Concerns about UCs and CSUs

Faculty express concerns about new requirements

BY SHEHREEN KARIM

As COVID-19 brings physical interactions to a halt, the Pierce College Academic Senate met on a Zoom conference call with faculty raising concerns about grading and UC and CSU requirements, on April 6.

Senate President Barbara Anderson addressed how students are able to now withdraw from courses by only using excused withdrawals and informs how the deadline for students to request a pass and no pass grading scale has been extended.

given. He also said that it’s not a replacement for hands-on learning.

“I could get all the bells and whistles, but you can’t teach someone to swim without a pool,” Villalta said.

BRIEF:

Fortune said that when classes resume to in-person lectures, he hopes they continue to integrate the technology they are using for distance learning.

The welding and machine shop programs also continue doing as much as they can online. They calculated how many hours a student needs in order to complete the lab course and will have students complete those hours once the campus is reopened, according to Department Chair of Industrial Technology, Elizabeth Cheung.

Cheung said in a phone interview that these courses need hands-on practice in the lab in order to complete them. The date as to when students will be back in the lab remains unknown.

Industrial Tech Instructor Alex Villalta and Automotive Instructor Michael Van Dyke said in an interview through Zoom that the department has done an amazing job in the transition to online classes.

The department meets once or twice a week in an effort to discuss how the classes are going and how they can improve to make it work for the professors and students. They use online programs such as Zoom, Canvas and Electude to keep students engaged in learning.

Van Dyke said around 60% of his automotive class was spent in the lab. Now he will try to use video and simulation software to try and replace the lab work, but he said it is a “poor substitute.”

Villalta believes that the department has done the best they can with the tools they have been

The Industrial Technology professors also have noninstructional meetings in which students can ask questions and talk to their professors and peers in a nonclass setting to feel more connected. They feel this is an important tool in keeping some sort of sense of community and normalcy for students during the sudden changes brought on by COVID-19.

“This is a very confusing time for us all,” Van Dyke said. “We have been reaching out and keeping in touch with drop in meetings.”

Students in classes that can’t be completed at the time, will remain enrolled in the classes until they can be completed in person.

BY MAYA GARIBAY azolezzi.roundupnews@gmail.com