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Dear SOE Students,

By now, you have received the President’s announcement regarding plans for the fall 2020 semester. I’m writing to emphasize that SOE faculty and staff are committed to providing you with high quality learning experiences in accordance to the University’s plan---AU Forward. The past 3-4 months have not been easy and as a result, we are working hard to ensure that the transition from summer to fall semester is a seamless one. If you have any further questions about AU Forward, please feel free to reach out to me, Corbin Campbell, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs (campbell@american.edu) or Julie Sara Boyd, Assistant Dean, Academic Administration (jboyd@american.edu).

As a School, our courses will be offered in various modalities: online, in-person and blended. Undergraduate courses will be offered in a blended manner---meaning having some in-person and online components. Many of our graduate programs have online options. As such, those graduate online options/programs (e.g., EPL, MAT, EdD) will continue their programs-of-study as usual. The remaining graduate programs will offer online content (with some possible in-person experiences) during the fall semester. Again, our program directors and faculty are diligently working to determine specific information about each course offered this fall. More course information will be distributed when available.

Students who are scheduled to complete field experiences (e.g., practica, student teaching) will receive information from program directors and coordinators about the format and structure of these special experiential-type courses. As you might expect, we are awaiting final plans from our school district partners to determine specifics about our field experiences.

Again, remember that we are committed to an equitable process for teaching and learning in the fall whether it be online, in-person, or in a blended modality. We will work to be “modality agnostic” in the excellence of our pedagogy and support of our students. Perhaps most importantly, we are taking this opportunity to enact best practices and pedagogy in multiple physical distancing spaces. And, we are applying equity-oriented frameworks to ensure that each of you is able to have a successful fall semester.

If you have further questions, reach out to your advisor, to your program director, or to any member of the Dean’s office team, including myself, if there are ways we can support you in your fall learning plans.

Onward together and stay tuned for more course information.
Cheryl

Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, PhD
Dean and Professor
School of Education