Progress 2021: Remote learning adjustments made at post-secondary level

Post-Secondary education’s trends in remote learning reflect the current state of education as a whole. COVID-19 has forced college campuses and middle college programs across the country to move their lessons to virtual classrooms by varying degrees, but all the same very different.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is no exception to the current status quo. Much like their grade school and secondary counterparts, the Mat-Su College and Mat-Su Middle College have been offering a blend of in person and virtual instruction while maintaining social distancing and sanitation measures to minimize the spread of the virus.

Mat-Su College Director Dr. Talis Colberg said that a majority of their classes have been online this last year. The campus and Glenn Massay Theater are both closed to the public.

“It's been a rough year, but it's not unique to us by any stretch of the imagination. It’s like a ghost town in many ways. We have mostly distance classes. There are some exceptions, but for the most part people are taking remote classes,” Colberg said. “It’s not a good time because we were already under budget reductions before COVID, and now we’re losing revenue on the tuition side… It’s taken its toll. I mean, we have not lost a lot of people, but we’ve definitely lost some faculty and staff who didn’t want to do college this way.”

Colberg said they’re working with minimized staff, and he seldom sees students as he makes his way around the campus. He said that he misses the time before the pandemic, when their hallways were brimming with activity.

“It’s been an adjustment… We are hoping for a return to normal. Everyone is looking forward to that,” Colberg said.

The head count for students enrolled in the 2021 spring semester was up by 3.1 percent compared to the 2020 semester, according to Colberg. He noted that despite the higher enrollment, students were taking 17.9 less classes.

“Which means they’re not liking this method of learning, but they want to go to college,” Colberg said.

According to Colberg, the style and methods of their virtual classes vary by instructor.

“They were thrown into this without any notice last spring… The inconsistency I think throws some students, because not every teacher does it the same,” Colberg said.

Colberg said that students space out and wear masks during their face to face classes. He said there haven’t been many classes in person, and the separation presents its own obstacles in the learning process.

“Some science labs can be done remotely, but some are just darn hard to do,” Colberg said. “It's a new world after this is over, because some things will be altered. We just don’t know what that means… It's not optimal. I would say that most of us are looking forward to a resumption of our normal routine.”

Despite all the challenges, Colberg is optimistic for the future.

“I think there’s reason to be optimistic not only about our financial future here, but just about the basic composition of who wants to come here, because the numbers tell us they want to be here. They just don’t like this method of learning… People want to see each other again and they want to learn in classes face to face,” Colberg said.

Mat-Su Middle College Principal Greg Giauque said that a majority of their students were taking high school classes in person at a reduced schedule, while a majority of the college classes were being done online.

“Simply because we need to be in front of the students,” Giauque said.

Students enrolled in the Middle College take both high school and college classes. There are currently 203 students, according to Giauque.

“As a whole things have been going really well... There's been a lot of lessons that we learned,” Giauque said.

Giauque said the pandemic has limited their face-to-face opportunities. He said they’re offering classes through Zoom. He said that remote learning has its advantages and disadvantages, but there’s no replacing the face-to-face interactions between students and their teachers.

“As a whole it has worked as well as we can expect given the situation…I don't know if it's the way of the future,” Giauque said.