Oakland University will enter the fall 2020 semester offering different learning platforms to its students. | Pixabay
Oakland University will enter the fall 2020 semester offering different learning platforms to its students. | Pixabay
Oakland University, like many other secondary-education learning institutions across the nation, is offering classes in different formats in an attempt to serve its students as it faces the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Options include in-person learning, hybrid and online classes, a release issued on the Oakland University website said. Approximately 12% of the fall 2020 classes will be hybrid. Approximately 44% of classes will be in-person, 22% will be online in a livestreamed lecture and 20% will be available online when students want to access it.
The university has been making preparations for the semester throughout the summer. Once the scope of the pandemic was realized, online teaching capability was enhanced along with training.
“By the end of the summer, we will have trained an additional 250 faculty in Quality Online Teaching, which consists of a four-week certification course,” Michelle Piskulich, executive vice president for Academic Affairs and provost, said in the release.
In terms of online learning, classrooms will be outfitted with webcams for livestreaming of classes. Staff will also be able to provide recorded instruction. The hybrid classes will offer flexibility in the way classes meet.
The in-person classes will take social distancing mandates into consideration with six-foot distancing and wearing of masks. Seats will be blocked off and floors will be taped off to ensure proper distancing.
Additional sanitation procedures are also being utilized. An antimicrobial solution that has been designed to prevent the virus from sticking to areas will be used, the release said. Online health assessments will need to be completed and a washable reusable face covering will be given to everyone in the campus community.
“We want to be nimble, flexible and compassionate,” Piskulich said in therelease. “We cannot control what the virus does and its effect on people, but we can control how we plan and respond.”
Additional information about the university’s efforts to maintain a safe campus can be found at Oakland.edu/return-to-campus.
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