[lawrence-newsletter]While we are not in the predictions business at BadgersWire, it would be difficult to envision a scenario where students are not allowed to study in-person, yet athletics goes on as planned. The University of Wisconsin released a statement from Chancellor Rebecca Blank that was sent to students and families regarding plans for next year. Not all questions were answered of course, but it did give us an idea of what school at Wisconsin may look like next year.
The letter spoke about a “hybrid mix of educational offerings.” The early breakdown of what a hybrid option may look like was as follows. “Larger lectures will almost surely be offered remotely, but we hope to offer face-to-face section meetings for students who can attend. We need to make a substantial share of the curriculum available remotely. At the same time, we should try to give as many students a small class/discussion experience as possible, whether in-person or online, to foster the learning and connections that small groups are so well-suited to provide.”
In terms of what students will be online and what students would be in-person the letter said the following:
“Whatever the modality of instruction, we expect there will be thousands of students in Madison. Most of our graduate students have their permanent addresses here. And many undergraduates will choose to be in their apartments in Madison no matter how classes are delivered. The more that we can offer some face-to-face instruction in smaller discussion sections or seminar courses, the more that those students who are in Madison will benefit.
But there will be some students who want to pursue their studies and who can’t be here. Some of these will be international students; some will be students with underlying health conditions that make it important that they stay in a more isolated environment. On the other hand, there are also students who must be here in order to complete the requirements for their degree. This includes students who have to do clinical, field or laboratory training. We have a group looking at these courses and how we can offer them safely.”
While the University of Wisconsin is clearly only at the beginning stages of trying to format what school will look like in the fall, a hybrid system of in-person instruction and online teaching seems like the likely route. The details of that system will still need to figured out in the weeks to come.