Last week (Thursday 12 March), I emailed to advise you of our plan to move lectures and other teaching and learning support online as far as possible. This reflects the government’s move from the ‘contain’ phase of its coronavirus planning to the ‘delay’ phase. Across the UK, universities are making a similar move.
Taking your lectures and other teaching and learning support online is a large and complex operation and so we have adopted a phased approach.
Monday 16 to Friday 20 March
- This week we are preparing to move lectures, teaching and learning support online.
- You should continue to attend your classes in person unless you are specifically told you can access particular classes remotely.
During this week, we are upgrading our capacity to use Panopto (lecture capture software) and we will be rolling out software (MS Teams) that will enable academic staff to produce and deliver classes remotely. These two software packages mean that once the teaching for your module goes online, neither you nor your lecturer will need to be on campus. MS Teams also allows stable video-conferencing which will support smaller classes and even one-to-one consultations.
Your module lecturer will advise you when your classes will move online. Until you are advised by each module lecturer that their classes are moving online, you should continue to attend your classes in person.
What you need to do to attend classes online
- Download the MS Teams app which is available here. MS Teams is web-based and compatible with all commonly used browsers.
- When your lecturer is set up and enabled to deliver teaching and learning support online, they will share a link to a live video conference session. This live video conference session should be at the same time as your scheduled lecture.
- The link will be shared via Moodle. Some lecturers may also use email invitations for ad hoc meetings.
Our goal is that most classes will be fully online from Monday 23 March.
Workshops, labs, performances, etc.
You will appreciate that MS Teams may not work for practical workshops, labs, performances, etc.
We are working on ways to deliver these so that your learning is supported but that minimise the need for large groups to come together. More information will be provided as soon as it is available. If you are unclear about what will be transferring online, please talk to your module lecturer.
Monday 23 to Friday 27 March
Our goal is that most classes will be fully online from Monday 23 March. Your module lecturer will email you to confirm which classes will be online.
Timetabling and access
- For this week and next we are following the current timetable, although there may be some additional sessions scheduled to catch up, or to support online learning, if required.
- Your module lecturer will email you to confirm which classes will be online however, you should also check your timetable. Usually online lectures will be held at the same time as they are shown in the timetable.
- The links to the online lecture will be available on Moodle; web links to live MS Teams seminars/ workshops will also be available on Moodle.
Exams and assessments If you have an assessment due, please continue to submit as expected. If any assessment has requirements other than online submission you will be contacted about alternate submission routes.
Please continue to prepare for examinations and assessments as you would usually. It is very important you continue to engage with your studies, attend virtually just as you would on campus, and start to make greater use of the online
resources available through the Library. We will be providing support to help you find more online material over the next two weeks.
Across the College, academics and professional support staff are working hard to continue to deliver a high quality education to you in the best way we can in these unprecedented circumstances. I would ask you to be patient while we make this move. It is inevitable that some things will not go to plan, and some glitches will occur. Please use your class representatives to alert us to any systematic problems and we will attend to them as quickly as we can.
We will keep you updated, so please continue to monitor your email for updates and social media channels @RHCampusLife.
Professor Paul Layzell
Principal