Online courses to see more students due to surge in COVID-19 cases
When West Virginia University begins its fall semester Aug. 26 — a week later than initially planned — there will be 8,000 to 10,000 students on campus in Morgantown. That’s less than half the enrollment of 24,000.
Rob Alsop, the university’s vice president for Strategic Initiatives, said the percentage of online classes, which stood at 30% if the semester had started Aug. 19, will be much higher when the final academic schedule is announced Aug. 5.
“This (one-week delay) gives the faculty more time to prepare,” he said.
The decision to delay fall semester by a week does not affect WVU campuses in Keyser and Beckley.
Alsop said the decision was based on the high number of COVID-19 cases in Monongalia County, which had a surge in positives in late June and early July. As of Tuesday, there were 824 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, with more positive results in people aged 20-29, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services.
“We had been talking to the governor’s office over the past several days and wanted to see how the data played out,” Alsop said.
“We were driven by the data in Morgantown,” said Alsop, adding he talks often with his peers at other colleges and universities in the state.
“Higher education as a whole is well-prepared.”
In announcing WVU was delaying the start of fall semester on the Morgantown campus, President Gordon Gee said in a campus-wide email that most upper-division undergraduate courses — 300 and 400 levels — will be transitioned to online or hybrid delivery. Hands-on courses, such as laboratory classes, clinical and studio classes, may still be offered face-to-face, as determined by each academic program.
“We’re doing a phased approach to get as many kids on campus as possible,” Alsop said.
Move-in dates to university residence halls have also been pushed back one week, Gee said in his letter.
“Move-in will now occur from Saturday, Aug. 15 to Saturday, Aug. 22. You will receive an email from University Housing that will outline the next steps to select a new date. However, if you cannot change your original move-in date, we will work with you to accommodate your schedule,” Gee wrote.
The university will hold two campus video conversations for students, faculty and employees 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Topics to be discussed include the move-in process, COVID-19 testing, class schedules and personal safety.
Separately, updated numbers for faculty and employees who were tested last week for the virus were not available Tuesday afternoon. The university began testing students Monday and will continue to test them through Aug. 15.
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