AUP Update on Remote Learning and Covid-19

THIS POST IS A REPUBLISHED VERSION OF AN EMAIL COMMUNICATION SENT BY AUP PRESIDENT CELESTE M. SCHENCK ON MARCH 18, 2020, ABOUT COVID-19 AND AUP'S RESPONSE. IT IS PART OF OUR SAFETY & SECURITY BLOG THAT ROUNDS UP ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES FOR OUR COMMUNITY.

Today is our first day of online classes at AUP, and as faculty gear up to switch over their mode of course delivery, it is time for our daily Covid-19 communications to come to a natural end. We hope that you’ve begun acclimating to France’s new restricted movement measures – which have brought a preternatural calm to our lives – and that you are ready to begin online classes.

Everyone – professors and students – needs to anticipate that the beginning of this shift in our pedagogies is likely to be a little bumpy; I encourage all students to work directly with their professors to suggest improvements. We know that some of you may find confinement wearing and that this is an unpredictable time. The wonderful poet William Carlos Williams wrote: “After too much midnight, it’s a pleasure to hear the milkman.” I know that each of you will approach this remote learning project with organization, energy and resolve.

Though the mode of delivery has changed, we expect students to reassume responsibilities for their own education. Your principal interlocutor will be your professors, so please manifest your presence in your online courses immediately. The most important thing is to participate in your course, checking in regularly; downloading assigned readings, lectures and films; and doing all assignments. If you are having any difficulties, set up a time to talk to your professor. Faculty will be conducting office hours by appointment.

Students also have the option of regular contact with their mentors to ask questions, connect with other students who are in the same boat, reach out for help, and get the support they need. Your problems and issues will come back to us so we can resolve things as quickly as possible. Student Development, the Internship Office, the GPS Office, the Health Office, and many other resources remain available remotely. The library is building an online appointment system so librarians can respond to reference and research questions. Any student who does not have internet access or a laptop should reach out to Student Development or IT Services immediately.

Together, we will get through the challenge of the next few weeks with as much resilience as we can muster. Importantly, I want to remind students not to leave home without a signed and dated attestation and their passport or French ID card. If you don’t have a printer, you can write your daily attestation out by hand.  

I would like to say a final word of thanks to every student and every family who responded to the Covid-19 situation with calm, rationality and compassion. You made our job of responding that much easier, and for that my entire team is deeply grateful. I know that together we can rise to the occasion and adjust to remote learning temporarily. Au revoir – until we see you again – takes on poignant meaning in this new context. It’s going to be an adventure building in true AUP fashion a brave community of remote learners, who remain, as ever, our global explorers.