With Orange County officially categorized in the red, “substantial” tier of the COVID-19 county watchlist, Chapman University staff and faculty are preparing for a March 29 transition to a hybrid learning environment. Though the opportunity allows students the option to attend certain courses in person at limited capacity, each individual will also have the ability to continue attending classes remotely for the remainder of the semester.

Requirements to return to in-person class

Those who want to return must complete a COVID-19 Safety Training for Students course on Canvas, which is mandatory for those returning for the first time. In order to continue accessing the campus, students, faculty and staff must receive COVID-19 tests on a weekly basis through the Student Health Center and fill out a daily health screening survey, which is automatically sent to students’ and employees’ Chapman emails.

According to Jerika Lam, Chapman’s viral infection specialist and an associate professor in the School of Pharmacy, the university exclusively uses rapid antigen tests, which reveal results in under 15 minutes. When individuals finish their tests, they must pick up a clearance card or a clearance sticker so that faculty can validate students who have been tested.

Lam recommends that students who decide to travel out-of-state or travel internationally during spring break get tested the weekend before classes resume and the day-of to determine whether they are infected.

“Even though we have weekly testing, we know that (people can still) contract the virus,” Lam said. “I can get it today and I may test negative because there are viruses replicating, but I’m not developing high enough viral titers or (a) high enough viral load to be detected yet. But, if you test me three days later, then the result may change.”

The possible benefits and drawbacks of hybrid learning

Rachel Bass, a lecturer in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, will be teaching a hybrid course in film production after spring break. Bass, who has never taught a hybrid class before, told The Panther she plans to focus on ensuring that the students attending virtually do not feel excluded, checking in with her students for holistic feedback. She expressed worries about running into technological issues in the classroom, but feels comforted that she is not the only one nervous about the hybrid environment.

“Students are probably nervous coming in-person (for classes),” Bass said. “Virtual students are nervous; professors are nervous. But at least we’re all nervous together.”

Dean of Students Jerry Price said the university’s decision to reopen was not solely based on the number of students interested in returning to campus, which was polled in a November 2020 survey by Chapman’s Senate Executive Board.

“It is more a pledge we feel like we have made to students that when the state and county health officials say we’re permitted to be in-person, we’ll be in-person,” Price said.

Price hopes that the transition will be positive for students, noting some have told him they are finding learning in an online environment to be substantially more difficult.

Facilities reopening after spring break

In addition to a hybrid learning environment preparation guide for professors, the university has also created a webpage detailing the original maximum capacity as well as the capacity for the orange and red tier qualifications. While the specific number of students allowed in each classroom varies depending on the building they are in, no more than 25% of the students enrolled in the class can be in the room at a time.

Classroom buildings are not the only facilities opening. The Partridge Dance Center, located between the university and the Hilbert Museum of California Art, will reopen at a smaller capacity of 25% or less, according to Giulio Ongaro, the dean of the College of Performing Arts. The museum’s website states that they are adhering to the university’s reopening guidelines, but a date for a return has not been officially announced.

Several of the athletic facilities, such as the Holly and David Wilson Field, reopened a month ago, but the Harold Hutton Sports Center will only be available for classes and sports team use, according to Sports Information Director Steven Olveda. Spring sports games will begin to take place at the end of March and early April.

Working around class size restrictions 

Chapman News, the student news station, will be producing and airing its newscasts from the Marion Knott Studios in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. The broadcast is typically produced and aired live on Fridays at noon, but since the fall semester, the broadcast has been pre-recorded and edited Thursday nights to be released on Fridays. When the lockdown was first ordered last March, the broadcast was temporarily turned into a podcast until the spring semester ended.

Both the studio room and the control room, featuring different audio and visual equipment, will be open at limited capacity.

Professor Bret Marcus, the program director for the broadcast journalism and documentary major, stated that the control room would be limited to between six and eight people, including himself and a producer. Meanwhile, the studio is available to no more than five students at a time, including one anchor. Allowing student journalists to report breaking news from outside locations, however, would depend on what the newsroom is able to do coupled with current government mandates.

Marcus noted that all the students, except for one living in Taiwan and another in Dallas, Texas, will return in-person to work on the broadcast. He also said that since the class size is larger than the limited capacity currently allowed, they are working on a resolution.

“They’re very anxious, as I am, to produce a real newscast,” Marcus said of his students. “And part of what’s different about Chapman News from other college newscasts is that these students, they really produce it, they do everything on it. They learn how to be directors and technical directors and graphics people. They learn those television skills, but at the same time, they’re also getting experience of (using) studio cameras and lighting and being on camera itself.”

The university administration plans on continuing accessibility to in-person instruction through the rest of the year. If Orange County is able to progress to the orange, “moderate” tier after three required weeks of staying in the red tier, capacities for classrooms and facilities will be increased to 50%. To move onto the orange tier, the county cannot have four or more new daily cases per 100,000 residents, and it must retain positive test rates below 5%.