AUC to Follow Hybrid Teaching Model this Fall

By: The Caravan 
@Caravan_AUC

AUC Provost Ehab Abdel Rahman announced today that the university will implement a hybrid teaching model for the fall semester.

In an email to the AUC community, Abdel Rahman said that the semester will be a mix of online and on-campus classes.

Fall semester registration starts on Wednesday, July 15 and the class schedules will be posted online on Banner on Monday, July 13. Abdel Rahman said that the schedules will indicate for students whether their classes will be online or face-to-face.

Abdel Rahman added that campus access to students will be reserved primarily to those who are enrolled in these face-to-face classes.

Earlier, in a virtual campus conversation, the Provost explained that if the COVID-19 situation improves, there might be more classes shifting from online back to the standard face-to-face format on campus in the fall. However, if the situation worsens, with increased numbers of cases in the country, there might be a necessity to shift to a fully online module.

“We have already proven that as a community our agility can get us through any circumstance. Once again, we call on everyone to remain flexible in this ever-changing situation,” he said.

During the virtual campus conversation, Associate Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management and Head of the Fall 2020 Plans Task Force Ahmed Tolba said that his team recommended going for a blended teaching model and a low-density campus whereby about 93% of the sections offered are going to be online and only 7% are going to be face to face “and not on a weekly basis, only when required”.

“The health and safety of our community is key and after discussing with the community, analyzing what other universities have been doing or thinking globally and analyzing the situation in Egypt, we believe we have to take a cautious approach,” Tolba added.

“Although some schools globally were recommending a one-meter social distancing, others were recommending two-meter squared. We applied the two-meter squared distancing in the classrooms,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Provost called on all faculty, staff and students to return to Cairo at least two weeks before the semester begins to ensure adequate self-quarantine precautions.

“Safety protocols include such measures as restricted student access and essential visitor access, mask-wearing and social-distancing within the campus as well as mask-wearing and social-distancing on AUC transportation at all times,” his email said.