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resources they needed to complete their classes successfully.

“I do not learn well this way and it is frustrating that I was thrown into a learning format that is pretty much just setting me up to fail,” one student wrote.

Others wrote they didn’t have reliable internet access at home, were sharing a computer with family members working remotely or didn’t have a quiet place to study.

Though the survey was open to the entire student body, the responses represent just a portion — about 10% of UCF’s some 70,000 students.

But whether the state universities will be able to return to in-person classes this fall, and to what extent, remains unclear.

UCF Interim Provost Michael Johnson told faculty members Friday morning that the university is planning for a variety of scenarios, ranging from keeping classes online-only to resuming many on-campus activities. The university may focus on offering those courses that benefit most from face-to-face instruction, such as those popular with freshmen, or difficult to replicate online, like a ceramics class.

Schools across the country are grappling with the same problem. However, a few, including the California State University system, the largest in the country, have already decided they’ll remain mostly online-only, saying in-person classes would likely have to cease at some point during the semester anyway because some public health experts expect the virus to reappear in larger numbers later this year.

“Colleges and university presidents don’t know what to expect in the fall,” said Lynn Pasquarella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

“While many would like to be face-to-face, there’s just no way to predict whether there will be a resurgence in the fall.”

Planning for a semester where some courses are offered on campus and others are not, Johnson said, is the most complicated type of scenario.

And even courses that hold in-person meetings in August must be prepared to switch to online-only instruction in the event of an outbreak.

Already, universities including UCF are talking about keeping students off campus for the final weeks of the semester after Thanksgiving as a precaution.

Many students and faculty members are eager to resume normal campus life. But others are apprehensive, saying they’re unsure how the university will enforce requirements for wearing masks and social distancing.

Margaret Zaho, an associate professor of art history, said during a recent Faculty Senate meeting the 60-seat classroom where she teaches typically is filled to capacity.

“There’s not room for another chair,” Zaho said. “There is no social and safe distancing available in that space, and I don’t feel comfortable with an aging mom at home, so I would choose — I can’t even believe I’m saying this out loud — to go remote for the safety of them, myself and my family.”

Interim Provost Michael Johnson said Friday during a town hall meeting with faculty members that those who are at high risk of becoming seriously ill or who have high-risk family members to be able to work remotely. But he acknowledged the question of who also might be eligible to teach remotely could be complicated and may need to be considered case-bycase.

Some faculty members say they’ve adjusted to an

online format, though it’s been a challenge. Eckhoff said she’s had her upperlevel students perform mock telehealth visits with people, often actors or retired health care workers, who pretend to be patients. Typically, she said, they’d complete such exercises in person.

In some ways, she said, the experience seems richer because her students are forced to work through technology issues on the fly and practice caring for patients in trying circumstances. But she said she’s ready to return to a physical classroom, adding “I don’t think I’ve had any student say, ‘I don’t want to come back.’ ”

UCF’s orchestra was suspended this spring, a particularly harsh blow because it’s the last chance for many students to perform music in an ensemble, said Chung Park, the director of orchestras and string music education. But they may be able to reconvene this fall, possibly by rehearsing in smaller groups.

Still, Park said, he fears health guidelines could diminish the experience of playing with an orchestra, an inherently social endeavor.

Park, who also provides individual lessons, said he’s resisted requests to teach online for years. Now, he’s teaching viola lessons over Zoom.

It’s difficult, he said, to convey emotion, an important part of the creative process, without meeting face-to-face. Teaching online has a different feel for many instructors, he said.

“Especially if we are on the shy side, we’re having to adjust to the fact that we’re basically on camera,” Park said. “We’re all YouTube personalities now. That’s definitely a bit of an adjustment.”

But unlike their peers who play wind instruments, Park said string students have one thing working in their favor: They can wear masks while they practice.

He’s hopeful he can resume in-person lessons this fall.

Many faculty members had no experience teaching remotely and deserve credit for getting through the semester, said Michael Barbour, a fellow at the National Education Policy Center, which has studied online coursework.

“Anything they’ve done in the past six weeks — hats off to them,” Barbour said. “They were thrown into this with little or no preparation.”

Often, he said, this meant faculty members were lecturing over Zoom or teaching in less-than-engaging ways. But university leaders need to realize a resurgence of the coronavirus is likely, and normal campus operations may not return until 2022, he said. They need to be prepared to support faculty members and provide better quality instruction online.

Anything less, he said, is a “complete dereliction of duty.”