Dear College of Health Sciences community,

I hope you all had an enjoyable long weekend and a safe and healthy Fourth of July. 

Preparations for our safe and smart restart are underway as we move closer to welcoming back students on August 17. We and the university are committed to delivering an exceptional educational experience while safeguarding the health and well-being of our community amidst the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

This promise will require significant changes and alterations to how we have traditionally delivered courses. Three different modes are currently being explored:

• Distance Learning – Internet and Web-Based: Courses will be fully online. There will be no required face-to-face instruction.
• Distance Learning – Hybrid: Courses will deliver instruction through both online and in-person interaction.
• Distance Learning – Compressed Video: Courses will be completed through a live video broadcast to a designated remote location.

For in-person and hybrid instruction, alternative attendance methods will be implemented to ensure proper social distancing.

• Alternating Attendance Model: This model will most likely be used for large-enrollment lectures and would divide students into teams who attend class in-person and virtually on alternating days.
• Flipped Classrooms: These classes involve students engaging with lectures and other instructional materials and activities online with class time used for discussion, application, practice, and other activities.
• Hyflex classroom: Students in these courses will enroll in either an online version or in-person version and commit to that modality for the semester. The instructor would be livestreamed when presenting to both the in-person and online students.

Under the direction of department chairs, academic faculty evaluated 306 course sections in our college for the Fall 2020 semester. Below are the plans for delivery across our Lexington, Morehead, and Hazard campuses:

• Distance Learning – Compressed Video: 36
• Distance Learning – Hybrid: 66 
• Distance Learning – Internet, Web-Based: 13 
• Hybrid: 2 
• Off-Campus Course: 30 
• Traditional: 159

Through the thoughtful and careful work of our faculty, 84 percent of our courses will have at least some form of face-to-face instruction. Classes with traditional instruction will operate at reduced capacity in adherence with CDC guidelines and social distancing protocols.

Face coverings and masks will be required for all members of our community while on campus. Instruction will also include synchronous video alternatives for students and faculty who are quarantined according to university guidelines or who feel attending face-to-face classes puts themselves and those in their close proximity at risk.

It will take a united front to face these new challenges and protect one another as we reinvent normal operations during continued uncertainty. I am convinced our college will thrive and emerge stronger because of the resilience of our incredible community.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Scott Lephart 
Dean of the UK College of Health Sciences