UW-Green Bay Provost Burns messages students about fall class delivery
Interim Provost Kate Burns messaged students about fall plans today (June 11, 2020)
As we plan for classes to resume and campus to open this fall, I want to keep you informed as decisions are made. Today I am writing to share with you updates regarding course delivery and distance education fees.
This fall we will be offering courses in many different modes: in-person, online, and hybrid/blended courses. We are hoping to offer enough courses in various formats, allowing you to choose the classes and formats that best fit your needs.
In order to account for required safety guidelines, including physical distancing, some courses that were previously listed as in-person will need to be moved online. Some in-person courses will need to move to different classrooms or to other spaces on campus. And some in-person courses will need to become hybrid/blended, meeting both in-person and online, with varying percentages of in-person and online instruction depending on the class.
All of these adjustments are already in progress and will take some time to process. We are targeting a mid-July completion date and encourage you to check SIS regularly to verify the delivery method assigned for your classes.
Classes are scheduled to follow our current academic calendar, beginning on September 2.
For Fall, we are planning on charging the Distance Education fee for online, blended, and distance education classes, regardless of whether the course was originally listed as such or if we adjusted the format this summer. Usually we charge $25 per credit for the Distance Education courses. This Fall we are cutting the fee in half ($12.50 per credit) to recognize the financial challenges many students are facing and to encourage you to continue your educational pursuits. Unfortunately, we cannot completely do away with these fees, which cover the software, technology, student support, and faculty training necessary to deliver online and distance education, which are vital in our current remote environment. We are working to balance this vital infrastructure withaccommodating students’ needs to take more online and distance ed classes during the pandemic. If you have financial concerns, please contact Financial Aid at email@example.com or 920-465-2111. You could also consider applying for one of our emergency grants.
These changes are necessary to help keep students, faculty, and staff safe while also offering a variety of options to best serve you. Striking the right balance is an ongoing pursuit. We have been partnering with Prevea and Brown County Health to determine safety guidelines for a safe return to campus and will share more information about this later this summer. If you have any questions or concerns about any of these changes, please reach out to GBOSS at firstname.lastname@example.org or 920-465-2111 and they will be able to help. Your commitment to higher education at this time is so important and we want to make sure you are able to achieve your goals.
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs