Last spring St. Cloud State University joined schools around the world transitioning to alternative ways of teaching students sheltering in place – rising to the challenge of embracing and humanizing technology and online education for learners coping with a world in chaos.
Dr. Alan Srock and Dr. Rachel Humphrey co-teach a meteorology course together in AltspaceVR.
W… W…R… R…ADY
By Marsha Shoemaker
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MAKING THE TRANSITION When the global pandemic struck, St. Cloud State was prepared to mobilize. University leadership, faculty and staff worked together – stepping up to ensure that teaching and learning were tailored to meet the needs of students accessing classes and studying in a variety of off-campus living situations. Professors tell about students who moved easily into online learning, enthusiastically pivoting into new opportunities to be creative and successful in their classwork. And about others who faced obstacles that challenged their ability to move forward with the same ease. As a community, we expressed deep concern about reaching out to students to understand their varied study situations and their individual abilities to succeed in this new learning-in-quarantine environment. Most began the transition by surveying students about their wants and needs, their hopes and their challenges. All demonstrated the flexibility and resilience that they hoped to bring out in their students. It was a challenge for all involved. What eased the way was that St. Cloud State already was moving forward with plans to redefine how to meet students
evolving needs long before the pandemic got a grip on every aspect of our lives and every corner of the world. In her July 2019 St. Cloud Times newspaper “To a Higher Degree” column, President Robbyn Wacker wrote: “We will face these challenges and new opportunities head-on. We will continue to listen, to adapt and to build a broader education ecosystem to offer more choice, more options and more innovative ways to be the University of Choice.” “It’s Time,” President Wacker said, adding that the university was ready to be more specific about the direction we are headed. “While other universities are only responding to the fiscal challenges brought on by declining enrollment and COVID-19, we are, in contrast, making fundamental changes that will redefine what it means to be a Regional University. “We are ready to build on a foundation of strength and move forward with bold, positive changes,” President Wacker said. “It’s Time.” By March, spurred on by the need to reach students where they were sheltering in place, faculty and staff were ready to take action to ensure their students would continue their classes and secure their educational goals.
HT TP S://TODAY.STCLOUDSTATE.EDU/MAG | FALL 2020 / WINTER 2021
Above: Dr. Terry Vermillion leads a virtual World Drumming Group class with students connecting in Zoom from home.
St. Cloud State had just come out of its year-long Sesquicentennial celebration, looking back on the ways our school had grown and evolved to meet the changing needs of students and our communities. There was talk about how our school had risen to the challenges of world wars, depressions and other historic circumstances. But nothing in the school’s 150-year history prepared us for the upheaval, uncertainty and anxiety the out-of-the-blue coronavirus hurled at us all. Then the horror and despair that soon followed when right here in Minnesota a video captured the death of George Floyd by police action, inciting anger and advocacy for justice. The world was stunned; people were changed. When COVID-19 hit, classes became predominantly online for virtually every educational institution. While the pandem-
