UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The window of time for students to schedule spring 2021 courses has been adjusted to align with the recently announced revised spring semester schedule, which includes a one-week later start in January. The Schedule of Courses will be available in LionPATH on Oct. 15, with registration beginning on Nov. 1 for graduate students and Nov. 2 for undergraduate students.
Nick Jones, executive vice president and provost, explained that the revised registration schedule is intended to provide instructors with extra time to plan for the instructional mode that best meets the learning outcomes and teaching methods for their spring courses.
Students are encouraged to meet with their advisers and complete registration by Nov. 20, after which classes will pause for Thanksgiving break and Penn State will shift to fully remote learning for the remainder of the Fall semester to deter the spread of COVID-19.
“We strongly encourage students to take advantage of this extra time before registration begins to meet with their advisers and plan for a successful spring semester,” said Yvonne Gaudelius, associate vice president and senior associate dean for Undergraduate Education.
Enrollment appointments will be assigned on Oct. 20. Students can view in LionPATH the date when they can begin registering, which is based on the number of credits they have earned. Enrollment appointments will be set to allow a new group of students to begin enrolling every day, as opposed to every few days as in previous semesters.
Spring courses will use the instructional modes of in-person, mixed-mode, remote synchronous and remote asynchronous that were developed for the Fall 2020 semester. Plans for Penn State’s spring 2021 semester also include the elimination of spring break and completion of instruction for all undergraduate and graduate students by April 30.
More information related to the spring 2021 semester will be available at https://virusinfo.psu.edu/ as plans are finalized.