April 12 marks the earliest date students may begin enrolling in summer and fall 2021 classes. In an effort to address the uncertainty brought about by COVID-19, a March 16 CU Safely Back update outlines what students can expect regarding summer instruction. 

As Chapman tries to fully transition back to in-person courses, summer classes serve as an opportunity to continue the efforts made this spring with the introduction of hybrid classes. Students will find that courses are assigned various modes of instruction, ranging from online-only to hybrid to in-person. It is noted in the update that in order to determine which method of instruction a course is being taught in, students can refer to the designation of “ON,” “HY” or “P” in a course’s description - respectively online, hybrid or in-person. 

In order to maintain the health and safety of the Chapman community, many COVID-19 precautions have been implemented, in addition to the continuation of protocols currently in place. Lawrence Brown, the vice provost for Academic Administration, explained what he called a “multi-pronged process” to The Panther. 

“We have general requirements for anyone who comes to campus to get tested weekly and to do the daily screening email where they answer questions related to whether they have COVID-19 symptoms or not,” Brown said.

Fully vaccinated individuals will still be required to complete these tasks in order to access Chapman’s campus. Brown said he does not see a change in the weekly rate at which students and faculty must get tested, unless state or federal guidelines demand it. 

As students transition to HyFlex and in-person learning, faculty are required to make the move back into the classroom unless given special exemption. After a year of mostly remote instruction broadcasted from their homes, professors are encouraged to utilize their classroom resources on campus — regardless of if the class they are teaching follows the online-only or hybrid model. 

“There is still that emphasis on having them teach from the classroom, unless they have an accommodation which is allowed by Human Resources for various reasons including having a personal health risk, especially if they haven’t been fully vaccinated yet,” Brown said.

The Panther surveyed 110 people and found that 58% of respondents are interested in taking online-only courses over the summer, with 42% saying they were not interested in an online-only instruction of learning during summer courses. 

“One of the things we discovered last summer was we had good enrollment over the summer term because of the different classes online; students were able to go home and take classes online,” said Provost Glenn Pfeiffer.

This summer’s enrollment numbers remain to be seen, but Brown speculates that with an increase of online-only and hybrid course options available, enrollment numbers may be similar to last summer’s numbers.