COVID-19: Faculty-Specific Updates

The fall 2021 course schedule will be available in early May on the uOttawa Class Search Tool.

You will note that, in general, in the Faculty of Health Sciences:

• Undergraduate lecture courses will be offered virtually, with some exceptions of in-person lecture courses.
• All HSS undergraduate laboratories will be offered virtually.
• Some of the APA undergraduate laboratories will be offered virtually while others will be taught in person.
• All undergraduate clinical courses offered through the School of Nursing will have in-person activities (lab and practicum), which requires that students be on campus.
• All other undergraduate and graduate laboratories and clinical placements (NUT, NSG, ERG, PHT, ORA, REA) will be in person, although some of them may include an online/virtual component.
• At the graduate level, depending on the School, some lectures and graduate seminars will be in-person and others will be delivered via virtual/distance learning.
• Courses for students registered in the Master of Science Nursing - Distance Option will continue to be offered via distance learning technologies.

Even if Ottawa Public Health announces over the summer that physical distancing is no longer required, the mode of delivery of fall 2021 courses will not change. That is, fall 2021 courses will be offered as indicated on the uOttawa Class Search Tool as of May 2021.

It is possible, however, that final exam planning for the fall 2021 terms will change depending on the progress of the vaccination campaign and the potential easing of public health measures. It is quite possible that some final exams will be administered in person, on campus if we can access classrooms/other spaces. Indeed, given the many technical problems experienced through online exams along with an increasing concern regarding academic integrity we will do our best to hold final exams on campus for professors who request it on the final exam form they will submit in early September, if Ottawa Public Health confirms that physical distancing is no longer required. The final exam schedule will be posted online in early October.

• Final exams could be organized in person for NUT, APA, LSR, NSG, REA, ORA, ERG and PHT courses.
• Therefore, professors must clearly indicate on the course syllabus that, if public health measures permit, exams will be completed in person on campus.
• In these cases, please be aware that if we have access to a room and the final exam for a course is conducted in person, students in the course will not have the choice to write it remotely (online).

The winter 2022 course schedule will be available in early May on the uOttawa Class Search Tool and will show the details of course delivery as planned last December 2020.

However, it is too early to predict with any certainty how the winter 2022 term courses will be delivered - it all depends on the progress of the pandemic and associated public health measures as well as classroom availability. However, we hope that many courses will be offered in person in the winter 2022 term, with perhaps some hybrid courses (which would include in-person components) and some that will be offered online/virtually.

Thus, we anticipate that the mode of course delivery for the winter 2022 term will change depending on the progress of the vaccination campaign and the potential easing of public health measures. For example, if Ottawa Public Health confirms that physical distancing is no longer required, we will modify the details on the uOttawa Class Search Tool to offer a greater number of courses in person as soon as the start of the term (January 2022), depending on the availability of classrooms/space:

• Professors will be consulted no later than September/October to change the mode of delivery of winter 2022 Term courses.
• Our Faculty will not offer the choice between an in-person section and a virtual/distance section for undergraduate courses. All sections of undergraduate courses will be offered only in person, or conversely, only virtually/online. Only the courses already identified on the course schedule as hybrid (which means that all students registered in the course participate in the in-person components and in the virtual/distance components) will remain as such.
• Depending on the Schools within the Faculty of Health Sciences, some graduate courses will be offered in a bimodal delivery, with some in person students and some virtual/distance students.
• Changes to the mode of course delivery for the winter 2022 term will be posted for students and professors on the uOttawa Class Search Tool no later than October 31.

Therefore, we strongly encourage all students enrolled in Faculty of Health Sciences programs who are not registered in courses that include an in-person component for the fall 2021 Term to find accommodation in the Ottawa area at least for the winter 2022 Term to facilitate course selection and their advancement in their program (except for students registered in the Master of Science Nursing – Distance).