Last week COC announced plans to continue online classes for the remainder of 2020.
The college’s decision was made after extensive consultation with health experts and collaboration with faculty members, classified staff, incident command staff, and the college’s COVID-19 Task Force.
“The health and safety of our students, faculty, staff and community continue to be of paramount importance,” College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr.Dianne G Van Hook said.
Dr. Van Hook also said COC is looking to identify solutions that provide a wide range of opportunities for current students to continue their education and for community members to obtain job skills to secure employment.
The Fall semester new academic year begins on August 24.
The decision to remain in a remote learning environment leaves students contemplating, whether the health benefits are greater than what some feel is a subpar education.
“Why would I want to pay the price of a university education when I know that this semester is just gonna end up with me teaching myself?” said Hayden Bleecker, a COC graduate transfering to Cal Poly SLO.
Students are also concerned with the difficulty going from a classroom learning environment to an online learning environment for this spring semester.
“Yes, there is a huge difference. Despite opportunities like zoom being available for professors to engage directly with their students, engagement is not the same by any means.” said Matt Reyes
There are also students who are concerned with their ability to create professional level work.
“I am unable to produce high quality work because I don’t have a PC strong enough to run the program properly” explained Cory Cantrell, a COC Computer animator. “When you don’t have the technology they have at school, I am very limited to the work I want to be making … I’m surprised they are not allowing majors that require a high power computer to be a hybrid class.”
Lastly, some say the foundation of coming to campus on a daily basis, is the very motivation to complete coursework.
“For me it is a psychological problem when you’re forced to work all day in an environment you’ve conditioned yourself to be comfortable and unproductive in,” said Matt Reyes, a COC Student.
Last week Timothy White, Chancellor of the California State University system also announced that classes will almost exclusively remain online, and campuses will remain closed in the fall, until the end of the coming academic year.
With both college systems continuing the distance learning format and fall registration right around the corner, students have a big decision to make.
