Faculty reflect on a year of pandemic changes

On March 12, 2020, CSC students received a letter from CSC Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Powell notifying them that the college planned to resume face-to-face classes after spring break on March 16. 

The next day, March 13, 2020, NSCS Chancellor Paul Turman sent a letter to students informing them that the NSCS was extending spring break by one week to resume classes on March 23, 2020. The extension was used for colleges to plan for “alternative instruction options.” 

Four days after Turman’s letter, CSC President Randy Rhine sent a letter informing students that all face-to-face classes would be “accessed only through remote delivery for the remainder of the spring semester.”  

Since that time, face-to-face class instruction resumed, and teachers have modified in-class learning. Some changes are unique to certain education departments while others are universal to campus. 

For Natural Sciences Professor Michael Leite, restrictions from the pandemic limit field work, a key component to most of his face-to-face classes. 

“You can only teach so much stuff in the textbook, and you can point to examples and show pictures and videos; but until you actually get out there in the field, you’re not going to understand it to the extent you do when you’re out faced with solving problems,” Leite said. 

He says students usually have the chance to join a two-week field camp in the Rocky Mountains each year. Camp was canceled last year but he hopes it will return next August. Students in his classes also usually work together in groups, Leite adjusted that practice during the pandemic but looks forward to its return. 

“I just didn’t feel comfortable getting people to huddle together,” Leite said. “I think group work is the first thing that is going to come back.” 

Asked if he noticed any change in student’s demeanor over the last year, Leite thought people in general were affected by the pandemic and health guidelines. 

“I think moral is down in general,” Leite said. “People are kind of on edge because we’re trying to maintain distance, wear masks, a lot of stuff is canceled, travel is canceled and everything is just abnormal. It affects your mind after a while.” 

Art Professor Mary Donahue teaches several art classes in Memorial Hall. Some of her studio classes are limited by social distancing guidelines so she alternates studio workdays. She says other adjustments made during the pandemic have changed as new discoveries are made about the virus. 

“I think we’ve found that the virus maybe isn’t so much a surface spreading issue as much as being face-to-face with masks, which has helped,” Donahue said.  

She looks forward to one day being able to remove the masks in class. 

“It has been hard to teach in masks,” Donahue said. “I have a hard time hearing students as well, and just being able to see people’s faces; that’s a huge thing that I think we all miss. It’s hard to make that connection in class with students if you only see half of their face.”  

Associate Music Professor John Wojcik directs the Wind Symphony and teaches music classes on campus. To continue band practices and the use of instruments, he says students place newly designed bell covers over their instruments and drain spit from instruments in puppy pads to prevent spit molecules from spreading. 

To him, students have reacted well to the changed operating procedures during the pandemic. 

“I really haven’t heard one word of complaint from the students; I’m sure it has been as challenging for them as it has been for us,” Wojcik said. “We would prefer not to wear a mask, not to be six feet apart – all of us, regardless of the area of study, the classroom situation – but the student’s, they’ve been great. I can’t say enough about them for how well they’ve gone along with all of this.”