Embry-Riddle Fine-Tunes Safety, Enhances Teaching in Preparation for Summer B

Across the university, faculty and staff are fine-tuning safety precautions and developing nimble instructional strategies as Embry-Riddle prepares to resume low-density instruction on both residential campuses this summer.

Further details on Embry-Riddle’s “crawl, walk, run” phased reopening plan will be provided on Monday, but continuous refinement of health precautions and academic delivery methods have been key.

For example, all classrooms and workspaces are being systematically audited and reconfigured for low-density use, to maintain six feet of separation at all times.

Faculty members – working with Provost Lon Moeller, academic deans, department chairs and the Centers for Teaching & Learning Excellence – are being offered special training on how best to deliver content in a variety of modes while keeping students fully engaged.

Students also stepped up to the plate to complete their courses online, and many Eagles got busy producing face coverings, shields and other personal protective equipment.

Embry-Riddle’s Covid-19 response has included these and many other efforts:

Technology

• 347 laptops have been loaned to students and employees.
• 1,356 Tutor.com sessions have been completed so far.
• We launched three new websites: Keep Teaching, Keep Learning and Keep Working.

Health

• An estimated 60,000 wellness checks have been completed on both campuses to date.
• Some 160 gallons of hand sanitizer has been purchased for both campuses so far – and we will need at least that much every two to three months.
• We bought enough Virex to make more than 71,000 spray bottles.
• Approximately 70 no-touch thermometers have been procured as of this writing.
• Thermal scanners were purchased for both campuses.
• Materials are on hand to install nearly 50 Plexiglass barriers.
• Hundreds of face coverings were engineered by an army of Embry-Riddle volunteers.
• Students on both campuses engineered more than 5,000 face shields for area hospitals.
• Our researchers are working on new ventilator technology.

Aviation

• On the Prescott Campus, 222 FAA Safety Teams WINGS knowledge credits have been earned by staff members.
• On the Daytona Beach Campus, Flight Operations completed 1,600 activities within one week of reopening and the FAA Testing Center was relocated to the Advanced Simulation Center.
• Instructors on the Daytona Beach Campus have completed 2,000+ hours of training on advanced teaching methods and new technical systems, and instructors and training managers have developed 600+ pages of new content for the instructor guide.
• New enrollments in the free online Aviation101 course increased by 6,000.
• Deans with all three of our Colleges of Aviation, including the Worldwide Campus, collaborated to organize a free “Aviation Outlook” webinar featuring alumnus and Airbus Americas, Inc. Chairman and CEO C. Jeffrey (Jeff) Knittel.

Student Services

• ERNIE Central now offers virtual access to the Registrar, Student Financial Services, Financial Aid and EagleCard.
• Virtual career solutions have included virtual internships, webinars, a competition for prizes for students who take part in Eagle Elevate, Instagram videos with career tips, and much more.
• Wellness counselors are now available via telehealth, and Counseling staff are posting self-care tutorials to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
• A Teladoc service allows students to access board-certified physicians online. Online options for employees are also available.

Communication

• The new Covid-19 informational webpage currently features some 60 different updates.
• More than 7,500 window clings, signs, flyers, lanyard cards and other health-related informational materials have been created since late January.
• Videos such as the flight check-in and aircraft sanitation procedures segments, a PowerPoint presentation on our phased reopening plan, and other materials have been deployed.

Embry-Riddle’s list of activities and services launched in response to Covid-19 is far too long to include here in its entirety.

Additional information on the university’s phased reopening plan will be shared on Monday, May 18. Watch the Covid-19 webpage for updates.