The SSO conducted an online Orientation for GR and UG students will start on January 25, 2021. The decision was made at AUB to hold all new student orientation sessions online.  The online orientation includes some activities that students need to complete at their own pace and others scheduled on certain dates. For more information on the orientation session, you can visit the following link: Students Orientation.   Unfortunately, all this means that students have not yet had a chance to meet FHS representatives face-to-face, and we need to be cognizant of that and reach out to them as much as possible.

All instructors are kindly asked to add a virtual office hour on their course syllabus

Faculty members who plan to hold live (synchronous) online classes should schedule them during their specified times on AUBsis, in order to respect students’ schedules and their other classes. In this case, as has been emphasized by the AUB administration, class sessions should be recorded and made accessible to students through Moodle asynchronously (to accommodate students who may have internet access problems – see below). Please note that some classrooms have been damaged by the tragic event two weeks ago. The Auditorium and room 201 therefore cannot be used in the current period. If need be, other classrooms can be reserved taking into consideration the maximum allowable number of persons in the room. For more information, please contact the SSO team.

The fall term will begin on January 28, 2021 and end as scheduled on May 19, 2021 (making it 14, not 15 weeks as normal). As it stands now, teaching will be almost exclusively online, at least for the first month of the term, with in-person on campus activities limited to exceptions authorized by the deans to meet specific academic program requirements. Because of the uncertainty we continue to experience, it is critically important that all faculty members be prepared to teach their courses fully online throughout the fall term. To that end, all course materials and lectures should be made accessible by students remotely and asynchronously, regardless of the modes of delivery. The AUB administration requests that all courses have active Moodle pages for that purpose, and all course materials should remain available up to the completion of the submission of final grades. For more details about the email from the provost office about this, please see: Provost Message Updates on Academic Preparations for the Fall Term

Remember that the course syllabus is a documented agreement between the instructor and the students. Please make sure to submit your course syllabi to your departmental administrative assistants at your departments starting the first week of the semester. For your reference, and for information on what should be included in syllabi, we have included the previous year courses in a standardized format on All syllabi need to meet Middle States and CEPH accreditation requirements. Please contact Ms. Diala Badreddine if you have difficulty accessing the previous syllabus and make sure that the updated syllabus includes:

• Assessment, competencies and course learning objectives (for graduate courses, as approved by the Graduate Studies Committee). In case you have any major changes to the syllabus (such as dropping/adding a competency, changing learning objectives, changing assessment methods, etc.) this should go to the UGCA for undergraduate courses and to the GSC for graduate courses for review following these committees’ terms of reference.
• A statement of whether timed online exams will be used to assess student learning. Faculty members who plan to use them should exercise utmost flexibility by providing alternative assessment options to students unable to take them. Faculty members who will be using digital tools to proctor online exams should include this information explicitly in the syllabus. Those who adopt Respondus or any other remote proctoring tool that uses video recordings should also include the following statement: “By signing up for this course, you confirm that you have read and accepted the terms and provisions of AUB’s Privacy Statement”
• Non-Discrimination and Anti-Discriminatory Harassment, including Sexual Harassment at AUB should be available in each syllabus. Revised Please visit the following page for more information. Title IX
• Course syllabi should be revised to adapt to the online delivery of content, with priority given to covering essential concepts and ensuring the achievement of student learning outcomes. Faculty members are also urged to diversify their modes of assessment and should seriously explore alternatives to timed online exams to evaluate student learning. The following are some helpful links: (1) A Quick Guide to Converting your Face to Face Pedagogical Approaches to the Online Environment (2) Flipping Your Remote Classroom (3) Options for Assessment Tasks (4) Alternatives to high stakes exams (5) Deploying Different types of exams (6) Establishing your virtual culture (7) Redefine Classroom Community and Student Engagement for Online

As we continue to look for ways to address problems of student access to technology and the internet, faculty members should leverage the available digital platforms and tools to promote a broader range of participation and student engagement. Faculty members are also expected to plan regular virtual contact and communication with their students to advise and support them when needed. The Office of IT has been providing a wealth of resources and guidance on the webpage Continuing teaching in times of crisis to support the instructional design and strengthen our online teaching capacity.

ILE & Practica: For GR courses, the ILE is the final high quality and capstone product that the students produce. It can be linked or not linked to the practicum site. We have previously noted that students are anxious about their practica, CE and ILE. This anxiety is expected and we feel can be allayed by both academic advisors (from the beginning of the student’s tenure with us) and practicum advisors and ILE advisors and second readers being VERY familiar with the rules and regulations of the courses and helping ease anxiety.   It is also essential that practicum advisors meet with preceptors to encourage a good flow of communication between the triangle of advisor-preceptor-student. Please familiarize yourself with the practicum and ILE requirements by reading the ILE MANUAL, the practicum manual, anatomy of a good CE report, guidelines for evaluating CE posters and presentations. For more information on MPH policies and procedures.

• Course grading will be according to AUB’s letter/numeric grading system. Please note there will NOT be the pass/no pass system this semester (as there was not in the summer). Moreover, while student participation should be encouraged, no portion of a course grade should be associated with class attendance given the circumstance.
• Posting Students Grades: All members are required to post all course-related grades in the “Grader Report” on Moodle. This information is required for the direct evaluation of students on course competencies. For technical support, please contact Anis Jradah.
• Submission of Mid-term course for graduate students’ grades: Although included in the syllabus template, it is important to note that MPH policies require that at least 40% of the course grade tobe available at least one week prior to the last day to withdraw from courses. The last date to drop courses is Friday, April 16, 2021 for the Spring term. Course instructors are requested to submit the grades by Friday, March 26, 2021.  This will allow us to evaluate students’ performance midterms and proactively tackle any potential problems. .  Please make sure to schedule exams and to assign deadlines for required assignments/papers well before Friday, March 26, 2021, in order to meet the set deadline for mid-course grade submission.  We are also asking MS thesis supervisors to report on the thesis progress of MS students whom they advise at midterm so we will also need this in by Friday, March 26, 2021.
• Changes in a course or final exam timing: We consider the syllabus to be a contract between you and students and they base their course expectations on the syllabus. If you would like to change the date and/or time of the courses you are teaching from that in the syllabus, you would need to get the approval of all students registered for the course (they need to sign a petition accepting this). To be able to find available timeslots for a course and suitable to the class, you can request this service from the Registrar’s office (email needs to be addressed to Hala Abou Arraj). The same applies to any proposed changes in final exam date and time.  It is preferable not to change the initially agreed upon final exam dates and please note that students have complained about faculty scheduling exams/tests on weekends and times outside of the regular schedule. If you want to change the date/time of your exam, please secure approval from all students through a petition and then inform the SSO.   If your course has no final exam, then the above does not apply.
• Registration and Drop-Add periods: it is very important that faculty members be available during registration and Drop and Add periods.  This is because students often want to add capacity to courses and you alone can tell if your course is full or if you want to give someone an exception. The Drop and Add period for the Spring term of academic year 2020-21 is between January 29 and February 5, 2021.  Please try to be accessible via email and phone during those days. If you are not available during these days, someone else (usually the chair or acting chair) will be making decisions on your behalf.

• Group Work Assessment: We recommend that Group work assessment should be balanced in relation to the other forms of assessment taking place elsewhere and hence:  (1) If learning to work in group work is an important learning objective in its own right, then it should be reflected in the Learning Objectives. (2) The recommendation of the CTL is for not more than 40% of assessment to be in groups.  ‘This is deemed sufficient to encourage students to take the task seriously but not to feel that the outcomes of their group assessment could undermine their overall performance’ (Gibbs, 1995).  (3) It is a good practice to try to find ways to assess individual performance within groups

It is essential to accommodate the students’ personal circumstances, to the extent possible, especially those with extenuating family or health-related circumstances, those who have documented special needs or disabilities, those who face technical or internet access challenges, and those who are abroad.  For students with special needs, accommodation may apply differently in the context of online learning and faculty members can visit the Accessible Education page for more information.

The Office of the Registrar will publish the limited list of courses with a required in-person component so that students who plan to take those courses can arrange their schedules accordingly.

The MPH policies and procedures require that academic advisors meet with their advisees at least three times per semester to follow up on their progress.  Please be make sure to contact your advisees.

As you know, some students might be struggling – due to the uncertainties of the general situation, and with the challenges of having no structure, poor internet access, and even mental health issues in this difficult time.  International students who have returned to their country often feel particularly cut off and are facing connection issues too; many of them have returned to Lebanon but may be isolated in the period of online learning. So please be flexible with students, and do your utmost as academic advisors and instructors to identify and help struggling students.  They should be reaching out to academic advisors, but academic advisors also need to reach out to them.  Please also liaise with your department chairs who are members of the Academic Continuity Team at the faculty level.  I convey to the Council of Associate Deans key issues.

As you know, we had a very open policy on electives allowing students to take any graduate course as an elective.   CEPH thought this policy was too broad and requested that we identify specific electives that meet the public health goals of students.  We looked at electives that had been taken by our students and after checking with chairpersons, developed a list of “approved electives”. Students wanting to take electives outside this list need to petition the GSC to do so listing how the course fits their career or personal goals.  More on the approved list can be found at MPH Approved Electives List

As you know, the percent GAs granted are 100%, 75%, or 50% for which students are required to work 8 initial hours per week.  The working hours should not exceed what is required from a GFA student. GFAs can work extra hours (up to 12 hours) on top of the 8 initial hours per week based on the need of the faculty member, request of GFA, and approval of the department.  The work can be related to teaching, research, administrative or community work. Accordingly, GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistant), GRA (Graduate Research Assistant), or GAA (Graduate Administrative Assistant) contracts will be developed based on the nature of the tasks.  Those who have GRA contracts will be funded through the available grants of each faculty member.  The GFA contract is similar to an “employee” contract and therefore students are only given vacation days as per university regulations (not extended vacations). Their work contract extends through final exam weeks. If you would like to give your GFA time off during holidays or some time off during final exam weeks, this is fine, but h/she should make up that time.  It is important for all of us to be consistent with this so one faculty member is not perceived to be unfair as opposed to another. Please note as well that GFA students should be given clear guidelines for the assigned tasks. It is important also that they are given feedback throughout their work on a certain task so that they have the opportunity to improve where needed. Faculty members are highly encouraged to report unsatisfactory work or unfair placement of a GFA as soon as possible. You are urged to fill the GFA evaluation as your feedback is important to help us monitor GFA performance and future allocation

Faculty members who will be present on campus for their instructional or research activities should keep themselves and their students informed of the Expert Committee on COVID-19’s updates and recommendations, and set an example by applying the recommended safety measures in their classrooms, labs, and offices. In the aftermath of the explosion on August 4, the mental health needs of our community members may increase. Faculty members can refer students to the Counseling Center in the Office of Student Affairs. The Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the Employee Health Unit, offers individual counseling sessions for faculty and staff (extension 8030).