Georgetown Provost Jim O’Donnell is ever diligent in his (rather unpopular) efforts to keep Georgetown despite the record snowfalls that have forced campus to close for three days in a row. In an e-mail he just sent to Georgetown faculty, he has provided a link to a website created by the Georgetown Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship that has information and suggestions about how to keep in touch with students—even hold classes—via the Internet.

“Make the Most of the Closure,” the website reads on its main page. While some of its suggestions are pretty basic—e-mail students to review what would have been covered in class—there are instructions on how to hold digital class using the electronic blackboard on Blackboard, how to arrange online quizzes and exams, how to use audio conferencing to hold remote office hours with students, or how to use it to hold class remotely.

In addition Diana Owen’s real-time blog class, the website reveals that other professors have been holding class, too: so far, it boasts the story of physics professor Earl Skelton, who has “held class” every session despite the snow over the last few days.

“It’s still snowing,” O’Donnell wrote in his e-mail, which he shared with the Voice. “We don’t yet know just how much of this week’s face-to-face instruction we will lose, but we’ve lost a lot already. We are focused on safety as first priority and academic progress a very close second.”

In the e-mail, he also says he hopes to have an announcement ready about “tomorrow’s plans” by early evening.

Read his full letter after the jump.

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The Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship recently launched the Georgetown OpenCourseWare Initiative as a a pilot program. OCW, which was started at MIT in 2002 and has since expanded to over 200 colleges and universities, is designed to offer educational resources online for free.

According to pilot program’s website, Georgetown is joining the OCW Initiative in order to “demonstrate the concept to the Georgetown community. OCW is an exciting project for numerous reasons, ranging from its ability to further Georgetown’s commitment to social justice and scholastic collaboration, to its potential to increase the quality of intellectual discourse on campus or Georgetown’s reputation around the world.”

So far there are only five Georgetown courses involved—two Communications, Culture and Technology classes, Intro to Information Privacy, Beckett, Borges & Nabakov and Social Media in Business, Development & Government—with varying levels of information available. Some courses just have their syllabi posted while others have in-depth schedules, videos and links to additional online resources.