Dear Colleagues,

I want to first thank you for the extraordinary work you are doing in moving your face to face courses into a format where your students can still continue their learning from their homes. Students have commented how appreciative they are about hearing from you regularly and about your work with them during this crisis.

Because this has been a significant change in your teaching, I want to remind you that we have faculty and staff at NMC eager to assist you as you teach your students in a remote fashion. The Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE) and the Educational Media Technology (EMT) Department are available for resources and direct help with your coursework. Please reach out to them if you need any help.

I know the work may seem overwhelming and it is for that reason that CIE and EMT are your best solution in helping you with your course work and keeping in regular connection with your students.

In hearing from some of you as you have been working on your courses, I want to share two thoughts. First, you are not expected to move everything you ever did in the classroom into a remote format. While we do expect that all of your learning outcomes will be met in the new format, you may change any of your activities to meet your outcomes. This includes foregoing some of the in-class activities when your outcomes can be met in other ways. 

Second, please do not make the perfect the enemy of the good. In other words, we do not expect that every part of your classes will be perfect. Developing a full online course takes a great deal of dedicated time, usually a minimum of one semester. We do not have that time now. Please know that I trust that you will do your best in meeting your course outcomes during this crisis.  So be patient with yourselves and do not hesitate to reach out to CIE, EMT or your colleagues who have more experience.

I want to close by saying how grateful I am for the hard work you are doing for our students. In truly historic fashion you are making it possible to advance the lives of thousands of students in the face of an unprecedented national challenge. Again, take care of yourselves and stay connected to your NMC family.