By Sha’de Ray
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench in the educational plans of most colleges and universities around the world, forcing students out of dorms, off campus grounds and onto technology in homes and apartments that may or may not have appropriate software, WIFI and accessories like microphones and cameras.
At Towson University’s College of Fine Arts and Communication, the challenges have been numerous.
The decision to go online was made by the upper administration at Towson after realizing having small groups coming into class following the social distancing rule with one faculty member in the room was not going to go well, said Greg Faller, interim dean of COFAC.
“Initially, faculty had deep concerns with maintaining contact with their students,” said Faller, “since they deal with making things, like ceramics.”
The faculty of the Center of Fine Arts got creative in ways to get their classes online that require physical presence such as dance, ceramics, and an ensemble. Classes meet online to access professors and to enable practicing dance and an ensemble, for example.
However, this is also one of the negative effects of having online classes since not all classes were made to be online. The transition of putting classes online is not easy if the lesson plans require having physical contact with students and materials for the class, officials said.
This is not the only challenge faced while making the online educational change.
“Being away from the campus due to circumstances beyond our control has been a big challenge,” said M’bare N’gom, dean of Liberal Arts at Morgan State University. “It has suspended one of the core identity markers of HBCUs, a close-knit community that relies on strong and sustained social interaction…”
Another issue for N’gom and Faller is the loss of access to resources for students once they leave campus to go to their homes for remote learning. There are students who do not have access to Internet or computers and web cameras needed for these lessons.
“All stakeholders, faculty, students, and staff have had to adjust to this massive disruption caused by COVID-19,” said N’gom, “which, in most cases, has led to the readjustment of our plans and routine.”
The changes to have online and remote classes have not been an easy feat. There have been concerns for the method of distributing lessons to ensure a good learning environment for both students and faculty.
“It’s definitely different. I miss the interaction with my students,” Jennifer Atwater, Mass Communications professor at Towson, said about teaching online and the transition. “I have had to change the scope of my assignments because I don’t want to send students out into the community to report stories.”
Atwater also realized that most students are having a difficult time with online learning since they wouldn’t normally sign up for them. Her concerns are for those students who feel isolated and overwhelmed due to these circumstances.
A Communication Research study found that 20 percent of 748 students surveyed had trouble maintaining access to technology, data limits, connectivity problems and broken hardware.
The spread of the Coronavirus, COVID-19, has been rapid with nearly 2 million cases around the world and 602,846 cases in the U.S., according to health officials. Maryland has 8,225 cases reported with 235 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Marylanders have been laboring under a State of Emergency, a Stay-at-home order and numerous other restrictions required by Gov. Larry Hogan, including an 8 p.m. curfew. Federal social distancing rules prohibit individuals from being closer than 6 feet apart and now officials require everyone to wear masks when in public. The rapid lifestyle changes have produced stress among students and faculty alike.
“Given the rapid escalation of the COVID-19 crisis, the lack of existing institutional resources and support available to most faculty — especially faculty in under resourced and rural schools — and the frenzied nature of the moment,” said Cameron Sublett, senior research associate at WestEd, “it is likely most faculty will populate their LMS [Learning Management System] shells with asynchronous online discussion forums and have time and resources for little else.”
Students’ reaction to the changes were on a spectrum. Where some students were agreeable, and others were not. This was exhibited by a survey conducted by COFAC concerning the opinion of students about having the “pass/fail” grading option available to them, said Faller. This grading option allows for any grade C or higher to be considered a pass without affecting the GPA.
Universities still grapple with tough health, academic and safety decisions concerning their faculty, staff, and students. Officials acknowledged the future is hard to predict with the behavior of COVID-19 and measures needed to prevent it from spreading.
“Though I am unable to predict the future, I can say one thing: we will emerge much stronger out of this painful experience as a community and institution,” said N’gom.