In an unprecedented move, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla announced Monday night that he will shift all of the school’s courses online and largely close the campus to the public to fight the coronavirus.

There also is a possibility that fans will not be permitted to attend a Division II basketball tournament that is scheduled to be held on campus late this week.

In a letter to the campus, Khosla said:

Going forward, and through May 10, 2020, we strongly recommend the following guidelines for gatherings on campus and university-hosted events:


-- Cancellation or postponement of events or meetings that are expected to have more than 100 people. If a meeting or event can be moved to an online platform, then the meeting could still occur

-- Cancellation or postponement of non-essential visits to campus by groups of more than 15 people. This would include, for example, campus tours and other events that bring visitors to campus.

-- All UC San Diego-sponsored athletic events are scheduled to continue, however, events will now be “fan-less,” meaning there should be no fans at the events.

(Details about the NCAA Division II men’s regional basketball tournament scheduled for March 13 through March 16 will be determined by the appropriate conferences and the NCAA. UCSD athletic department spokesman Richard Kilwein told the Union-Tribune: “We’re in communication with the NCAA and CCAA and Big West. At this time the regional has not been affected.”)


-- For the last week of Winter Quarter, courses are continuing to meet in person, but instructors will no longer use attendance-based points in their grading.

-- Starting in Spring Quarter, all lecture and discussion courses will be delivered remotely. In the context of our campus, this will mainly involve offering conventional courses via online teaching and learning tools.

-- Zoom can be used to deliver real-time online lectures, hold interactive sessions and office hours, or to pre-record short lectures.

-- Course materials of all types can be placed on or linked to the Canvas LMS, including videos or podcasts of lectures, readings, and assignments; Canvas can also mediate tests and chat-based discussions.


-- Laboratory and studio courses for which remote instruction is not possible will continue to meet in person, for the time being.

-- Educational Technology Services, in collaboration with the Teaching and Learning Commons has developed a resource page where faculty can access tools, support and guidance for remote delivery of course materials or instruction. Questions can be directed to edtech@ucsd.edu.

The letter, obtained by the Union-Tribune, represents a great technological and human challenge for the university.


UC San Diego has almost 39,000 students, about 5,600 of whom come from mainland China. The school has never broadly offered for-credit online courses to the campus.

The University of Washington announced last week that it is temporarily shifting all of its classes online, a move that will affect 50,000 students at three campuses.

San Diego State University is also preparing for the possibility of moving classes online.

Under Khosla, the university also has been working to invite more of the public on to the campus. UCSD recently began its so-called “Front Door” project -- an effort to build a large public space near a Blue Line Trolley station that will draw visitors to campus.


Khosla’s letter did not indicate whether the changes he imposed will affect the four major building projects that are underway, including one that is supposed to provide beds for 2,000 students in fall 2020.

