Dr. Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, informed that the fall 2020 semester will be held primarily online and by distance education.
The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a wide array of changes when it comes to all institutions. At Mesa, both summer and fall 2020 have been officially announced to continue with the online modality.
Although Carroll had originally stated in a previous announcement that there was still no precise answer to the question of whether or not fall classes would be held online or in-person, due to the increasing feedback, the latest decision was made official.
Carrol stated that science labs, nursing and allied health clinical labs, as well as career-technical labs are to perhaps be held by a hybrid method – lectures will most likely be online, while labs will be on-campus, observing all social-distancing protocols.
“I must also point out that if COVID-19 spikes during the fall, other quick adjustments may need to be made in order to ensure the health and safety of our students, faculty, and supporting personnel,” said Carroll.
In addition, faculty will be receiving new methods of training for online teaching. Mesa will be providing the Mesa Building with Buddies program, created to aid faculty members in creating their online courses for the fall semester.
The program will “assist Mesa faculty to develop and teach well-organized, thoughtful, and interactive online courses and lead them through the process of building out, rethinking, and revising spring 2020 temporary remote courses,” according to Carroll.
Miramar and City Colleges will also have their own programs to help out faculty get more comfortable in the online teaching modalities.
Carroll stated that plans are being discussed for the return of classified professionals and administrators to campus, with all restrictions by health officials taken into account. This however, is still to be determined.
You can find Coronavirus updates here.
