If I were a university president (I’m not), I would not plan to reopen campus this fall. Instead, I would marshal the energies of my institution to spend the summer developing excellent digital instruction for the fall term. Higher education just completed a herculean effort to move in-person classes online in a matter of weeks, and setting out with a primary plan to reopen campuses in the fall seems likely to land us in the same situation of scrambling, or else having to simultaneously plan for multiple instructional contingencies. Better to direct all the energies to one plan and do it well.
There is of course much more to say about the decision to re-open or conduct courses remotely, but that’s my basic view.
If campuses are to reopen and conduct in-person classes in the fall, though, I would recommend altering the standard course schedule even more than already suggested. My own institution has taken a leading role in developing a plan for the fall, one which is innovative and measured. Three key features of the plan are to commence the fall term two weeks earlier than planned (August 10 instead of August 24), forgo the mid-semester break so as to eliminate a major travel-and-return event, and conclude the semester by Thanksgiving, thereby eliminating another travel-and-return event and concluding the term before the onset of flu/coronavirus season.
I have been thinking of an alternative that would require more adaptation and planning now, but would allow for more flexibility and responsiveness later. I am just going to focus on Notre Dame’s schedule since it is the one I know best and that has now been publicly altered.
Proposal
My proposal is to divide the term into two, seven-week modules (which is more or less adapting to a “quarter system”). I propose holding classes six days a week (Mon–Sat), with each class meeting thrice weekly M/W/F and T/TH/S as the standard model. I propose front-loading the fall with courses that have labs, where “hands-on” instruction is critical (i.e., most/all in Module 1).
Here is a little sketch of what this would look like:
Fall Module 1
August 10 – September 30
Classes in session August 10 – September 25
21 class sessions per course
Final Exams: September 28–30
Fall Module 2
October 2 – November 24
Classes in session October 2 – November 19
21 class sessions per course
Final Exams: November 21–24
By this layout, the full fall term (both modules) still concludes by Thanksgiving and the midterm break is still eliminated, so along with the earlier start date, it accomplishes what the current plan accomplishes.
This plan would improve on the present one in the following ways:
By aiming to complete entire courses by September 30, the likelihood of actually conducting full courses in-person increases.
The shorter duration and earlier completion date of Module 1 would reduce the number of students (or faculty) who become unable to participate in class due to infection.
The fewer number of courses students take at one time reduces the number of groupings of students at any one time (2–3 class groups instead of 4–6).
If it becomes likely or apparent that the campus will need to close down midway through the term, instructors teaching courses in Module 2 will have more time to move their courses online.
If particular students (or all students) become incapable of completing courses sometime in the fall (due to illness or family matters or whatnot), then it is more likely that they will be able to complete at least some courses (Module 1).
There are, of course, challenges to this proposal, and more than I am able to list here. But here are some of them:
The university course schedule would need to be completely redesigned this summer.
Registration would likely need to be redone.
Advising might need to be redone, at least in part (and I cringe to think of my friends who do amazing advising work… and what this would mean for them!).
Adding classes to Saturday is not desirable, to say the least.
And, since I’m focusing on Notre Dame, there is the football issue. On that point, I’ve got a whole lot more to say, but for now I would just suggest: if there are going to be home games (that “if” is so iffy and riddled with its own problems!), then move them all to Saturday night.
These challenges listed above are what I would spend the summer working on if I were making the plan to resume in-person classes in the fall. As I said at the outset, I think my first choice would be to just commit now to digital instruction, but this revised proposal is, to me, a second-best option.
What do you think?