Colleges are now moving SUMMER classes online
COVID-19 is causing prolonged student absence on campuses nationwide.
University officials are responding to predicted danger of allowing students back on campus during the summer 2020 term.
With most American colleges having moved online for their spring terms, multiple colleges across the United States have already committed to online classes only for the summer 2020 semester.
Although it was originally unknown whether colleges would enact virtual classes only for the upcoming semester, universities are now requiring that students continue their education off-campus. All colleges that have done so note that these changes have been made due to COVID-19 and the need to ensure the safety of both students and faculty.
According to an announcement made by Bruce A. McPheron, the Executive Vice President at The Ohio State University, although campus restrictions will remain, the school will implement an online-only learning system in order to, “provide a consistent academic experience for the summer term.”
President Houston Davis of the University of Central Arkansas also commented on the matter saying that due to the “continued need to practice social distancing, all of our summer courses will move to online-only academic instruction.” He continued to let students and faculty know that, “[they] are currently working to make this shift.”
Associate Dean for Summer Term Aphra Mednick at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said in a statement to students and faculty that in response to eliminating lectures for the summer semester, they will be, “offering even more online courses than ever before so students can continue their academic progress,” according to WMTV-TV.
[RELATED: Harvard 2020 class will graduate ‘online’]
“Some of us have already registered for classes but they are not making summer classes pass/fail like they are for the current semester,” Ohio State sophomore Bailey Regan told Campus Reform.
She continued to say she believes The Ohio State University, “called it way too soon,” adding that, “they should’ve just waited to see if the situation improved so that we can see if we could have actually gone to class instead of doing everything online.”
Several others across the country have announced that summer classes will be held exclusively online in order to practice social distancing including Mississippi State University, The University of Tennessee, Duke University, and Michigan State University, with more colleges committing to this form of education every day.
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