REMOTE POSSIBILITIES IN MARCH, TRI-C TRANSITIONED TO AN ALL-ONLINE LEARNING FORMAT, MOVING NEARLY 2,500 CLASSES TO DIGITAL PLATFORMS IN THE SPAN OF SEVERAL WEEKS. HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED. It was March 3 when Tom Kemp first saw the storm clouds gathering. And they were gathering in a hurry.
That single night in early March, it seemed the entire country was instantly thrust into the worst pandemic in a century.
“I was starting to see things about the COVID-19 pandemic in the communications I read daily,” said Kemp, executive director of Cuyahoga Community College’s Online Learning and Academic Technology (OLAT) department. “People I knew in the industry were starting to ask each other ‘What would you do if you had to move instruction online?’”
But days — and hours — still offer critical time to prepare, and those eight days offered Kemp and the OLAT team a much-needed window to scenario-plan, devise solutions and ready the College for what was coming.
On March 11, the NBA suspended its regular season after a player tested positive for COVID-19 prior to a game. Hours later, Tom Hanks became the first major American celebrity to test positive.
“PEOPLE I KNEW IN THE INDUSTRY WERE STARTING TO ASK EACH OTHER ‘WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD TO MOVE INSTRUCTION ONLINE?’” —Tom Kemp, Executive Director, OLAT 24
TRI-C TIMES
STORY BY
Erik Cassano
