[Michigan State University] transitioning to online classes

Fox 47 Lansing ^ | 3/11/20 | Fox 47

[Yo-Yo]

LANSING, Mich. — In a message sent to members of the Michigan State University community, MSU president Samuel L. Stanley announced that the school will transition all in-person classes to online classes, amidst the emergence of the first cases of the coronavirus in Michigan. Stanley also says the school is suspending non-essential domestic university travel until April 20. The move to online classes has been done by universities across the country, in an effort to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Stanley's message is below:

Yesterday I wrote to you about plans the university was taking to prepare for potential novel coronavirus cases in Michigan. Last night, the state of Michigan confirmed two cases in Wayne and Oakland counties. Early this morning we learned of an individual linked to our campus which the Ingham County Health Department is currently investigating and monitoring. Due to this, we are now taking additional steps to keep our community safe.

Classes at MSU

Effective today at noon, MSU is suspending face-to-face instruction in lectures, seminars and classroom settings and moving coursework to virtual instruction. This suspension of in-person classes will last until Monday, April 20 and we will reevaluate this decision on an ongoing basis, sharing additional updates or modifications as more information becomes available.

We are continuing to work with faculty and staff on laboratory and performance classes, and the university will provide additional guidance in the coming week. This will be an evolving process and I ask for everyone’s patience.

During this time period, students doing purely remote work can return to their permanent place of residence and we strongly encourage this because there are advantages for social distancing. But for those not able to go home, we will continue to fully support students in our residence halls and dining facilities. Regardless of where our students are, we encourage them to practice appropriate social distancing and enhanced preventative public health measures such as those we’ve previously discussed in our communications and on www.msu.edu/coronavirus.

At this time, the university is focused on making the transition to virtual learning opportunities. We will have more communications in the coming days regarding university employees, remote and telecommuting options.

It is our desire to be both proactive in keeping everyone healthy and safe, and also continue the important work of the university. One of the best ways to prevent the spread of any viral disease is to limit contact and transmission of the virus.

Events

The campus will remain open during this period. However, the university is evaluating large events already scheduled, many that are associated with outside groups and organizations. We will provide more information soon and urge everyone to consider the health implications of large gatherings and evaluate the essential nature of the events. We will not be scheduling new events with more than 100 individuals in a confined space during for this time period unless there are special circumstances.

Travel

I want to remind you of the travel decisions announced in yesterday’s letter. All university-related international travel has been suspended. This includes new travel as well as any currently booked trips between now and April 20. If you are currently in an international location that is not impacted by a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory, you are not required to return home.

In addition, we are suspending non-essential domestic university travel also until April 20. There will be waivers available, and each situation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by colleges and major administrative units.

We know there are many logistical questions related to these decisions, and we are working to address them. Our priority remains the health and safety of our campus and community members. Your cooperation helps to ensure an appropriate response across our institution to this rapidly changing situation.

The novel coronavirus situation is evolving daily. Providing fully remote learning for so many disparate classes will be an enormous task, and I am very grateful for the faculty, staff and students who are working around the clock to get this done. We won’t get everything right the first time, and I appreciate your understanding and continued cooperation in the coming days as the university works through needed changes and modifications to these plans.

Finally, I also want to thank the individuals who are working so hard in so many different areas to keep our community safe.

Please continue visiting www.msu.edu/coronavirus for information. The website is updated frequently. We also have added a toll-free hotline to help address questions from our students, faculty, staff and parents: 888-353-1294.

This is a time for our community to come together, and I remain confident in our ability to navigate this difficult and uncertain period.

Sincerely,

Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D."

[Yo-Yo]

MSU joins fellow Big Ten schools Ohio State, Rutgers, Indiana, and Maryland in transisitioning to online only classes.

MSU has their Spring Football game scheduled for April 17. We shall see if it gets canceled or not.

[null and void]

A brick and mortar school risks training its students that an on-line education is just as valuable because of just a flu?...

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.

[Roccus]

Heard through the grapevine that WVU told its students to pack up all their stuff before going on Spring Break...........and DON’T COME BACK!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, you’re on a ROLL! Did you queue them all up and hire a team to click “Post” all at the same time?

[null and void]

Nope, just following the news where it leads. Are you volunteering (I hope!)?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I post the occasional article that others haven't found and you reliably pick them all up. Thanks for doing that.

Interesting that I got THREE emails yesterday re CV...

• Southwest Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Budget Car Rental

It looks like they are all panicking about rapidly decreasing revenue and are trying to re-assure travelers so they keep traveling.

[null and void]

No posted articles on the Cold Response exercise yet...

[GOPJ]

Dorms are land-based cruise ships...

[1Old Pro]

It’s March, just give the kids their damn diplomas and let them go out drinking at bars for the next 5 months.

[null and void]

Businesses who depend on travel are going to be hard hit.

[EnglishOnly]

Might as well go to Ottawa Univ, or DeVry , or any other
diploma mill.

Michigan State is all about money.

Recall back a couple of years ……… MSU awards an undergraduate degree without any Algebra what so ever.

That’s Sad.

[Uncle Sham]

Once this blows over there should be a push to make these online classes the permanent way to teach these courses. The university is proving it can be done and will have no argument against such a change. Online teaching eventually will boil down to only the best professors teaching and those who aren’t as good looking for other lines of work. Massive staff reductions and the need for brick and mortar classrooms will diminish and eventually lower the cost of getting a degree. This is the future of education and has been on the horizon for quite some time. Now it is here. Some schools will embrace the new way and set themselves up to stay in business while others will pretend that the “old” actual classroom model still exist and they will gradually disappear.

[bgill]

Wise decision.

After this semester, there will be more and more that will continue to stay online. Much cheaper to do so.

[MIDad23]

Most universities require math OR logic, so you can graduate without algebra (which most people have in high school). I graduated from University of Michigan in the 80’s without any math.