Students, faculty adjust to changes on campus

Abbigail Cypert, Contributing Writer

Professors, students and faculty are back in action after the semester began on August 10.  

 

Since the initial outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Iona has been working on creating safety guidelines that promote the health of everyone on campus. This has left many individuals needing to get used to the way that the newly opened campus now operates.  

 

It’s quite a dramatic change to the day-to-day operations and atmosphere in class, but I certainly think we are up to it,” Dr. Paul O’Connell of the Criminal Justice Department said. “We will get used to it quickly and hopefully, it will put people’s minds at ease. I’m certainly comfortable with all of the efforts thus far.”  

 

The new, remote circumstances have significantly changed the way that Gaels interact, especially during class with the new mix-mode method system in place.   

 

Ultimately I feel positive about coming back to campus,” sophomore Emily Nathan said. “Although online classes aren’t ideal, I believe Iona is making its best efforts to satisfy the students needs. Iona is also doing its best to keep everything clean and sanitary, however I think it all comes down to the students and faculty to keep themselves safe and also their peers safe.” 

 

Along with the positive attitude many professors and students have about this semester, there was a lot of preparation taken before professors were ready to teach Iona students, according to Dr. Carl Procario-Foley, adjunct professor and director of the Office of Mission and Ministry.  

   

As an adjunct faculty member, I have attended excellent trainings of the college’s Information Technology staff on the use of the OWL camera as well as online testing protocols,” Procario-Foley saidProvost Wheeler has held weekly on-line faculty meetings in the 6 weeks leading up to classes. 

 

The new trainings and preparations come from the new changes taken under consideration since the current semester is very different from previous ones.  

 

Preparing for both in person and online requires careful and intentional planning to ensure that students can learn the materials in engaging and conducive manners,” Procario-Foley saidHaving paperless classes and frequently checking your chat box are two specific shifts in day-to-day teaching. Delivering your presentation while also letting students enter from the waiting room is another adjustment. 

 

All departments such as the Office of Mission and Ministry have been preparing for the upcoming flow of in-person students by taking safety precautions such as use of masks, specific limits to the number of people in rooms, sanitizing protocols, splitting the work week of college personnel to 50% remote and 50% in person and adding plastic partitions in college vans, according to Procario-Foley.