The University of Oregon returned to in-person classes fall term, eighteen months after initially moving online due to COVID-19. The fall 2021 term was anything but normal with masks, social distancing and vaccine mandates.
Some departments and schools housed within UO had to make adjustments during online learning and when coming back to in-person learning. While there are many positives of returning to campus, the lessons from the 18-month stretch of online operations are sticking with students and professors alike.
It’s good to be back
Transitioning and continuing college online was a challenge for many professors and students.
“I think it took a lot of people by surprise with how little time we had to move onto Zoom,” UO’s Divisional Dean of Social Sciences Philip Scher said. “It suddenly dawned on people that this might be a long-term deal.”
UO offered most classes online from the spring of 2020 to the fall of 2021, when classes were moved in-person again.
“It was a superhuman effort on the part of all of our faculty and staff to move our coursework online,” Randy Kamphaus, dean of UO’s College of Education, said. “I am astounded they were able to do it and even more astounded that it was successful.”
Jack Boss, the department head of Academic Music and a music theory professor, teaches classes of primarily graduate students. He said the classes would meet on Zoom during the class period and do basically everything that they would have done if they were in a classroom.
“A lot of us tried to make it as normal as possible even though we couldn’t actually come into the building and see our students,” Boss said.
But since then, nearly every department at UO has made the transition from online learning back to in-person lectures. Many of these departments welcome back in-person courses for their unique learning experiences.
Kamphaus said he gauges success based on conversations with students, faculty members and staff.
“The faculty has been able to report to me that they are very satisfied and pleased to be back and interacting with students in person,” Kamphaus said. “I’ve had some concerns from students who wanted a class to be remote. That’s a very small number of students though.”
Some classes that are offered at the College of Education require hands-on field experience, like student teaching. Kamphaus said those opportunities give students experience in front of families and students and help to maximize their time at the College of Education.
Kamphaus said the most successful outcome of moving back to in-person learning has been the morale boost. “The pleasure of being around one another again has been helpful to all parties at UO,” he said.
Boss said that the social aspect of schooling is also more robust with in-person classes. “The one thing I really missed during the pandemic was running into people in the hallways,” Boss said. “Now we have those opportunities back, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Boss said most of the students he worked with were excited to be back and were engaged in their schoolwork throughout the fall term. Faculty at the School of Music and Dance even held a few welcome back parties.
“There is always a certain excitement when fall rolls around,” Boss said. “This year there was a lot more of that than before because we were able to be together.”
Lessons learned from Zoom
Although many are relieved to return to campus, Zoom university presented some benefits and tools that proved to be useful for in-person learning.
Kamphaus said professors picked up three main methods or skills as a result of online learning that are now being implemented throughout in-person teaching. The first was better email communication with students. “That became the most preferred means of communication,” Kamphaus said.
The second skill, Kamphaus said, was the means to create better discussions among students during class. “Faculty would like to continue to use those discussion boards, breakout rooms and similar discussion platforms — even when they are teaching face-to-face — to enhance student learning and engagement,” he said.
The third method that faculty from the College of Education will continue to implement during in-person classes is the use of Panopto and recorded lectures to help students review content.
Boss also said online learning and Zoom had a few perks, one being the ability to host guest lecturers from all around the world. Boss has continued to incorporate this use of technology in the fall of 2021.
As in-person classes — with some modifications from the era of Zoom — continue, Director of Language Instruction Robert Davis said he is impressed with how the campus community is respecting safety guidelines.
“If you want a success story, that’s it,” Davis said. “Amazingly people ponied up and have been following protocol with good faith.”
