Message from the Senior Vice President, Academic
Posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2020
Dear Colleagues and Learners,
For starters, I cannot say these two words enough: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for the dedicated, sustained, collaborative efforts that have gone into making this unique and challenging term a success. Over 17,000 students engaged in remote learning this Fall – many for the first time. Guided by our health and safety protocols, we also had 7,200 student registrations in select courses that required hands-on learning on our physical campuses.
I recognize that this has been a very difficult road for many. I want to offer my sincere appreciation to our employees for their diligence and adaptability in creating an environment for students to continue on their paths to success.
I also want to express my appreciation to our learners for their ongoing flexibility and tenacity. Many have learned new, digital tools to succeed; others have stringently followed precautions in our labs to keep their peers and mentors safe; AC Online students – among many others – have juggled increasing demands in their personal lives to continue their educational journey.
On behalf of the entire College, I wish the best of luck to all students completing final assessments later this month – as well as to the academic teams administering those assessments. Saturday, December 12 to Saturday, December 19 will mark Final Assessment Week for most of our postsecondary programs. During this upcoming period of increased stress and responsibilities, I also want to take time to remind everyone of the mental health resources available to them.
Much like the Fall term itself, this period is going to look a little different. All assessments that can be done online will be done online (to learn more about our online proctoring platform, visit here). Those programs with physical or applied components will conduct some assessments on our campuses. Please note that assessment dates vary from program to program. Learners should take guidance from their teachers, facilitators and course outlines when it comes to individual scheduling.
On a related note, I want to clarify the College’s stance on the use of video in our virtual learning environments: the use of cameras will only be enforced in those circumstances where it is part of a specific assessment protocol and not as a regular expectation in classes.
As the Fall term comes to an end, we should all be proud of what we have accomplished together! The Fall 2020 Term will end on Sunday, December 20 for most postsecondary programs. Our physical campuses will officially close from noon on Wednesday, December 23 to Sunday, January 3 – reopening on Monday January 4, 2021.
Again, let me reiterate that I am proud of everyone’s achievements. While I applaud our graduates, I am also excited for the rest of us to return in January. I look forward to greeting you back in the New Year and resuming our programming – whether remotely or with some safe face-to-face components. (For general information, visit our program-delivery plan pages for New Students and Returning Students.)
It’s important to note that a key factor in our successful Fall was our commitment to keeping one another safe and protected against the spread of COVID-19. The College community’s dedication to health and safety procedures has helped get us this far – and that continued focus will help us achieve the same success in 2021. It will also help guide us to the future date when we are safely able to resume full operations on our campuses.
Before we started the term, I said “by working together this fall in a spirit of caring, respect and integrity,” I believed “we can help create a safe, dynamic and successful learning environment for all.” You delivered and I cannot thank you enough.
Sincerely,
Chris Janzen
Senior Vice President, Academic
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