Kia ora koutou,
The Government’s decision yesterday to move New Zealand to alert level 4 on Wednesday this week will have a profound impact on all our lives. For Carey, it will mean the college campus will close from noon Wednesday for at least a month.
I'm aware that this is an extremely unsettling time, and many of you will be anxious and stretched as you're forced to make a variety of decisions quickly for your families and communities as the shutdown approaches.
I want you to know you are in our prayers.
We are currently working hard to make all Carey’s courses - both our formal academic programme and our formation programmes - available fully online from next week. I'm quite excited about all of this. For some time many of our programmes have been online, and we have made it a strategic priority over the last year to develop and enhance our online delivery. Now we get to share some of these enhancements with you all.
We will release a full online teaching plan for the rest of the semester by the end of Wednesday.
I know some of you are concerned about your first assessments. In these extraordinary circumstances, we've chosen to extend the deadline by two weeks to give you some breathing space, if you need it.
For some of you, access to resources is one of the most pressing concerns. We have this covered:
- During the lock down you will continue to be able to use all relevant ebooks and journal databases.
- Teaching staff are currently creating as many relevant online resources as possible, as well as reconceiving assessments to match available resources.
- The library is open today until midday Wednesday and students can come and loan the necessary resources for their course of study. I realise in many instances you don’t yet know what resources you require. If you have some idea, I encourage you to come and get those resources today.
- If you are outside Auckland, or you are unable to come to the library, please email your resource request to library@carey.ac.nz. Within our copyright regulations, we can photocopy one chapter or up to 10% of a book.
- After the library closes, you will no doubt find key books you require for your study that are not currently in the Carey library. You are welcome to email library@carey.ac.nz with a request for an ebook. Our librarians will then search the ebook databases to see if the book you request is available to purchase as an ebook. If it is, we will purchase it within 24 hours and send you a notification of its availability. My only request with this service is that you ensure you really do need the book.
The next few days for some of you will be very difficult and stressful. This pandemic is creating a degree of change unprecedented in our nation. We will be in touch with you regularly, both with updates, but also to check in on how you're doing. That said, if you need help, please contact your lecturers or programme coordinator. And let's look out for each other. We really value our community life at Carey, and we need it now more than ever.
At the beginning of this year we chose as the theme for our community worship: "I lift up my eyes" (Psalm 121:1). It feels now as if God gave us this text to hold us and strengthen us. As we journey through this crisis, can I encourage you to memorise the words of Psalm 121.
"Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth."
Ngā manaakitanga,
John