Here’s why Penn State says more than half of its fall-semester classes will be online-only
More than half of Penn State’s classes will be held entirely online in the fall semester as a direct result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the university announced late Wednesday night.
About 1 in 5 classes — 19% — will still be delivered entirely in-person, while 28% will consist of a hybrid model that blends both online and in-person. In other words, a little more than half (53%) of Penn State’s classes will be online-only while a little less than half (47%) will have some form of in-person instruction.
Students are still able to temporarily change their campus in the fall to any nearby commonwealth campus or to the World Campus, if they no longer wish to attend University Park for the semester. Any University Housing contracts can be canceled without penalty.
“We are doing everything we can to bring our students, faculty and staff back to campus in a safe way,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in a written statement. “This may mean that some students will want to work with their advisers to alter their course schedules to meet their individual needs and the requirement of their programs, and we are here to support our students (to) do so.”
Social-distancing is paramount when it comes to classes, the university said, which played a large role in the decision to move online-only in some cases. All courses with an enrollment greater than 250, for example, will be delivered remotely. (At commonwealth campuses, that number is reduced to 100.)
All courses and exams will also be remote after Nov. 20, as students will not return to campus after Thanksgiving break.
“Many of our faculty members want to teach in-person and we have added space that is not typically used for instruction in order to increase our capacity as much as possible and maximize in-person instruction,” said Yvonne Gaudelius, associate vice president and senior associate dean for Undergraduate Education. “We are continuing to look at options that will open additional classroom space and more information will be forthcoming within the next few days.”
While “online-only” or “in-person-only” classes are self-explanatory, the university also released a brief overview on the hybrid courses, which it has referred to as “COVID mixed (CM).” Some examples of those classes include:
- Rotating lecture attendance: Part of the class might attend in person, while another part watches online. A rotation might see a student attend one lecture a week while watching two others, for example.
- Small groups: Lectures could be given online, with in-person small groups gathering for problem-solving sessions, laboratory sessions, etc.
According to the university, faculty are still modifying their plans for the fall — so students’ classes on LionPath have the potential to change. A class that is listed in-person could still switch to hybrid or online-only, although the university said the delivery for “most courses” will be finalized later this week.
The first day of class is Aug. 24.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 1:41 PM.
