Updates
Spring Break Extension
Mar 12, 2020
Due to the risks from the Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19), Houston Community College (HCC) has made the decision to extend the Spring Break holiday for students by an additional two days. This means that all HCC classes will not resume until Wednesday, March 25. We have made this decision in order to allow faculty and staff extra time to respond to issues that may arise during the Spring Break period and to prepare for the migration of select courses to hybrid or full online modality.
- Hybrid courses reduce classroom time with the deliberate use of online resources and tools where possible. This modality will be especially important for the delivery of HCC’s workforce programs (welding, automotive, etc.), which would be very challenging to deliver fully online.
- For other programs that can move fully to online delivery, we are making plans to accomplish this transition within our available capacity should it be needed.
We realize that this decision means a small loss in class time; however, the lost time will be made up through extended instructional time or supplemental instruction once classes resume. The delay in class start will allow faculty to develop strategies that are responsive to course requirements and studentlearning- outcomes in a changed environment.
At this point in time, HCC is not canceling classes beyond March 24. However, in an effort to minimize the amount of student time on campus, we anticipate a significant number of courses will transition to some level of multi-modal delivery. We ask for your patience and flexibility as we update plans and procedures that will enable HCC to respond quickly if further changes are required. This means all faculty and staff are still required to report for duty starting Monday, March 23, in order to work together to prepare for this transition.
This is a dynamic situation and the health and safety of the HCC family is our main priority, which is why we are taking these precautionary measures. HCC provides coursework and programs to more than 100,000 students, each of which have different needs and resources compared to programs at traditional universities. Therefore, we are taking a distinctive approach to limit the burden on our students resulting from COVID-19.
As the situation continues to evolve, the College is committed to working swiftly to address challenges and best support our students, faculty and staff. Stay tuned for further updates about decisions that are made prior to the end of our Spring Break holiday.
Download and view the Memorandum