Far Away, So Close
Remote Learning in the Communication Program at Southern Oregon University
It’s official: emails went out to students last week, and Southern Oregon University has confirmed that nearly all of our classes will be offered remotely for the Fall, 2020 term.
Although our faculty in the Communication program really, really, really want to be able to instruct in-person again, the national trend regarding the COVID-19 crisis suggests that SOU made the right call. For example, the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill only made it through five days of in-person instruction before multiple outbreaks in campus housing shut down in-person undergraduate instruction this week.
Meanwhile, all of our faculty are actively creating compelling learning experiences that respond to today’s landscape in higher education. Among other work, we’ve even taken the unusual step of holding a full faculty meeting during the summer term, as we figure out how best to serve students on the way to our first day of class on Sep. 23.
For students taking courses in Communication and Digital Cinema this fall, here’s are our plans so far:
- Communication is our DNA. So our courses will be constructed around thoughtful use of technology to support your learning about Communication in ways that are even more relevant to the personal and professional challenges you will face when you finish your SOU degree.
- In the Communication program, we use tools like Zoom, Slack and Google Docs because they support powerful learning, not because they’ve been forced on us by crisis. All of our faculty already teach online and hybrid courses, so we are ready to bring our best to your learning this term.
- Faculty will be opening up courses on SOU’s Learning Management System early, so look forward to more updates regarding individual courses in the next 1–2 weeks. Enrolled students can login to Moodle with their SOU ID and password.
- Students in some Digital Cinema courses will need access to Adobe Creative Suite to fully complete your work. SOU is working with Adobe to ensure that those students will have off-campus access to the required software, and be able to install on your personal computers as needed.
- For students residing on campus or in Southern Oregon, the Digital Media Center will be open for equipment checkout, and the digital lab in DMC120 will be available for your use, although with reduced seating capacity.
- In Digital Cinema, instructors in courses with high technology demands will be available during scheduled hours for in-person consultation, all within the constraints of safe social distancing. Off-campus students who need help with equipment or software needs should consult with their instructor for more advice.
- For students declared in the Communication Studies or Social Media & Public Engagement concentrations, we’ll be holding our New Student Orientation and Faculty Introduction on Sep. 21 at 2pm. Our student success advisor Robin Williams will make sure you get there. Our incoming majors in Digital Cinema are also invited to join in, but they will also have a comprehensive orientation in DCIN100 — Career Foundations, taught by Andrew Gay this term.
We have planned a series of updates to help keep students informed and engaged over the next six weeks, so stay connected with whatever got you to this post, and we’ll look forward to bringing you more communications about Communication soon.
For more information about SOU’s planning and preparations for COVID-19, please see our campus notifications page here:
