Local colleges, university extend remote classes through spring due to COVID-19 uncertainty
The Evergreen State College in Olympia will conduct classes remotely through the end of its spring quarter, the college announced last week, in light of ongoing uncertainty regarding the spread of the respiratory disease COVID-19, which is caused by a new coronavirus.
Similar announcements have been made by other local higher-learning institutions in recent days: Saint Martin’s University in Lacey will be all-online through the end of its spring semester as well, and South Puget Sound Community College will “hold classes through online, virtual, or alternative delivery” for its spring quarter.
At Evergreen, instruction begins April 2 for the quarter, which lasts into June. The college will be using applications such as Zoom to conduct classes over the Internet, according to its website.
A shipment of laptops that will be available for student check-out is expected to arrive this week, Evergreen spokesperson Christine Hoffmann told The Olympian.
Last week was Evergreen’s spring break, and the week before that was “Evaluation Week” — during which no classes are conducted — for winter quarter, according to the college’s academic calendar online. March 24, the day after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s “stay home” order was announced, the decision was made to move to remote for all of spring quarter, Hoffmann said.
“Although we had originally hoped to be able to return to in-person instruction toward the end of April, continued uncertainty about the course of the virus has made it necessary to postpone,” Hoffman wrote in an email to The Olympian.
Faculty and staff have been working through logistics for online learning for the past two weeks, Hoffmann said, and the college is hosting online workshops for students to learn how to use the necessary applications to engage in learning online.
“Our faculty and staff have been very nimble and able to navigate through this together creatively in a time that’s unusual for all of us,” Hoffmann said. “That strength in community has really shown up here at the college through all of this.”
Evergreen is encouraging students to return home, if possible, but still offers limited dining and residence hall services for students who need to stay, according to the TESC website. Through April 24 or until further notice, food is available in to-go containers from two locations, with no dining seating or self-service.
All in-person, college-sponsored events and college-related domestic travel have been canceled through April 24, along with all study-abroad travel for the quarter. Students can still access services, such as academic advising and financial aid, by phone, text, email and video conference, according to the TESC website.
The commencement ceremony for TESC seniors is currently scheduled for June 12.
The college doesn’t anticipate any impact on students being able to graduate, according to Hoffmann. There’s a committee working on what the commencement ceremony might look like, Hoffmann told The Olympian, and a decision will be announced in the coming weeks.
Saint Martin’s has already rescheduled its commencement ceremony to Sept. 5, 2020.
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