The capacity of the English 1102 classrooms has increased from 25 to 35. Professor Mary Harper says that her hardest struggle is not the added workload but not being able to interact with her students as much as she would like to.
To help students cope with this change, Professor Harper likes to hear about how her students are by doing free-writes in class about what is on their mind. She is very open with her students. She says, “What has given me hope is going to work, helping my students, and being a listening ear.”
Professor Harper explained that ABAC made the paperwork for COVID-19 absences very easy for faculty. She wanted to make sure everyone knew how ABAC is a student-centered college and is working with people to accommodate COVID-19 absences.
Another professor, Dr. Erin Campbell, explained how the capacity increase would impact the students. She wants to be able to provide the students with what they need. She said that there will be an increased workload due to the capacity increase. Campbell misses being more hands on with students and doing small groups. Campbell made seating charts in her class room to help her learn names and to keep track of who is out due to COVID-19.
To help the students cope with the pandemic, she says, “I let the students vent if they need to about how this is hard and how the schedule is so compact.” She wants to keep the class informed about assignments through email. Dr. Erin Campbell says that the health center is doing an incredible job with student quarantines, and they have been a huge help with keeping up with the quarantines.
