Online Learning Information

Dear Students,

We hope that this letter finds your learning progressing as the semester continues. As you are aware, all Universities and Colleges are seeking to navigate through the challenges of the outbreak of the Corona (Covid 19) virus. Our goal is to ensure your continued safety and your continuation of your education this semester. Thus, out of an abundance of caution, Felician University has decided that we will move all classes to a Virtual Campus (online without face to face classes) beginning Monday March 16, 2020. We will resume face to face classroom activities on Monday, March 30. If there is a change in the return date, you will be notified before March 27, 2020.

During this period, the university will remain open. All functions will continue; residence halls will remain open; dining service on the Rutherford campus will continue and the Library in Ed Commons will be open from 8:30am to 10:00pm each day. The only change is the mode of delivery for your classes from the classroom to a virtual (online) environment. You will be expected to log on to your classes in Brightspace as the same time at you would go to that class if it were being held on campus. In other words, your professors will deliver the class online at the same times you would be in the classroom each week.

Your individual professors will be in touch with you regarding any course- specific arrangements for this virtual setting; however, we wish to provide you with some basics and some tools for this experience.

As you know, the University’s Learning Management System and primary online tool is D2L Brightspace. It can be accessed through any browser; simply go to Felician.edu, click on “My Felician” and you will see the link to Brightspace. In the event that you are on a phone instead of a computer, and are unable to access the Felician website, you can access the related app called “Pulse” (available for free in the App Store and Play Store, depending on your platform. When you enter Pulse, it will ask for your school, input “Felician University” and it will take you to the same login page you would be on if you clicked the link on “My Felician.”

The University’s tool for synchronous video connection is “Zoom.” Most faculty will use this tool for their scheduled classroom sessions and will be expecting you to log on to Zoom for the duration of each class as well. Likewise, if you schedule a conference with your Advisor during this period, they may send you a Zoom invitation. Any browser will allow you to connect to Zoom. If you are using your phone for Zoom, please download the Zoom app (also available in the App Store and Play Store).

The university remains open and all support resources are available; we are only delivering classes virtually until we resume face to face classroom meetings on March 30. These can appear as trying times, but we face these challenges together as a community, with our Felician Franciscan values to guide us.

Below this letter is information about practices and connections unique to individual schools; remember that individual faculty may send you additional specifications or requirements. We are also attaching information provided by the Center for Online and Digital Learning with contact information for anyone with questions regarding accessing Brightspace during this time. We wish you continued success in the remainder of the term. We will see you online for now, and back in the classroom on March 30.

Sincerely,

Sylvia McGeary
Vice President for Academic Affairs

Robert Clougherty
Vice President for Academic Affairs Vice President for Technology, Design, and Innovation

Individual School Notes and Practices
SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

All on ground classes will meet using Brightspace and Zoom for the entire duration of each class session. Faculty and students will log on at the class start time and will be in class for the entire scheduled class session each day the course is scheduled.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

All on ground classes will meet using Brightspace and Zoom for the entire duration of each class session. Faculty and students will log on at the class start time and will be in class for the entire scheduled class session each day the course is scheduled.

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

All field work and student teaching is subject to decisions made by the hosting district. Students will be informed of any and all changes as the School of Education becomes aware of them. If you are not feeling well or are uncomfortable with participating in your field work or student teaching, please contact your Felician professor immediately.

SCHOOL OF NURSING
  1. Faculty will hold class virtually during the usual scheduled time, and will be on-line for the entire duration of their class time
  2. We are having a mandatory faculty meeting on Friday in a computer lab to make sure all faculty know to manage the nuances of holding their class virtually using Brightspace.
  3. All advising appointments will be done by phone, zoom etc.
  4. The NRSC will remain open for Health Assessment lab and Fundamentals of Nursing lab. The labs are 6 hours long. One half of the students will attend for the first 3 hours, and the other half will attend for the second three hours
  5. The two graduate Assistants will do tutoring from phone via Zoom or phone.
INSTITUTE FOR INFORMATION SCIENCES (Computer Science and Cybersecurity)

In addition to Brightspace and Zoom, we are running a Discord Server as a general discussion and support area.

  • For computers, go to https://discordapp.com/; the mobile version is available on the App Store and Playstore. For security reasons, we are keeping the site restricted, so you will need to complete a request for an invitation (which will only be sent to Felician email addresses) by completing the form at https://pitch_night_application.formstack.com/forms/discord_application.
  • The Tutoring normally available in the Kirby Hall computer labs will be available inside Discord; the hours are at the same times usually available in the Labs.

Since classes will not be in labs, if you need an IDE to work on your classes, we suggest https://repl.it/~ as it is free and supports multiple scripts and languages including PHP, Python and C++. For courses involving other languages, your professor will let you know what tools to use. If you need help choosing a tool for a given project, there is a #language channel in Discord where you can post questions and answers. For any tools or IDEs you choose to use, please ensure they use the version specified by your professor.

Student organizations are invited to create channels on the Discord server.

THE CENTER FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS

Will continue to provide: