Due to the increasing threat of coronavirus and the need for social distancing, starting on Monday the 16, the college will close entirely. All classes will shift to online instruction and all employees will work remotely.
Faculty and staff were offered training on Thursday and Friday to help prepare for the shift.
College president Dr. Jianping Wang says, “We recognize that a majority of our faculty members do use technology, and we have a small number of faculty members, in fact, that number is getting smaller every day [that do not] …”
This decision follows an extensive plan that Dr. Wang presented to the campus community at an open forum on March 4. At that time she said there were three basic stages: prevention, containment, and return. She said the college was at the prevention stage.
Since then, Governor Phil Murphy has declared an official state of emergency and New Jersey has had its first reported death from COVID-19. As of this writing, the state has 50 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Dr. Wang says, “The college is still sticking to our emergency management plan…We are entering phase two.”
Manager of Mercer Online, Vicente Erazo, lead the training sessions for faculty. They were focussed on, “Blackboard basics, how to set up the Blackboard grade center, OneDrive, and Zoom,” Erazo said.
Students will also be able to receive training but only online, not in person.
Erazo said, “Because we have a big student population, what my department is doing is we’re going to provide online sessions to orient students on how to use Blackboard and how to access it.”
An email notification was sent to students on March 13 with the schedule for these trainings.
As the plans move forward, faculty and students say they have concerns.
English Professor, Dr. Carol Bork told The VOICE, “I have students who don’t have a computer at home. I have one student who said ‘Well, I can do everything on my phone,’ And I said ‘Really?’ and then the student said ‘Actually, not really’” She added, “I think we’re in danger of creating a kind of inequality among our students, and that worries me.”
Dr. Wang says that the issue of student access to technology has been, and is continuing to be, addressed.
She says, “We have been giving out free computers to students. To this day we have probably given out more than 140 computers to students. So we emailed the students in the last two weeks a couple of times; ‘Those of you who have difficulty please contact Dr. Campbell’s office.’ We have another couple dozen computers ready to be deployed to students.”
Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Diane Campbell says “Computer distribution to our students will be on a first come, first served basis through the office of Student Affairs.”
She adds, “This is the second year [we have offered the computers]. There are businesses that when they get new computers, they give the old computers to us. They refurbish them and give them to us.” She added that “With the computer comes a special deal where you can get [Comcast] internet for ten dollars a month.”
According to the application provided by Dr. Campbell: “To apply [for a computer], you must have a minimum 2.0 GPA and carry at least 6 credits for both the spring and fall semesters. Upon graduation from Mercer, you may keep the free computer as you further your education.” Students who cannot graduate are required to return the computers.
For those that do have computer access, there are still concerns about switching certain classes online.
Dr. Wang says, “There will be a small number of classes, at this point, we anticipate less than 20 of those classes cannot be taught. Something like Advanced Manufacturing, you can’t move the machines to your house. So we will work with the faculty. The academic deans will work with the faculty for ways to handle those special classes.”
There has not been clarification on how many classes exactly will have to be canceled because they cannot be moved online. Dr. Campbell has indicated that according to her knowledge cancelations are not anticipated.
“There are all kinds of scenarios that we’ve talked about, like possibly giving students an incomplete, and picking up later on, or extending the courses through the summer, or finding some other kind of creative means to teach the class,” Dr. Campbell says.
In regards to classes that require specialized software, such as graphic design, Dr. Wang says, “We are actually following the recommendation of the faculty members; contacting the vendors to see if we can get trial versions to allow our students to access it.” She added, “We will be contacting the vendors to ask if under the current circumstances is there a way we can extend that. So we are trying all different ways, and we are very encouraged by the tremendous amount of support we have received from various vendors.”
Meantime, professors in a variety of subjects are working to figure out how to adapt their courses.
Professor Jody Gazenbeek-Person, Coordinator of Theater, Dance and Entertainment Technology says, “The hardest part is, to see actors and try to get them to [express] emotion. How do you help a student understand their body if you’re not with that body, helping to place that body in space and time? That’s the hard part. But [I’ll] describe it to the best of [my] ability.”
Dr. Bork says of her English classes, “I have students who are not proficient readers, so if they have to read the lecture instead of being able to participate in an interactive lecture, demonstration, conversation, then that’s going to be harder for them to learn.”
Adjunct professors, who make up the majority of the teaching faculty at Mercer, are especially affected.
Adjunct History Professor Mark Winter says, “It’s going to be a challenge for me and the students. I’m [teaching] at several schools like most adjuncts. So you need time to get all of this prepared. That’s the challenge.”
Students echo faculty concerns about switching to online learning.
Garret Chmielewski, a Business Administration major says, “I believe it will now make certain classes even harder because imagine the science or certain other fields that need that one-on-one interaction to be able to fully understand the subjects. Like math can be taught just as easily in person as online, but for certain types of fields, it’s not that simple.”
Yhuri Barksdale, a second-semester Liberal Arts student added, “I feel like it might diminish the way kids are motivated in a sense that they don’t have to attend class, so they’re not really focussing on the class. You’re just at home, around a lot of distractions and you’re worried about other stuff.”
Dr. Bork says of the situation, “We’ll adapt and hope for the best, but I fear not everyone’s going to succeed.”
UPDATE:
On March 13, Mercer County Community College sent an MAlert message stating that remote instruction will end on April 6. In a statement sent to faculty, College President Dr. Jianping Wang added that the continuation of face-to-face instruction on April 6 is “subject to daily reassessment.” It was also announced on the website that the summer tuition deadline has been moved from “at the time of registration” to April 6.
Find additional information at MCCC’s Campus Health Website.
