Remote Learning Extended Amidst Omicron Surge

Colleges across the nation are extending remote instruction plans due to the surge in Omicron cases.

Institutions including Duke University, Seattle University, and eight University of California colleges— Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Cruz—have all extended remote learning plants and postponed plans for a return to campus, Inside Higher Ed reports.

“We are trying to minimize the disruption to classes that would be caused by large numbers of students testing positive on return and needing to be isolated for 5-10 days depending on their condition,” Erin Kramer, Duke’s assistant vice president of media relations and public affairs, tells Inside Higher Ed. “That is why we started online and asked students to delay their arrival back to campus (which is otherwise open).”

Seattle University, which extended remote instruction last week, set a return to in-person learning for late January.

“Over the Christmas break, we announced that Seattle University would begin the new year in a mostly virtual learning environment,” President Eduardo M. Peñalver wrote in a message to campus. “The decision was based on the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the state of Washington, across the United States and globally. In light of the continuing and rapid spread of Omicron, we have decided to extend the timeframe for remote learning through January 30, 2022. We will return to in-person classes beginning Monday, January 31, 2022.”

A BIG CONCERN FOR STUDENTS: STAYING ENGAGED VIRTUALLY

A Nov. 2020 survey of 3,500 U.S. college students by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators found that staying engaged while learning online was the biggest concern for students during the pandemic.

More than 93% of U.S. college students believe that if classes are fully virtual, tuition should be lowered, a July 2020 survey by study guide platform OneClass finds.

“My first semester, honestly, felt weird because it was all asynchronous and I wasn’t learning anything new because it was mostly review from high school,” Joy Ma is a rising sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tells CNBC. “It felt like my tuition wasn’t really worth it. And in general, it felt like I wasn’t part of the community, especially because I had just started college — like I wasn’t cared about that much.”

Sources: Inside Higher Ed, CNBC

Next Page: New York University Sees Record Applications.