Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Two weeks in, UAFS campus learning as it goes
FORT SMITH — With nearly two weeks of the new semester under their belts, students and faculty and staff members at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith have been working to adapt to both the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions that have come with it.
Classes for the fall semester began on Aug. 17. UAFS Chancellor Terisa Riley said a priority for her is actively talking about how those involved in the university take care of one another.
“That has been a really strong message and theme throughout this time, and I think that’s something I might not have been strongly relating to people if not for the pandemic, so I’m sort of glad to have a catalyst for that to be part of the conversation,” Riley said.
Another matter Riley mentioned was upgrading classroom technology, with UAFS spending “hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars” on equipment necessary to allow students and faculty members to take part in classes online from their homes. The university also has invested about $30,000 to provide online training sessions for faculty and staff members pertaining to technology use.
Riley said the time since the onset of the pandemic in Arkansas during the spring semester gave UAFS an opportunity to be more thoughtful about its communication, as well as to prepare a phased return-to-work plan.
“So doing that in a phased way, I think, was brilliant, honestly, and not one single person can take credit for that,” Riley said. “Lots and lots of people on campus gave us input toward that plan so that it would be very considerate, and we revisited that plan basically every single week to review and say, ‘What’s missing?’ ‘What should we change?’ ‘What needs to be altered as
a result of something we’ve learned from the previous week?’ So I think both being proactive, and doing a good job of being reactive … made this plan very dynamic.”
This in turn helped the university learn that it would need to do something similar when reopening the campus for faculty members and student learning, according to Riley.
STUDENT LIFE
Rachel Putman, associate director for strategic communications at UAFS, said the university had a total enrollment of 5,843 for the semester as of Wednesday. This consisted of 1,118 concurrent students, meaning those who are in high school, 4,667 undergraduates and 58 masters candidates.
Of the total enrollment, 567 students are living on campus. That number is divided between the two Lions Den residence halls and the Sebastian Commons campus apartments, and represents about 12% of the university’s undergraduate and graduate population.
One of the students living at Sebastian Commons is junior Claire Hollenbeck, 20, of Fort Smith. Hollenbeck said she felt like wearing masks
was the biggest adjustment between this semester and past ones, with many people having to get used to the practice.
Another major change, Hollenbeck said, is having student activities that would normally unfold in person take place online. The UAFS Student Government Association, of which Hollenbeck is the president, is having virtual assembly meetings, with its first meeting taking place on Tuesday. Certain things can still be done in person, such as the Campus Picnic and Block Party this past week and getting food at the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center, albeit with restrictions and safeguards in place.
Hollenbeck said she believes the atmosphere of the campus is different now with these changes. She is used to going out every day, but currently only leaves her apartment for class two days a week.
“I feel like the number of students on campus is extremely different,” Hollenbeck said. “The seating in the campus center … has been set up differently.
“Normally … I would walk in there and see 10 people I knew and talk to people and hug people and be able to be around people, whereas now it’s, like, I feel like I never see anyone in the campus center anymore and you’ve got to stay a distance so it’s like, ‘Hey, how’s it going,’ and you’re not as personable, I feel like.”
In addition to other services the university is providing for students, Riley mentioned that Dave Stevens, the dean of students, has been working to make the university’s counseling center virtually accessible for students who need it.
CLASSES AND CLASSWORK
UAFS has diversified the ways in which courses are delivered to students. One such method, according to the UAFS website, is called “full online.” This term describes courses in which materials, assignments, discussions, projects, and quizzes are online, and for which students are not required to attend classes on campus. There also are new synchronous online courses that require students to attend virtual class sessions at specific times. Both of these options come with online office hours for faculty members.
The university is offering both “hybrid” and new ”alternating hybrid” courses, the website states. Hybrid courses are those that are mostly online and for which the instructor has reduced class meeting time to at least one-third, but no more than two-thirds, of standard time. Alternating hybrid courses have smaller groups of students meeting in alternating sessions throughout the week.
Web-enhanced courses in which students attend all class meetings on campus and certain course materials are available online are another option.
Putman said the university has 986 students who are on-campus only, although this may include hybrid courses, 3,095 who are enrolled in a mixture of in-person and online courses, and 1,788 students who are fully online. These numbers include concurrent students, and were pulled Wednesday night. This count and the enrollment figures are still solidifying, officials said when asked why the tallies didn’t match.
Hollenbeck, who is majoring in political science and minoring in business administration, said she has three online classes and two alternating hybrid classes. The online classes are organizational behavior, world religions and Spanish while the hybrid ones are American presidency and the U.S. Congress.
The methods by which Hollenbeck’s classes are being conducted are different from what she has previously experienced at UAFS.
“I feel like it’s an adjustment to get used to because I really would much more prefer to be having a class in person than online, although I will say some aspects of online classes make it a little bit easier to do,” Hollenbeck said. “But it definitely has affected the way I interact with professors just because I don’t see them as much, so contact is more limited to email instead of being able to go and talk to someone in person.”
On the plus side, Hollenbeck said having classes online comes with a more flexible schedule because of not having to attend a class at a certain time, allowing her to work more at her own pace. Despite her preference for an in-person environment, she believes she is still learning and is going to be able to do well in her classes.
Shelli Henehan, associate professor/assessment coordinator/director of Early Childhood Education for the School of Education, is currently teaching two online classes. This includes introduction to educational foundations, which has 33 students, and a master’s course called Teaching and Learning in the 21st-Century Classroom, which has eight students.
Henehan said isolation is the biggest challenge for her this semester because she really likes seeing people face to face.