MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Classes at West Virginia University will shift online Wednesday as Monongalia County continues to outpace most West Virginia counties in coronavirus cases.
University officials on Monday announced the move is related to increasing case numbers in the county. Monongalia County ranks only behind Kanawha County in cumulative confirmed cases during the pandemic with 1,398 cases since March. Monongalia County is the only county in the red county on the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ county alert system because of the county’s high rate of daily cases.
Freshmen, graduate and professional students started the semester with face-to-face instruction as other students took part in virtual lessons. Students enrolled in health sciences courses will continue with clinical rotation.
Evan Widders, WVU’s associate provost for undergraduate education, on Tuesday said professors participated in extra training sessions during the summer to prepare for online learning.
“They have been teaching these classes online and on campus at the same time,” he said. “It wasn’t as difficult to move to a full online teaching mode.”
During the spring — when classes were moved online and students moved off campus — university officials learned of the struggles students faced in internet access and data. Gov. Jim Justice last month announced Wi-Fi hotspots to be set up across the state so students could have virtual lessons.
Widders said part of the solution is also moving lessons and related storage to the cloud and remote servers.
Students will be able to contact instructors and staff through discussion boards and form tutoring groups with other students.
“The participation in our academic advising actually went up when we went to virtual advising,” Widders added.
“A lot of students like the idea of being advised on their cell phones or computer and not having to go to an office and physically meet with an advisor.”
Widders noted the new system is not perfect and changes are likely.
“Most people have been preparing to do things two different ways for the last six months or so, and that’s hard,” he said. “Not knowing where you’re going to be or what your job is going to look like is stressful for people, so everyone is doing the best they can.”
Online instruction is slated to continue until Sept. 28, although the university could extend the online course period depending on the trend of coronavirus cases.