More Classes To Be Held on Campus Spring 2021

By: Doha Wang
@DohaWang

AUC will expand its current hybrid teaching model next spring semester, adding 250 sections that are partially face-to-face.

“To help put this into perspective, I’d like to show how our Spring 2021 plans compare to what we’ve been doing this Fall. Currently, we have 150 sections that are partially face-to-face in the Fall. For Spring 2021, we are planning to have approximately 400 sections on campus,” said Provost Ehab Abdelrahman in a community-wide email.

Abdelrahman elaborated on how the decision for this hybrid teaching was reached. 

“We have taken into consideration many aspects, one of them is the success of online learning and the issues that were also faced in online learning,” Abdelrahman said.

Associate Provost for Strategic Communications Ahmed Tolba explained the process of designing the hybrid mode, with the first tier consisting of partial face-to-face courses, such as labs. These are given priority because they require hands-on experience.

“The second tier that we are trying to increase in the spring is the freshman courses allowing students who are new and have not experienced campus before to have some courses on campus as well,” Tolba said. 

He added that the university is also trying to facilitate a way for graduation projects and theses to be completed on campus.

The third tier consists of on-campus examinations in order to protect the academic integrity of the exam process as requested by the respective schools.

“We came up with a very creative methodology whereby we did not limit the classroom to the courses, we applied a shared classroom approach whereby the same classroom could be allocated to two courses,” said Tolba.

This means that if two courses that are scheduled on Mondays and Thursdays use the same class, then one course will be held on Mondays and the other on Thursdays. 

The Spring ’21 schedule is now available on Banner and courses that are partially face-to-face, or that will hold examinations on campus are indicated as such.

Regarding library access next spring, students who are not registered for partial face-to-face courses should coordinate with their academic schools so they can make arrangements with the library on the student’s behalf.

The university is also aiming to hold more on-campus events which will be organized with the help of Vice-President for Management and Operations Shereen Shaker to ensure that COVID-19 safety precautions are upheld. 

Student residences will also expand further following a testing program to accommodate more students. However, no visitors will be allowed to enter the dorms nor can they stay overnight. 

Sports facilities access remains restricted only to dorms residents, faculty living in faculty housing, and student athletes this semester.

“Next semester, we will start again in line with our strategy. We will allow more students in, and we will have a system where they will sign up and they can have opportunities to go to the swimming pool, the gym or wherever they want to utilize,” said Vice-President for Student Life Deena Boraie.

Boraie also announced plans for three upcoming commencements that will be held next semester; The first commencement will be held for the Spring 2020 graduates, the second will be for the Fall 2020 graduates and the third for the Summer 2020 graduates. 

No exact date has been set yet due to the unpredictable nature of the current pandemic.

“All we will promise is that yes we will have the three events for the three different classes of students,” said Boraie.