OVS’s Response to COVID-19
As an online school proudly serving more than 5000 students worldwide, we know how critical the ability to learn online is in helping our students maintain their academic focus during complex times such as these. At this time, our primary mission is to continue meeting the needs of our students while ensuring that the health and safety of our staff is cared for.
In response to the ongoing global health situation surrounding COVID-19, Ontario Virtual School has:
• Ceased all in-office operation as of March 16th. As a result, all in-office exams, partnership meetings, and drop-in consultations have been discontinued until further notice.
• Moved all in-office employees to work from home in a thoughtful, choreographed manner, with minimal interruption to the service and support available.
• Partnered with Examity to work towards introducing safe, online solutions for students needing to complete final exams during this period of social distancing. Anticipated roll out for May 2020. Until online proctored exams are available, we will be offering alternative culminating solutions to allow students to complete their courses from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Students seeking to write exams should contact our office or their instructor to discuss the options available for their course.
• Continued to encourage all OVS teachers to work from the safety and comfort of their own homes as per usual, with additional internal support for those dealing with childcare adjustments.
• Introduced weekly posted office hours for all instructors to allow prompt response to email inquiries between student and teacher.
Please note the following services that remain unchanged:
• Report cards and OUAC submissions will be processed daily as usual, without interruption.
• Hard copies of midterm and final report cards and transcripts will be mailed to the student’s home address daily. We will continue processing final reports for day schools, but will not mail them out until there is confirmation of mail collection in place during the closures, or until schools re-open. In the meantime, we encourage students to include their guidance counsellor’s email for electronic submission during closures.
• Our administrative team will continue to provide uninterrupted support via phone, email, and online chat between the hours of 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday.
Introducing Teacher Office Hours
At OVS, we constantly strive to provide our students with the best possible learning experience we can. That is why we are proud to announce that in addition to our regular 24-hour email response time, all OVS teachers will now be holding weekly office hours! These hours will be set by the individual instructor and can be found on the right-hand side of your course homepage. During these posted hours, students can expect a prompt response to their email inquiries.
Upcoming OUAC Midterm Collection Deadline
As of March 30th, OUAC has not announced any changes to their midterm collection deadlines. We are monitoring their response to the evolving situation, please be sure to visit our OUAC/OCAS Information Page for updates. If an announcement is made regarding extensions, we will adjust our timelines respectively. In the meantime, please continue to follow the dates outlined on your course homepages. For the latest updates from OUAC, please consult their website.