July 24, All-Modes/Fall Semester Academic Update
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Our planning and preparation for the fall semester remain in high gear. We are committed to our All-Modes Ready approach for instruction, and Arcadia faculty are developing innovative approaches for their All-Modes Ready courses in scores of workshops, training sessions, and professional learning communities they’re participating in this summer.
The short video above captures just a few instructors’ creative teaching plans. Our All-Modes Ready academic goals are focused on fostering student success regardless of modality, through:
- Student engagement, by creating active communities of learners.
- Equity, inclusion, and accessibility, by ensuring that all students have access to and well-paved paths to success in all courses and activities.
- Real-world connections and applied learning through pedagogic practices such as simulations, project-based learning, professional development activities, and many others.
More information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead that provide details about things like on-campus student life and additional student-focused, All-Modes supports that will supplement and complement academic offices such as the Learning Resource Network, Disability Support Services, and the Office of Career Education – all of which are fully operational.
One milestone of our All-Modes planning is that the fall course schedule has now been updated on Self-Service to reflect instructors’ teaching/modality plans. Below is a brief guide to help students interpret the Self-Service schedule. Please note that Self-Service reflects instructors’ current plans; however, fluidity and flexibility are necessary in shaping scheduling (and so much more), and a course’s particular modality might change in the weeks and months ahead as circumstances change.
- Returning students should consult with their academic advisers to answer questions and plan for the fall semester.
- New graduate students can connect with their graduate program directors.
- A majority of new first-year undergraduates are registered for fall classes and can check their tentative schedules on Self-Service like returning students. (If you have not yet submitted your course preference form and taken the online placement tests, please do so immediately; registration is typically completed within ten days after we’ve received all student materials.) However, the schedules of first-year undergraduates remain tentative until August 26, when you will receive a schedule confirmation and the assignment of your academic adviser, with whom you can discuss questions and plans.
We will keep the Arcadia community informed if there are any changes in state or local restrictions that will have a direct impact on in-person operations. All-Modes Ready questions can always be asked at allmodes@arcadia.edu.
Sincerely,
Jeff Rutenbeck
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Arcadia University
