Students return to class this week.
The fall term will look a lot different as schools take safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Nicolet College’s campus may feel empty at times this fall, but classes and learning are still full speed ahead.
“We’re really uniquely ready for the pandemic. We have invested over the years in transitioning a number of our courses to online or hybrid delivery,” said Executive Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Kate Ferrel.
Fewer than 20 percent of courses will be done in a face to face environment.
Any class or portion of class that doesn’t need to be in person will be done remotely this fall.
“What we’re trying to do is just limit as much as we possibly can the amount of times that people are sharing indoor air space,” said Ferrel.
For labs and other coursework that does need to be done in person with special equipment, students will stay at 6 feet apart, they’ll need to wear face coverings, and sanitizing has been ramped up across the campus.
“We’ve got fairly small class sizes, so our ability to enforce pretty strict distancing policies and use of PPE is really going to help us out as well,” Ferrel said.
For those learning mostly or solely online, Nicolet College has invested in laptops for students to check out. Student will also be able to use wi-fi hot spots if they don’t have great access to internet.
The college has also come up with a list of places throughout the area that student will be able to access free WIFI.
Now it’s up to faculty and students to make the adjustment on their end.
“We’ve got faculty getting very creative about how they’re doing assessments. For example, in culinary they’ve been assessing students work over a video tape sort of presentation,” said Ferrel.
Ferrel says Nicolet College is ready to transition to even more students and staff going remote should covid-19 become an issue on campus.
“Our number one priority really is to ensure the health and safety of our students and our staff,” said Ferrel.
