Chattanooga State Community College is planning to offer mainly virtual and online course instruction during the fall semester in an effort to protect the campus community as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, according to a news release from the college.
While Chattanooga State isn't changing its fall calendar, it made the decision to modify its instructional delivery based on guidance from the CDC and the State of Tennessee due to the potential for a COVID-19 resurgence. Since courses will be taught virtually, online and in hybrid methods to help reduce number of people on campus and allow for social distancing, some changes to course schedules will take place. Those changes will be communicated to students in the coming weeks, the release states.
"It is our hope that by making these decisions now, we will have the time to build the appropriate resources to support our students, ensuring their experience this fall is positive," said Dr. Elizabeth Norton, Vice President of Academic Affairs, in the release. "We still have quite a bit of work to accomplish before we start classes on August 24, and we will continue to keep our students informed as our plans evolve."
Virtual, or virtual synchronous, courses will be offered using a video conferencing service such as Teams, Zoom, or Webex to deliver live instruction at a specified time and day as listed in the fall schedule. These courses have assigned days and times for when the class meets.
Online, or asynchronous, courses don't meet on a certain day or at a certain time and are taught completely through the Chattanooga State learning management system.
Hybrid courses are partly online, partly virtual and partly face-to-face. Face-to-face instruction will be limited primarily to programs with strong hands-on components that can't be completed virtually. The dates for the on-campus instruction will be listed in each course syllabus or the course learning management system.
The number of fully online courses will also be expanded this fall. Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Chattanooga State offered more than 30 fully online degrees and certificates and nearly one-third of students took one or more fully online courses, the release states.