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[04/04/2020 - 10:11 h] Notes of the Director. Weekly Report (II). COVID-19

[04/04/2020 - 10:11 h] Notes of the Director. Weekly Report (II). COVID-19

Dear Community,


We have already three weeks of confinement and once again I reiterate my deep gratitude to everyone for their involvement in contributing to keep the academic activities going on and in particular to the teachers. The appreciation is extended by a message of strength and encouragement to those of our community who are directly or indirectly affected by this ruthless pandemic.

I inform you that this week we have the School’s subjects adapted to the new teaching situations in almost 100%. In the two cases left due of force majeure we hope to solve them shortly. Thank you all for your collaboration and especially for the collective cooperation that makes us grow as a School.

In yesterday’s afternoon official statement, our Rector indicated that all face-to-face classes of this course will be suspended, leaving a hypothetical exams period beginning in late June. So, as I advanced last week, in the best possible scenarios the classroom teaching activity could be resumed only a couple weeks. If so, and if the general conditions permit it, these two weeks would be spent on final evaluations and some practice that could be considered essential. However, following the Rector’s guidelines, all course assessments should be planned in a non-face-to-face form.

I want to remind you that the modified calendar must be followed ant that the new exams period approved from April 23 to 3o, except for the Master´s Degree in Organization Engineering which begins exams on April 14th. In relation to it and in order to maintain some planning, this week a form was sent to the coordinators of the different subjects that have planned exams. The objective is to inform about whether they will keep exams synchronously online on the assigned date and time or will be replaced by new activities throughout the course, keeping the same weight in the final note.

Right now we are receiving answers to this form and we remind that teachers must communicate the procedure (partial exams or replacement) to the students through ATENEA, which must be the official vehicle of communication. It is necessary to remind that the communication must be made well in advance and all changes in the evaluation methods (weights, contents, typologies, etc.) must be clarified written.

Also, in order for the entire system to work properly it is necessary to be strict in a couple of aspects:

  • That the new teaching planning adapts to the students’ weekly load capacity, because we keep detecting specific courses with a high overload simultaneous tasks.

  • That the teaching schedules have to be kept (and in particular those of the exams) to facilitate students to change classes.

As you might know, ESEIAAT’s teaching staff has received several training courses, focusing specifically on the new tools available to us and in particular on-site assessment alternatives. I want to highlight the success of the courses and the great turnout from 130 to 190 people, with participants from all UPC campuses, although the course was initially addressed to ESEIAATs’ teachers. From here I send a big thank you to Sisco Vallverdú and his team and I confirm that their training courses will continue.

In this regard, remember that at the beginning of the current situation, we launched an initiative called the TAAIESE Project (https://taaiese.upc.edu/ca) to collect and share with the community all the information that may be useful to us during this period. Non-presence caught everyone with a foot changed and from the very first moment we wanted to reverse the situation by turning it around like a mirror image: “ESEIAAT / TAAIESE”.

The new web, separate from the regular School’s website, has been specifically created to respond to this casuistic, and it contains information, training, proposals, best practices, success stories, etc. linked to both non-face-to-face teaching and the G Suite package. There is also a coaching section and a point of contact and consultation in case you need help.

I insist in that everyone can participate in TAAIESE by sharing their experiences in ways that makes adaptation more entertaining and profitable for all. Recordings of this week’s formations can already be found and it is highly recommended that you look at the FAQs, which have been done from our own already resolved doubts.

On the other hand, I confirm that the School’s computer rooms are virtualized (https://taaiese.upc.edu/ca/que-ha-de-saber-un-estudiant/acces-a-programari), thanks to the great work done of our Computer Services. This means that students can access from home to the School’s computers which have all the software installed.

Once again, I want to thank you for your efforts. Thank you for the dedication, understanding and interest in making everything work out. We have never gone through a situation like the present and we are constantly learning while we go on the road marching forcibly but all together. Sure we will make mistakes and there will be things that will not end the way we wanted, but from the School’s Board we are convinced that we will come out with the help of everyone: PDI, PAS, and students.

Have a good Easter and please stay safe!!

Hugs,



Xavier Roca

ESEIAAT’s Director


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