Colleges, professors struggle to find the best way to teach in uncertain times.
Online or not online – that is the existential question that many in the U.S. higher education have been grappling with for the past couple of months. Even as the pandemic situation continue to shift unpredictably, colleges and universities must decide how they are going to teach their fall term. In fact, many have already made their decisions public: some will remain fully online; many will reopen their campuses with appropriate social-distancing protocols in dorms and classrooms.
My university went the middle of the road: it will reopen the campus with reduced residence hall occupancy and leave the instructional decision-making to individual faculty members, so each of us could choose between in-person, online or hybrid modality, whichever we thought the most appropriate.
Desire to Teach Well
There is a curricular reason to keep things flexible for sure. Some fields of study involve extensive lab or studio work, which are difficult, even dangerous, without proper facilities. While instructors in some programs are more likely to lecture, others spend almost all their class time interactively. Many classes involve hands-on activities, field trips and/or volunteer work in the community. Given the diversity of these instructional methods, it is perhaps impossible to reach consensus.
My department values faculty-student interaction highly, and most of our courses are discussion-based. My own teaching style can be summarized as calculated spontaneity. Often starting with a casual conversation over the silly story of my cat or the latest episode of Terrace House, students are (when it works as planned) drawn into an engaged conversation about our course material without even knowing. This pedagogy depends heavily on my ability to “read” the classroom. After twenty years of practice, I can tell which student has a question but is too embarrassed to ask, is texting on their laptop, or didn’t get enough sleep the night before, all without even looking at their direction. This ability to “read” my classroom, in turn, relies on the subtle non-verbal cues that students give out, which does not translate well in mediated communication over Zoom or WebEx. Going online is the last thing I would do if teaching effectiveness is my first priority.
Theory Meets Reality
But then, there is an even more pressing concern of health and safety, which raises a critical question: as the state of California, and the country as a whole, struggles to keep COVID-19 in check, what do we need to do to be socially responsible? Although we don’t understand everything about this infectious disease, some patterns are clearly recognized worldwide. The age of the patient has a great deal of impact on the prognosis. Being in close proximity to others in a poorly ventilated and overcrowded space – the condition widely known as sanmitsu (three “densities”) in Japan - raises the risk significantly. Understandably many cluster cases popped up in high-density residential facilities, such as nursing homes, navy vessels, prisons – and, if you ask me, we should include college dorms in this list.
Of course, universities and colleges that are preparing to reopen their campuses are mindful of these findings and making a concerted effort to meet all relevant local regulations to reduce the risk, theoretically. But what will happen when theory meets the reality of human behavior?
“There is nothing outlandish about Memorial Day barbecue in the midst of a pandemic. Human beings have sought, time and time again, affirmation of family solidarity and social ties at the time of danger, scarcity and uncertainty.”
Instructive example is the recently reported spike in new COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County, many of which were tracked to the Memorial Day barbecue parties. For many families here in the United States, summer holidays, like the Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September, are as important – if more informal - family occasions as Christmas or Thanksgiving. Some family have been celebrating the Memorial day together for decades – even generations – sitting around a grill and enjoying a nice summer weather in each other’s company. Study of human behavior shows that, even with the full knowledge of the risk, human beings often defy reason and make irrational choices. From an anthropological perspective, there is nothing outlandish about Memorial Day barbecue in the midst of a pandemic. Human beings have sought, time and time again, affirmation of family solidarity and social ties at the time of danger, scarcity and uncertainty.
Is It Worth the Risk?
I predict that many of our students will try and follow safety guidelines and instructions as best as they can. Yet, after months of isolation and boredom, their desire to seek social connection will be hard to resist, especially since they will be surrounded by similarly eager peers. Campus adults can monitor their behavior to an extent – instructors may, for example, turn away students who show up to their classes without a face mask. But it’s impossible to keep an eye on them 24/7, and many students will inevitably get into a sanmitsu situation. In a small residential campus where coronavirus careers will encounter dozens of people each day, infection will spread quickly and, after a few cases, the entire campus will have to be locked down.
Some may say that this is an overly pessimistic prediction. Perhaps. Yet, when the lives are at stake, we need to consider the worst-case scenario, however unlikely it seems at the moment. Caught between my own desire to provide a meaningful learning experience to my students and the concerns for their – and my - health and safety, I’ve struggled so much to decide what to do with my fall classes. In the end, I must be real and admit that my classes, even on the best day, aren’t worth risking one’s life. Then, my choice, as a responsible teacher and conscientious human being, is unequivocal.
Comments