Last July and August, as the news reported the pandemic was worsening, colleges and universities reversed their fall reopening plans, shifting to online-only instruction.

Principia College opted for a hybrid model to meet as many needs as possible for both students and faculty. Classes were either fully online or fully in-person. Professors chose the structure of their classes. This meant that some students had an eclectic schedule with some classes online and some in-person.

In the fall, 96 percent of students took at least one remote course, 29 percent of students resided off-campus and took all remote courses, and nearly half of the instructors taught at least one remote course. This hybrid model continued in the spring, but only 13 percent of students resided off-campus and took all remote courses, 90 percent of students took at least one remote course, and 37 percent of instructors taught at least one remote course.

Creating Dynamic Virtual Learning Communities
Knowing many of her students would not be able to return to campus at the start of fall term, Political Science Professor Dr. Julie Blase chose to teach remotely. To prepare, she created Google folders where each student could post homework notes and drafts of assignments, ask questions, or make suggestions. “Teaching a synchronous online class does seem to go more slowly than in-person,” Blase says, “But that’s made me more focused and precise in choosing my goals for each class period.” Blase appreciates the immediacy of the digital realm. “Students can ask questions or make suggestions, and I can respond directly on their documents,” she says. “While in-person, it’s the next class before I hand responses back.”

Many Principia professors provided personal cell phone numbers to their remote students. Group texts provided an avenue for class reminders, schedule changes, polling, and—on one winter day—photos of snow from respective locations.

English Professor Dinah Ryan also chose to teach remotely. “You have to think, ‘What is this new context within which I’m teaching?’” she says. Last spring, when in-class instruction pivoted to remote learning, Ryan and her students discussed ways they could still be “together” in this new, online realm. The class also focused on class etiquette, including giving full attention to each other, using the chat function to ask questions, making sure cameras were turned on, and being on time for class.

Preparing for the start of fall semester, Ryan deliberately thought about what it would mean to build a wider community for her students. “I came to think about the digital classroom as a different kind of community,” she says. “One that’s located in a particular digital space, but one that reaches out with these tendrils into a wider world.” In building that community for her Fiction Writing I class, Ryan—through Zoom—brought in four creative professionals to do workshops with her students. Each came from a different part of the country and a different professional discipline. “At a time when people were feeling increasingly isolated, it was important for my students to meet people, to feel part of an artistically and socially diverse community.” 

In the metaphorical sense, Ryan wanted her students to feel as if they were walking along the streets of a neighborhood, talking and working with like-minded individuals. “We weren’t locked in a Zoom classroom, we were part of this big world,” she says. “I feel this has been vibrant in a new way . . . I think we need that at Principia, especially as we seek to widen our sense of connections, community, and inclusion.”

On-Campus Instruction
Despite these significant successes, not all disciplines work well in an online environment. “The hard sciences and our performing arts programs were incredibly innovative in our rapid pivot to remote learning in the spring of 2020,” says Dean of Academics Dr. Meggan Madden. “However, many of them articulated that they needed to be in-person to produce the highest quality of instruction.”

The Theatre and Dance Department’s Scotland and England abroad, originally planned for fall 2020, adapted to an Arts Block program. Students had an immersive experience on-campus studying Shakespeare through Zoom workshops with professionals from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and lectures from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust—organizations students would have interacted with in-person on the abroad. The department produced two productions: Eleemosynary and The Taming of the Shrew. The first allowed for a small in-person audience, and both were livestreamed to nearly 300 screens.

Students who chose to return to campus enjoyed aspects of the more traditional “college student” life: interacting with other students, access to faculty, joining study groups, and sitting on the Chapel Green, for example. But on-campus living came with restrictions as well. Depending on the “color phase” protocols, meals often could not be eaten in the dining room, group gatherings were limited in size, sports attendance was not allowed, and masks were a constant. “Wearing masks in a classroom makes it quite difficult to hear, especially with those who have soft voices,” Madden says. “We ended up putting microphones on some of our faculty members to help them project their voices.”

The Future is Here
Some faculty who are teaching remotely admit that they miss the spontaneous conversations that occur in hallways. And some students have had trouble adjusting to online instruction.

Despite the challenges, everyone is embracing the inevitable “new normal” that some of these changes may represent. “It represents the realities of the way education will be delivered in the future,” Sports Studies Professor Dr. Lee Ellis says. “And it has made me a better instructor because you just can’t wing it over Zoom!”  

Madden also recognizes the benefits and opportunity within the adapted learning model, noting that the College will offer more online courses going forward.