Now, with one week of virtual education under our belt, I can confidently say that our hard work has paid off. We were prepared for many challenges on the first day of class for Block 7, and while we had several issues (largely on the connectivity side), nothing was insurmountable. And, as we had hoped and expected, people showed grace and resilience.
I believe it is also worth mentioning—it is manifest that our One Course calendar is so far superior to any other learning model in these circumstances. Our students do not need to navigate 4 or 5 courses online. They don’t need to figure out how their daily schedule will work. Rather, they lock into one class—and only one class—for 3.5 weeks. It is also dramatically easier for our faculty because they “only” have to prepare to teach one course online rather than many. In addition, where other schools have to figure out how students can complete the 4 or 5 courses that they had already started (in their spring semesters), Cornell students already had fully completed 6 of their 8 courses in this academic year.
At the end of the day, as I am sure you have heard in many settings, we are in unknown territory. It is for this reason that our principles above are so important and that we all retain our spirit of open communication and teamwork. Not one of us is as good as all of us. I have marveled at our collective ability on campus to identify issues, assemble groups to contemplate them, and then implement plans to resolve them.
I don’t know if you have been following closely our campus activity, but I’d like to encourage you to do so. You can follow our response to the COVID-19 pandemic here. And, you can always reach out to covid-19response@cornellcollege.edu if you have any questions or suggestions.
What you as alumni and friends can do: