UW-Milwaukee Leaders Discuss the Possibility of Online Only Classes Due to Coronavirus after Spring Break

Leaders and department chairs from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee met Tuesday morning to discuss the potentiality and logistics of face-to-face instruction being suspended after spring break to help prevent a local coronavirus outbreak.

No decision was made at the meeting, but one might be expected next week over spring break, according to Provost Johannes Britz. However, later in the afternoon, UWM announced that it was extending spring break an extra week as further precaution against COVID-19. The extension is to facilitate transferring a majority of classes to online only following the break, according to an email from Chancellor Mark Mone. However, officials stopped just short of announcing that a move to online only was happening for sure.

“We will extend our Spring Break by one week to March 15-29 so that UWM can prepare to move the majority of its classes online following the extended spring break,” Mone said in a statement. “Students should make arrangements to be away from all three campuses during this extended break. Students who live in University Housing will receive additional details by Friday. Today, Provost Johannes Britz asked deans and other campus leaders to provide information on additional classes that can be moved online. We will send a follow-up communication with further details later this week. “

This comes after an individual who works at an office in the residence hall Cambridge Commons was tested for the coronavirus. The individual in question has recently traveled to a country with a level 3 warning, but test results will not be back until the end of this week, according to Mone.

Instructors and department leaders should prepare plans by this Thursday for how their classes could be moved online, leaders said. The contingency plan seeks to prepare the university, should social distancing become necessary, while making the best effort on student experience, according to Laura Pedrick from the office of academic affairs.

“Online only instruction seems to be a potentially likely possibility,” Pedrick said, “The crisis management team, led by Chancellor Mark Mone, will make that eventual call.”

Local and state health officials could also make that call. It depends on levels of COVID-19 in the Milwaukee area, according to Pedrick.

In a lengthy academic continuity plan posted to its website, UWM advised, “Instructors should begin planning now, because if UWM suspends face-to-face instruction, many courses may need to move online. UWM has a strong foundation for implementing social distance strategies: In a typical semester, about 11,000 students enroll in 850+ online courses.”

The plan continues: “Some courses will not be adaptable to social distancing strategies. Performance courses in the arts, laboratory courses, and other hands-on courses might need to be cancelled in the event of the campus closing to students. Depending on the point in the semester when a closure occurs, it may be possible to award grades based on student performance in the course to date. If that is not a possibility, Academic Affairs will work with departments to identify courses that could be quickly launched for an 8- or 4-week term within a semester. The campus Crisis Management Team (CMT) will make determinations about specific strategies to be used with respect to cancelled courses in the event of a campus closure. “

The announcement comes after UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank discouraged travel outside of Dane county over spring break. Just after the conference, a third COVID-19 case was confirmed in Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

CDC guidelines say colleges should prepare for potential impacts and that students with flu-like symptoms should not come to university, according to Pedrick.

UWM has proactively cancelled university sponsored trips to locations around the world with heightened risk of coronavirus, according to an interim international travel policy released in late February.

UWM students have been advised to avoid non-essential travel outside of Wisconsin over spring break, according to an email from Mone.

“We should have a plan in place specifically for after spring break,” Provost Britz said, “It is unprecedented, unpredictable.”

Colleges such as the University of Washington and Stanford, located close to current centers of the U.S. outbreak, have already moved entirely to online instruction, according to their websites. The Ohio State University has proactively suspended all face-to-face instruction as well, regardless of no campus associated COVID-19 cases, according to a campus wide letter from University President Michael V. Drake.

Dylan Barth from UWM’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning outlined how classes might move to an online only environment. Virtual office hours, video lectures and extensive use of UWM’s online teaching platform Canvas could be seen, according to Barth.  

CETL has released a ‘quick start guide’ to assist faculty in planning.

Synchronous course lectures using a program called Collaborative Ultra could be a possibility for instructors. With Collaborative Ultra, live discussions and lectures could continue, according to the quick start guide for academic preparedness.

“One concern to be considered is the technical barriers to students and staff,” Barth said, “Faculty should start planning right away.”

UWM sophomore and finance major Adam Bruggink expressed concerns over the possibility of a closure.

“I would hate that,” Bruggink said, “I’m a visual learner and like the personal interaction.”

“If our intermedia accounting class got put online it would not go so well,” Mohammad Kaloti, a sophomore finance major, said.