Dear student,
I am sure that you, like me, are pleased to see that here in Australia our efforts as a community appear to have significantly contained the spread of COVID-19. South Australia has now had 14 days without a new case and similar trends are being seen across the country.
Whilst the battle against COVID-19 is far from over on a global scale, the relaxation of current restrictions is looking very likely over coming days and weeks. The ability of our governments to ease the constraints on our daily lives will depend on the ability of our Health Departments to contain any future outbreaks. The Government’s COVIDSafe app will greatly help State Health Departments contact people who may have unknowingly been in close contact with someone who develops COVID-19 in the future. The app is effective as a public health tool only if enough people in our community download and use it. I encourage you to join me and over 5 million others who have already downloaded the app to do so. It is free and easy to install and you can find it here.
Online Learning and Teaching to stay for Semester 1
We are already seeing more students coming back to campus to make use of our spaces and facilities. It is lovely to see you back again and I thank you all for practicing the great hygiene and physical distancing which is still necessary.
As National and State restrictions ease and more students are able to return, we will open up more facilities and face-to-face services. Staff are already planning for this and I will keep you advised when this happens. These services will be operated in line with any Government restrictions and recommendations from the Health Department to keep us all safe.
Your teaching and learning activities which are currently online will remain online for the rest of this semester; this includes assessments and exams. However those activities which were postponed because they could not go online will be able to recommence if and when restrictions are lifted.
Your College and teaching staff will communicate with you about specific arrangements which apply for your topics and courses. Please watch out for these communications from your College and through FLO.
Semester 2 and the ‘New Normal’
As we prepare for Semester 2 we expect to be back in the classroom in some form. All Colleges have indicated that topics and courses will likely have a blend of online and face-to-face delivery to retain flexibility for students, and to ensure those students who cannot yet travel to join us on campus can continue or start their studies with us.
As we plan for the ‘New Normal’, we would very much like to hear from you about your experience of the move to online learning and support. We have all learned a lot about how to do things differently and how we can teach, learn, engage and support each other online. Your input will help us plan for the future. You will shortly receive an email inviting you to tell us what has worked well, and where we can improve. I encourage you to provide feedback.
Non-Grade Passes
One of the changes we put in place for this semester was the ability to convert a passing grade for a topic to a Non-Graded Pass. To help you decide how this may impact your GPA you can use the GPA calculator. Once your topic results are released you can request the conversion via an online form. You will have two weeks to submit your request. Student web pages are currently being updated to incorporate this process and you will receive a notification via the student newsletter Ping! when it is available.
Help is still at hand
The Online Hub has all the information in one place about the help which is available, including a dedicated COVID-19 webpage. And a quick reminder that the team in our Flinders Support Network are available to speak to you during business hours on (08) 8201 5500, or you can request someone to call you back.
Stay well and safe,
Clare
Professor Clare Pollock
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students)