11 Jun What are various universities throughout the USA planning for Fall 2020 to continue educational experiences for their students?

It’s been over three months since COVID-19 started impacting the world and we still don’t know how long we will be under the grasp and fear of this virus. Universities and Community Colleges throughout the USA are facing a decline in their enrollment. While returning students are afraid of go back to campuses, a big percentage of freshmen student class is thinking of taking a Gap Year.

All institutions are ensuring the safety of their communities, continuing education for the students, and providing the social and educational experience that keeps students motivated and the mission of the universities alive.

A big percentage of universities are yet undecided about their complete in-person opening for Fall 2020.

Some of the criterion for opening campuses includes:

• Offering classes in a mixed mode to allow students to participate in-person or remotely.
• Making sure that all courses are designed in such a way that allows them to accommodate certain changes in public health developments, which means preparing faculty for online teaching and course development for transitioning to online in the middle of semester.
• Allowing local students to commute from home.
• Reducing number of students per section to maintain social distancing.

Early Beginning Early Closing- Abridged Semesters

Some of the universities are going to start their Fall 2020 semester from August and wrap up the semester before Thanksgiving Break in November, the finals will be held in the next two weeks remotely in the form of TAKE HOME Assignments. These schools are currently spending a considerable amount on upgrading technology in their classrooms, for live streaming of the lectures for any student who is unable to attend in-person classes for various reasons such as travel restrictions, health concerns or even if they are simply not yet prepared to take any chances. Seton Hall University in NJ has already moved in these directions and is inviting students to enroll for the Fall 2020 campus experience.

9010 Model/8020 Model

Another recommendation for schools is to offer courses without labs online and the courses that require hands on experience for students to be offered in-person. Some of the mid-size colleges are moving in this direction, allowing lectures to be online and bringing students on campus for the lab work only and that too in smaller batches. This allows schools to meet the accreditation requirements for various degrees and provides the required educational experience to the students.

Totally Online

The biggest majority of students are not buying the idea of continuing their education in the upcoming semester completely online. Various reasons that make it difficult for them to pursue education includes lack of available technologies at home, lack of proper academic environment for the development of thoughts, no socializing opportunities, which make the educational experience so interesting for young brains, and for some it’s just simply not the same as going to the classroom. For some faculty it is difficult to retrain themselves in new methods of teaching, and some institutions are finding it too difficult to take the whole campus online. But this is one solution that a lot of universities, and colleges are getting prepared for.

Outdoors

We have to start thinking of innovative ways of providing meaningful education without sacrificing the essence of learning and teaching. Another thought is to take the classrooms to outdoors, just like the initial universities in the early days of civilizations. An article published in a higher education journal recently detailed the idea of taking classrooms in the open spaces to allow us to maintain the much required social distancing.