instructors to determine which courses are best suited to this instructional format. Rest assured that I will update you as soon as the summer course offerings are finalized.
Lastly, as many students are now aware, libraries have been closed in accordance with the Province’s recently-announced mandatory closure of all non-essential workplaces. We know some students have been using the libraries to access their courses, and efforts are underway on all three campuses to support individual requests for alternative supports. Students should use the Contact Us button located at the top of the FAQ section on the University website to receive additional information.
As always, we appreciate your feedback to the A&S Registrar’s Office (ask.artsci@utoronto.ca), via ASSU, and through the variety of communication channels you are using. While we can’t always respond to you right away, please know we are receiving and reflecting on your feedback and will respond as soon as we can. Let me add how important it is to our entire academic community for you to continue to write to us with your feedback. In speaking about your experience, you can be identifying situations that affect many of your fellow students, which helps us do what we can to help all of you.
Best Regards,
Dean Woodin
Melanie A. Woodin
Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science
Professor, Department of Cell & Systems Biology
University of Toronto