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Today is the first day of classes for the fall semester at Brookdale. I’ve never seen a semester like this one, and neither has anyone else.
We had some practice in the later part of the summer. For spring classes with inescapable hands-on components, like automotive, we assigned grades of “in progress.” In late July, we allowed students from “in progress” classes to come back to campus in small groups to finish what they needed to finish. That meant that we ran a small number of classes and open labs, and we were able to use that as a sort of dry run for the safety procedures we’ve instituted.
It came in handy. For example, on the first day of resumed instruction, it became obvious that for some of our staff, it would have been handy to have a Spanish-language version of the questionnaire that everyone needs to answer before being temperature-screened. So we implemented that. Because the numbers at any given time were really small, we were able to debug some of the operations with minimal disruption.
It was a kind of dress rehearsal. Dress rehearsals are valuable. But now it’s showtime.
The numbers on campus should still be quite low. Anything that could be put online has been. That leaves about 5 percent of the students with some sort of in-person class. And even with those, the parts of the course that could go online have gone online, so on-campus time could be minimized.
The campus will certainly feel different. Food service will be vending machines only. The parking lots will be mostly empty. Outside of a few select areas, the buildings should be pretty quiet, especially after the first couple of days, when errant students are redirected. (I’m guessing there will be at least a few.) The usual buzz of activity that accompanies the start of the semester will be subdued. I’ll miss it, though I understand why it has to be that way.
We don’t have dorms, so the issues around student residency aren’t our issues. In this context, that makes things easier.
The good news for students -- aside from the many, many, many steps we’ve taken to ensure everyone’s safety -- is that this time around, the faculty have had time to prepare. We committed to being maximally online two months ago, and I’ve personally committed that anything that starts online finishes online. In March, folks had to retool on a moment’s notice; this time, people have had time to think it through. I was especially heartened that a group of faculty organized an online “faculty share” in August, in which they shared tips for Zoom and online teaching with each other. The Teaching and Learning Center put in heroic work over the spring and summer to get everybody ready. I’m confident that the classes will reflect the greater preparation time.
First weeks of semesters usually involve a certain amount of whack-a-mole, with random problems popping up in rapid succession. Most of the time, the major issues are the same from year to year: someone forgets that it’s a Tuesday instead of a Monday, some of the room numbers are a bit counterintuitive, someone doesn’t know that “R” means “Thursday” on a schedule. Those are normal. This time I expect to get some very different moles, even though I have no idea what they’ll be.
But I’m glad showtime is finally here. We’ve been preparing, and preparing, and preparing. After months of nearly everything being unfamiliar, we’re finally doing something we would normally do. We’re back to educating students. It’s the point of the place, even if it feels a little different this year.
