NEWS

Emergency changes to the modes of instruction in Winter Term AY2021

Update: January 21, 2022

To all students:

As you all know, the number of people with COVID-19 infections has been increasing rapidly in Japan, and now nearly all new infections are caused by the omicron variant. In response, the government declared a quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo. We still expect to return to face-to-face teaching in the spring and the details of the policy for next academic year will be provided later, but we are contacting you now to tell you about emergency measures that need to be taken immediately to deal with the current situation.

Here at ICU, several students have contracted COVID-19 infections at the same time. We are taking measures to prevent the outbreak of infections from becoming a large cluster and some students in the dormitories may move out temporarily. Some students who do leave the dorms will not be able to participate in classes face-to-face, and they will need to participate online. At the same time, some students who live off campus may feel uneasy about commuting to campus, while others may want to continue to participate in classes face-to-face. In order to meet these various needs we will be making some emergency changes to the modes of instruction for this term.

 

1) Face-to-face courses

Courses that are being taught in face-to-face mode should be converted either to "mixed mode" or "online" (there are some exceptions among PE exercise courses and NS experimental courses). If you are taking a course in face-to-face mode your instructor should contact you soon about the change. Students registered for face-to-face PE exercise courses will receive separate instructions soon regarding their options.

 

2) Mixed mode courses

There are several possible changes that may happen in courses that are taught in mixed mode.

1. In mixed mode courses, students will have the option of participating online.
2. Faculty may choose to continue to teach their courses in mixed mode, but it may be necessary for them to make changes to the requirements for participation and attendance in class.
3. Faculty may choose to teach their mixed mode courses entirely online for a few weeks or for the rest of the term. If there is such a change, the instructor should tell you soon about how the course will be taught.
4. If the instructor chooses to teach a mixed mode course online, as explained in section 3 above, the instructor may choose at a later date to return to the classroom and to teach the course again in hybrid format or in some other mixed mode format. In that case, the instructor will give students the option to participate online.

 

3) Online courses

There will be no changes to courses taught in online mode.

 

We hope all of you remain safe and well during this difficult time.

Robert Eskildsen, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Yoshito Ishio, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts
Tsuyoshi Mizoguchi, Dean of the Graduate School