Thursday, March 19, 2020
It’s been a tough week for everyone, with most people dealing with uncertainty in their individual situations and plans, on top of health and safety concerns.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented, unexpected and unwelcome challenge for all of us. No one yet knows how we’re going to overcome the rapid spread of this virus and its impacts on our lives, but we will do it together.
These impacts are unfolding rapidly and while we don’t have all the answers, NSCAD students can be confident that staff and faculty are working hard to establish alternate teaching and learning models that will allow students to achieve academic success this term.
We’re also doing whatever is possible to work with NSCAD students, and in particular international students, who need help with accommodations, food security, finances, computer/internet access and other non-academic concerns. Student needs will be triaged according to the individual situation. Many of these details are still in flight and we will post updates on this page and in the Student FAQs as they become available.
No courses have been suspended or cancelled. As previously announced, today NSCAD begins remote and alternative curriculum delivery, and most students should have received documentation from their professors outlining how the remainder of the semester will be completed off campus. If you have not yet been contacted by your professor or if you are uncertain about anything related to your coursework, please contact dean@nscad.ca.
NSCAD staff are currently developing an online remote course learning environment through Brightspace that will help students work in the new realities of off-campus instruction and provide opportunities to stay connected and engaged with the broader NSCAD community throughout the indeterminate period of social distancing. We’ll provide more details as soon as this resource is ready.
It is clear that the spring/summer semester will not begin in May. With the duration of the pandemic unknown, we do not yet know when it will be delivered, but it we are confident it will happen.
It may seem like normal life is shutting down all around us, but we can stay safe, resilient and come out stronger on the other side of this global crisis if we embrace kindness, compassion and imagination in all our thoughts and actions.
Let’s be safe and supportive of each other.
Sincerely,
Ann-Barbara Graff
Vice President (Academic and Research)
NSCAD University