Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, professors at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) were all forced to ask themselves a very important question: Is it safe to hold in-person classes this fall and how will we do it? While some professors decided to conduct classes remotely, others made the decision to return to in-person classes. 

Just weeks before the start of the fall term, Joan Gabel, President of the University of Minnesota, announced her proposal to delay in-person learning at all five U of M campuses. The proposal, passed on an 8-3 vote by the University’s Board of Regents, forced UMD’s courses to be conducted online  — with limited exceptions — for the first two weeks of the term.

Following the two week period of online learning, courses were allowed to return to in-person instruction — provided they felt comfortable and followed certain guidelines. Now, a month into the semester, in-person classes are in full swing at UMD.

Jannifer David teaches, among other classes, two sections of a Human Resource Management course in the Management Studies Department at UMD. She chose to run her courses synchronously in a blended manner — meaning students rotate between meeting in-person and over Zoom.

“I think there’s a lot to be said about being in a room with actual people, even though we are all sitting six feet away from each other, being able to just have a face-to-face conversation, that’s humanizing,” David said. 

David gives her students the option to attend class in-person or to remain on Zoom. She said she doesn’t believe anyone can properly learn in an environment where they feel unsafe. 

“I’m not requiring anybody to come to class [in-person],” David said. “I don't want anybody in the classroom who is uncomfortable being there.”

The hybrid format David uses means that she simultaneously has students in the classroom and on Zoom. While this can be difficult at times, David feels it is going well.

Andrew Burns, a UMD senior enrolled in David’s Human Resource Management course, believes that David is doing her best to offer students the most normal experience possible.

“It kind of feels like a traditional class,” Burns said. “It’s just fewer people in a room.” 

Burns added that other challenges have surfaced in two of his physical education electives.

For the first two weeks, Burns had to complete his workouts for an aerobics class in his living room in the on-campus apartments. Despite resuming in-person, he says they are still atypical.

“[In aerobics], we try to stay 12 feet apart, or as far as we can,” Burns said, adding that squares taped to the ground help keep students properly distanced. “Since aerobics is more intense workouts, we’re supposed to wear the mask during warm up and cool down.” But, Burns implied masks are usually not worn during the climax of the workout. 

Despite some challenges, Burns acknowledged his professors’ wins, contrasting the fall from the spring semester.

“Professors did a lot better this fall than in the spring,” Burns said. “I think it helps that they had the preparation and training they needed … They actually knew how to work Zoom instead of a quick crash course in the spring.”

This newfound success could be, in part, due to online sessions held by UMD over the summer and throughout the fall to help assist faculty and staff in teaching courses through distance learning. 

Burns feels that professors are doing “everything they can control” to keep students safe.

However, professors using Zoom only have so much influence to keep students on task during class.

Experiential learning researcher Gianpiero Petriglieri said in an interview with BBC that the self-complexity theory explains how humans instinctively crave variety, and a consistent setting such as Zoom can lead to negativity, including burnout.

“Most of our social roles happen in different places, but now the context has collapsed,” Petriglieri said. Despite this, Burns said he has yet to experience burnout of any kind. 

David said that “lots” of students struggled with an all-online method, but she has found that rotating schedules helps students feel connected.

David is not the only professor that feels as though in-person learning is the best format for her classes. 

Elizabeth James, an art professor at UMD, also made the decision to meet in-person for several of her classes, including Ceramics II, a wheel-throwing class.

“I feel it's the best form of delivery for the information I want to convey,” James said of in-person instruction. 

James stated that in order to have her students properly distanced, she had to completely rearrange the pottery studio. Students are also required to wear their masks at all times, clean surfaces after use and wash their hands upon entering and exiting the studio. 

“They’re very excited about actually being in a studio where it’s a hands-on environment,” James said. 

Originally, James was worried that with a ceramics class, students may struggle to keep clay off of their masks. But, she said this has not been an issue so far. 

“It's been a very active situation in the sense that everyone really really wants to continue on,” James said. “We are all passionate about what we do and we want to maintain safety first and foremost, but we also want to give the students the best quality education that we are able to under these circumstances.”

James hopes to be able to hold in-person classes in the spring semester as well. If COVID-19 prevents this, however, she said that she plans to mail art tools and materials to her students and have them complete as much of the projects as possible from home. 

“Clarity is a very important component,” James said. “I just want everyone to stay safe and follow the rules… and we will make it through it.”

*Editor’s Note: This story was corrected on Oct. 1, 2020. It originally said that Jannifer David teaches in the Business Department at UMD. She teaches in the Management Studies Department.