When Hurricane Harvey disrupted normal academic operations across Texas, simply moving courses online was not enough. By creating a delayed-start, compressed 10-week semester, we helped students continue making academic progress while recognizing that many were dealing with displacement, property loss, and significant personal disruption.
When campuses abruptly shifted operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the objective was not to create exemplary online courses. The objective was continuity. Drawing on lessons learned during Hurricane Harvey, existing online-learning infrastructure, and established system partnerships, our team was able to rapidly develop and scale instructional continuity strategies that helped support not only our own institution, but partner institutions and hundreds of organizations looking for practical guidance during an unprecedented disruption.