Dear Colleagues,
With so much that’s unusual this year drawing all of our attention many different ways, we wanted to be sure everyone is aware that Winter Session will still take place. Instruction begins on Monday, December 21, 2020, and the term concludes on Friday, January 15, 2021, with no classes Friday, December 25, 2020 and Friday, January 1, 2021.
What’s the same about Winter Session 2020-21:
Courses are offered in an online delivery format. Courses are for undergraduates only. Students may register for only one Winter Session course. Courses offered have run in a fully online, eight-week or shorter format within the past two calendar years. The offering department/college needs to have a plan to support faculty needs during Winter Session. Winter Session course instructors are to serve as the first point of contact during a course offering for student technical needs. Courses offerings should prioritize those that will help the most students make the most progress towards degree. Registration time ticket, add and drop deadlines, cancellation, withdrawal, and refund schedules will follow the patterns established in the most recent Winter Sessions. For details, see the Office of the Registrar’s Winter 2020-2021 Academic Calendar page.
What’s different about Winter Session 2020-21:
With the exception that adding students to courses after the deadline (December 20 at 11:59 p.m. CST) is not allowed, all administrative processes around winter courses (e.g., decisions on offerings, schedule set up and maintenance, etc.) are handled by the unit offering the course, mirroring offerings in fall, spring, and summer. Note this means there is no campus-level Request for Proposals process! Tuition revenue also flows the same as it does in fall, spring, and summer. Offering units are encouraged to be particularly sensitive to the extra demands on online course development and maintenance from both the administrative and instructional standpoints, and should prioritize offerings accordingly. Units are encouraged to offer courses which already exist in a 4-week format and offered during previous Winter Sessions. Instructor course development resources will be available at CITL.Illinois.edu. A message from CITL with links to such resources will soon follow. With students’ increased experience with online learning and other pandemic-related enrollment patterns, higher enrollment in this Winter Session can be expected.
If you have general questions regarding Winter Session, please contact Anna Mehl. Questions specific to the class scheduling process should be directed to fms-courses@illinois.edu.
Sincerely,
Kathy Martensen
Assistant Provost for Educational Programs
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost
Anna Mehl
Project Coordinator for Educational Innovation
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost