educating through adversity
On Campus to Online COVID-19 forces colleges to shift to digital delivery of education
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n early March, when it became clear that the coronavirus outbreak was a genuine worldwide crisis, colleges across the country canceled in-person classes en masse, mostly switching to digital courses. For many of those colleges, the first week was anything but smooth. Along with the transition to online classes, universities told students to leave the dorms. Later, graduation ceremonies were canceled, postponed or conducted virtually.
42 BACK TO SCHOOL | 2020
Faculty members who prided themselves on engaging students in learning and maintaining relationships found these tasks much more difficult to accomplish. They scrambled to learn how to post material online, master software for class discussions and record their lectures. Bewildered students found themselves back at home with only family members for company. Their friends, sports, clubs and activities were suddenly missing. Instead of
lively lectures and interesting class discussions, they were relegated to watching instructor-posted videos or trying to feel connected to classes via virtual meeting software. Many colleges and universities did their best to adapt to a new normal. They shipped computer equipment and academic materials to students who did not have the technology to learn remotely. Some instructors had to deal with new technologies and ways of teaching that left them
ILLUSTRATION: HAYLEIGH CORKEY/GETTY IMAGES
BY MARGARET BURANEN