Dear Math 308 students,

This past week has been filled with unexpected changes and disruptions, affecting much more than just our academic lives. There will be more details to come, but I wanted to reach out to say a few things about how Math 308 will be moving to online instruction:

I will be communicating with you via Canvas announcements (like this one), so please make sure that you have notifications turned on and check them regularly.
I plan to spend the coming week figuring out how to adapt lectures, office hours, assignments, and exams to online instruction. Tentatively, I plan to use Zoom for lectures and office hours, and I also want to provide options for asynchronous learning (e.g., uploading lecture videos and notes). To prepare, if you haven't already, please go to https://wustl.zoom.us (Links to an external site.) and follow the steps in the "Getting Started" guide to download the Zoom software and sign in with your WUSTL Key.
HW7, which was originally due this Friday, March 20, has been pushed back to Friday, March 27. This and future assignments will be handed in electronically by uploading them to Canvas. (For handwritten work, the easiest way to do this is probably using a scanner app on your phone, which allows you to photograph the pages and turn them into a PDF document.)
I'm still figuring out what to do about Midterm Exam 2, which was scheduled for April 1. This can't be an in-class exam anymore, so I'm exploring options for how best to do that remotely, and I plan to let you know more next week.
I will send you another message by next Sunday, March 22, to talk about how the first week of classes will be conducted. A revised syllabus will be posted by Monday, March 23.
In the meantime, please share any information about your particular situation, such as international time zone, that may be important for me to know.
Finally, this is a completely new experience for me, just like it is for you. It's inevitable that there will be snags and missteps along the way, and we may have to improvise and make adjustments. I appreciate your patience and understanding during this transition—and of course, I plan to extend the same to you.

Best wishes,
Ari Stern