Follow us on Instagram
Try our daily mini crossword
Play our latest news quiz
Download our new app on iOS/Android!

Faculty for ‘about 60 courses’ have expressed interest in hybrid teaching

Course formats are set to be determined by ‘mid-December,’ though spring course enrollment takes place next week.

mccosh.jpeg
Under current University guidelines, McCosh 50 will be able to accommodate no more than 42 occupants at one time.
Photo Credit: Lazarena Lazarova ’21 

Faculty for “about 60 courses” have expressed interest in incorporating hybrid elements into their teaching this spring, according to Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss.

On Nov. 24, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 announced that the University will invite all undergraduate and graduate students to campus this spring. In line with previous messaging to faculty members, classes with an in-person component will be offered in a “hybrid” format to accommodate students studying remotely. Instructors of otherwise-online courses may also introduce “in-person or hybrid elements,” such as socially-distanced office hours or optional in-person precepts.

ADVERTISEMENT

According to the Spring 2021 FAQs, faculty members will determine course formats by mid-December. This deadline falls after spring-course enrollment, which will occur within the first four days of the month. Thus, students will likely select courses without knowing their teaching formats — though, as Eisgruber noted, “most instruction will remain online.”

Instructors had until Nov. 23 to submit a form circulated by the Office of the Dean of the College as “early indication of … interest” in hybrid instruction. The form asked instructors which courses they would plan to teach with a hybrid model, which aspects of the course they would like to conduct in person, and how many students they would expect to enroll.

“So far, the Office of the Dean of the College has had inquiries from faculty for about 60 courses — including both undergraduate and graduate courses — who are interested in exploring hybrid elements in their teaching,” Hotchkiss wrote to The Daily Princetonian.

“These hybrid elements might include formal course meetings, as well as in-person office hours or occasional demonstrations or review sessions,” he added.

Dean of the College Jill Dolan told faculty earlier this month that the University had made approximately 65 classrooms available. To meet requirements for “safe ventilation and student capacity,” such classrooms are being “reconfigured accordingly.”

The University expects to assign classrooms “by the second week in January,” and the mode of instruction “may be updated at any point until the start of classes,” the Spring 2021 FAQs note.

ADVERTISEMENT