Since March 2020, Chabot College students and instructors have been taking online classes for eleven months, full of challenges for everyone. Chabot College has taken corresponding measures to deal with the online environment and better help students achieve their academic success during the pandemic.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University, as of June 2, 2021, there have been 33.3 million confirmed cases and 595.8k deaths in the United States.
The data is still coming in. California has the most cases in the United States. Affected by this, people’s work and study transformed into online mode, as people needed to observe safe social distance to deal with the rapid spread of the COVID-19.
According to statistics from the Entangled Solutions website, as early as May 2020, there were 4,234 universities and colleges affected by the coronavirus in the United States. The total number of affected students exceeds 25 million.
“Since biology is intended to be a hands-on endeavor, moving labs to an online setting has been challenging,” Said Megan Jensen, on Feb 25, 2021, a biology instructor at Chabot, “Each class is approaching things differently, but I have found that using a blend of virtual labs and sending home materials in the form of lab kits has worked to some extent.”
According to Professor Jensen, students must visit digital products and virtual labs provided by some textbook publishers (such as McGraw-Hill) to complete part of the classroom experiment content. “In general, I think the virtual labs by themselves are not sufficient but can be one tool in a broader assessment plan to help contextualize the learning.”
Professor Jensen also talked about her online teaching style, “I have chosen to teach my lectures synchronously, so students have the opportunity to connect and talk about content in breakout rooms, and ask clarifying questions in real-time. I also think having a biweekly class provides some structure to the week and helps keep students on track.”
As for how the students are being impacted, Yanqing Ye, a Chabot student, said on Feb 24, 2021, “I went to school last week and borrowed a computer and hot spot. There is too much homework and too many things to study by myself. Studying at home is slow and difficult. I don’t think I have enough time every day.”
To help solve the difficulties encountered by students in accessing technology, Chabot College provides computers available to rent out and hotspots during distance online learning. Students can email Cheree Manicki ([email protected]) to get specific information about the loan program.
Besides, almost all school services have been transitioning to online forms. Students can browse the school’s official website (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/) to obtain services like consulting, tutoring sessions, and access to the library, etc.
According to Thomas Lothian, an instructor from the mass communication department at Chabot states that Chabot College will conduct 25% in-person learning for each course from the term of 2021 in summer. Based on the latest updated information on CLPCCD (http://districtazure.clpccd.org/urgentalerts/index.php). At that time, part of the students will return to the campus for in-person learning. Masks and social distances are still required on campus.