How do You Have Class in a Pandemic?

UNC Asheville Finds a Way

By UNC Asheville

December 1^st, 2020

Before the spring of 2020, students pretty much knew what to expect from a typical UNC Asheville class: a classroom with 20 or students and a professor (no TAs here), maybe a brief lecture followed by a discussion of some readings, or tackling some complicated math problems together as a class, or working together to run a new experiment in the lab.

And then COVID-19 turned everything upside down.

How does a university that cherishes interpersonal connections pivot to teaching, working and learning entirely online? And when returning to campus was finally possible, how could classes be held safely? How could the UNC Asheville community still engage in education and in the community at the same level as we did before the pandemic hit?

This is how.

A New Frontier for UNC Asheville

The arrival of COVID-19 in the United States forced in the spring of 2020 forced UNC Asheville classes to quickly pivot from in-person to online learning. By that summer, all classes at UNC Asheville were online, and faculty were taking on the new challenge with gusto. Here's what they did.

UNC Asheville's Prison Education Program Forges Ahead

UNC Asheville professors found all kinds of ways to connect with their students long-distance, with lectures over Zoom, connected with students via email, and directed discussions on Moodle message boards. But for faculty teaching in UNC Asheville’s Prison Education Program at Avery Mitchell Correctional Institution (AMCI), online learning was not an option—a limitation that challenged the program’s students, professors and administrators as they switched from in-person classes to a correspondence model class. But that challenge did not stop them.

“Our students give me hope. Their dedication to keep working through all challenges and uncertainties is inspiring and keeps me focused.”

Classes You Would Only Find at UNC Asheville

UNC Asheville student Tris Lashea highlights a few classes that caught her interest this semester that "showcase the uniqueness of UNC Asheville from all aspects of campus life, including curriculum."

Engaging with the Community

At the intersection of health data, creative arts, and community engagement, you'll find UNC Asheville professors Lise Kloeppel and Ameena Batada, a host of community partners, and a class of enthusiastic students working together to rethink the connections between art, healing, and health justice in Asheville.

That work didn't end when the pandemic began--in fact, its importance was made more clear than ever.

So they kept going.

Community engagement happens outside classes, as well. In the summer of 2020, 10 UNC Asheville students participated in the SECU Public Fellows program, working full-time jobs and using their liberal arts education to benefit high-quality nonprofit and government organizations focused on improving life in rural North Carolina for a diverse array of residents. Many of these internships directly addressed issues stemming from COVID.

Digitizing the Liberal Arts

UNC Asheville Professor of History Ellen Holmes Pearson is simultaneously a champion of, and very wary about remote instruction. In fact, it was her concern that an increase in online courses would lead to a standardization that is at odds with her view of liberal arts education that led her to dive into distance learning so she could help shape it.

She first taught a distance-learning class in 2014 and 2015 as part of a COPLAC project she helped create (COPLAC is the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, which is headquartered at UNC Asheville). And in the spring 2020 semester, she helped lead the very rapid transition to remote instruction not just at UNC Asheville, but across the entire UNC System.

Here's what she discovered.

Returning to Campus

A successful return to campus required a lot of work, and participation from the entire UNC Asheville community. Things were going to look very different all across campus, from Brown Dining Hall to residence halls to classrooms. A full video tour series explained the new health and safety measures, and the expectations for the community.

In Their Own Words: Students Discuss “The Politics and Policy of Immigration” Class

In the fall of 2020, classes proceeded online, in-person, and in a hybrid format. In “The Politics and Policy of Immigration” class at UNC Asheville, taught by Political Science Lecturer Giovanny Pleites-Hernandez, students are challenged to look beyond politically charged headlines and dig deeper into both the history and current state of immigration policy in the United States.

Management Students Partner with Local Businesses for Hands-On Experience

In the world of business, there’s no substitute for experience.

That’s the idea behind the consulting practicum course in UNC Asheville’s management and accountancy program, taught by Susan Clark, assistant professor of management. The class worked with two local businesses, JB Media Group, founded by UNC Asheville alumnus Justin Belleme, and Kudzu Brands, run by CEO and Creative Director Murphy Capps. Students worked side-by-side with Belleme and Capps to develop their own business strategies for real clients.

Can We Have Class Outside?

Students in ART 218 Painting I, taught by Assistant Professor of Art Suzanne Dittenber, have been spending more of their class time working en plein air.

"This is a project that normally would take place indoors," Dittenber explained, "but due to COVID, I’ve adapted a number of my assignments so painting projects can take place outside."

Research as a Form of Activism: UNC Asheville Sociology Courses Explore Inequalities and Solutions

For students in Assistant Professor Megan Underhill’s sociology courses, the work of changing the world starts with a deeper understanding of the problems that need to be solved. Students in the courses Whiteness: Interrogating Power and Privilege; and Class, Power, and Inequality; are spending the semester examining the histories and intersections of various types of systemic inequalities in the U.S., and exploring solutions moving forward.

“We can do things. So, what are we going to do? What I try to end the class with is, now that you’re aware, now what?”

The Show Goes On

The Music Department faced unique challenges in finding ways for students to safely perform together while still staying COVID safe. With ingenuity, creativity, and flexibility they were able to find ways to keep the music going this semester, and even put on some virtual concerts via YouTube and Facebook Live, and in-person Live at Lunch performances on the Quad.

Real-world, Remote Learning in the Case of COVID-19

Earlier this spring semester, UNC Asheville Associate Professor of Management Deena Burris revised her class syllabus in LA 478: Cultivating Global Citizenship (Honors), so the class would cover Globalization and Healthcare before spring break. In late January, the class started tracking COVID-19 using the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine maps and trends and World Health Organization (WHO) information. You could say they saw the pandemic coming.

In the Classroom and at the Polls

It’s complicated.

That’s what Patrick Bahls, professor of mathematics at UNC Asheville, wants the students in his class, Outside the Ballot Box: Voting Theory, to understand about elections.

In one class session—held via Zoom—students participated in an exercise designed to examine how knowledge of polling numbers can affect how someone ultimately votes.

Students don’t only learn about elections and voting theory in the (virtual) classroom, however. All students are required to participate in some kind of service-learning activity during the election, bringing the theory into the real world.

The Superheroes of the Semester

With just over one week left in the fall 2020 semester, faculty and staff from UNC Asheville’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Information Technology Services (ITS) assembled via Zoom to talk “Academic Technology: Reflecting on Lessons, Envisioning the Future.” Call it a meeting of the minds, or more aptly a team of superheroes who have been working behind the scenes all semester.

Undergrad Research Goes Online

Each semester is usually capped off with the Undergraduate Research Symposium, which includes presentations, posters, art displays and more. This semester the Symposium went online, and featured projects like "Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Mammal Activity in Western North Carolina" and "Suspicious Women: The Bacchanalian Affair and the Salem Witch Trials."

The fall 2020 semester is over. Exams and final papers have all been completed, and we've virtually celebrated our graduates. Because of you, our UNC Asheville community has shown the compassion, dedication, and resiliency necessary to continue our academic work together through all the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown at us. And because of you, we know that we can move forward with that same spirit into the new year and beyond.