As spring semester gets underway, some colleges have made successful changes regarding their instruction models to better address the new blended learning environment. Some are keeping with a virtual or hybrid model that was implemented las fall, while others have delayed starts to the semester in order to wait for the COVID-19 winter spike to end.
Fierce Education spoke with Dr. Jason Lowery, vice president of academic affairs at Bethany Lutheran College (BLC), and Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Morgan State University (Morgan), to discuss the institutions’ academic structure for the semester.
BLC started the spring semester using the hy-flex model of class delivery.
“Hy-Flex allows each student to choose the method of delivery that they are most comfortable with during the pandemic,” Lowery said. So, students can either attend classes in person (with masking and physical distancing protocols in place) or attend the classes synchronously in an online format. And for the international students living abroad, the school is archiving class sessions for viewing at a time that is more convenient.
Hy-flex was used in the fall semester as well at BLC. However, Lowery notes that the number of students attending the synchronous online format increased in the latter part of the semester, when COVID cases were increasing in Minnesota and on the campus.
Six months ago, faculty had some initial concerns about technology integration and teaching to two distinctively different audiences.
“However, over the course of last semester, our instructors, with the help of our dean of faculty and online learning director, were able to recognize the needs of our learners and adapt their teaching methods appropriately,” he said.
Still, BLC is doing its best to help out professors in transitioning to the new norm. For example, the academic schedule was amended to offer several three-day weekends and the administration eliminated spring break in order to finish the semester a week earlier than planned. Additionally, the dean of faculty and other academic leaders on campus are offering tailored instructional sessions to meet the needs of faculty as they continue learning about the hy-flex model.
“These sessions range from technology support, to using Zoom more effectively, to Socratic teaching methods and more. The sessions are offered in hy-flex and recorded, making it convenient for our faculty to attend these sessions at a time that suits them,” Lowery said.
Looking forward to future semesters, BLC is now assessing how information will be delivered to students following the pandemic.
“While there will be places where online delivery will continue, as we seek to serve students from other locations near and far, our mission; however, is focused on personal, mentoring relationships, and this is done best through in-person interactions,” Lowery said. “Bethany seeks to find ways to allow online delivery to enhance and expand our educational approach, yet at the same time, seeking to continue personal relationships in a face-to-face format.”
At Morgan the administration took the online, asynchronous and synchronous delivery instruction from the fall semester and modified the options due to feedback from both professors and students.
First, the decision was made to push back the start of classes until February 1 in order to wait out the worst spike in the pandemic. Second, at the request of certain professors, the university resumed in-person instruction for classes which required hands on skills such as science, fine art, engineering and nursing.
This choice model is meant to offer students flexibility yet still feel a part of the experience whether at home or within the classroom. For example, students who choose to stay virtual were mailed laboratory kits for science class and are partnered with a student, via Zoom, who is in the actual classroom lab.
“We want to make sure that the experience fosters student engagement and meaningful learning,” said Crumpton-Young.
Crumpton-Young was involved in implementing many of the changes seen on campus this Spring. With a background as a human factor engineer, she welcomed the challenge to upgrading the facilities and community programming in order to better support students during the pandemic.
For example, a student and faculty survey from the Fall showed a large number of people feeling isolated, so the school now offers a daily mindfulness class, which can be taken in place of the college physical activity credit.
In addition, Morgan began a midday meditation this semester, which lasts no more than 15 minutes and is open to anyone in the community. The administration also emails out a Monday motivational message and Compton-Young hosts a monthly coffee and conversation open to all.
“We feel like we have to responsible for the whole person,” she said.
Finally, to help with the Spring semester, Morgan has put into place 100 remote instruction course assistants for students and technology teaching assistants to aid in faculty technology struggles.
Post pandemic, Morgan plans on keeping many of these new instruction models and services in place, providing students a variety of learning paths.