Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for your flexibility and resilience as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. This email serves to update you on planning for the fall semester.
As some of you know, we have been working towards an on-campus experience for Fall 2021, in keeping with TCU’s tradition of personal attention and interaction for our Horned Frogs’ academic experience, as well as their health and wellbeing.
Given that we must create the semester schedule months in advance, without knowing what health and safety protocols will be required in August, we are working to locate all classes in physically distanced spaces. This entails evaluating every space on campus, including converting nontraditional spaces to instructional spaces, and utilizing our Monday through Friday schedule to the fullest extent, including evening hours. We are not planning Friday evening or weekend classes beyond those that traditionally meet on weekends.
As a result, many of you will teach courses at times and in spaces to which you are not ordinarily accustomed. This will likely impact your professional and personal schedule. We are working closely with deans and associate deans, who are collaborating with department chairs and instructors to facilitate this process and minimize disruptions to you as much as possible.
As you can imagine, such a shift brings up many questions. I hope to answer a few here.
Which colleges have been scheduled so far?
All colleges are currently progressing through the scheduling process. Deans are identifying the best approach for their respective colleges. The process involves two steps. One, a limited number of large spaces are being managed centrally (by my office), in conjunction with deans and associate deans, to schedule large classes within all colleges. Two, for the remaining spaces, blocks of space are being allocated to each college for scheduling by the dean and associate dean.
A variety of factors, including size of the college, may mean some colleges will finish the process faster than others. We plan for all course scheduling to be complete in February so Class Search can be updated and released for advising and registration.
Will there be time for refinement?
Yes, we have allotted time for changes and refinements. I’m pleased to report that we are ahead of schedule at this point, thanks to everyone’s commitment to making this work for the fall semester.
Since most classes will be taught in person, which types of classes are most likely to be taught online and for what reason?
The short answer is this: the classes that we could not fit into physically distanced spaces. Some examples are specialized labs (that do not accommodate COVID capacities) or classes that require a popular classroom size. Because of this, decisions about which classes will meet online will be addressed as we conclude the scheduling process and identify the number of classes that could not be accommodated through traditional and non-traditional instructional space.
For specific questions about your classes, please consult your dean and associate dean.
I continue to appreciate your patience and grace.