Northeast Lakeview emphasizing remote learning this fall

When students return to Northeast Lakeview College this fall, very few will actually return to the sprawling campus situated along Loop 1604 in Live Oak.

Only 7 percent of the community college’s course offerings will actually take place on campus as Northeast Lakeview, part of the Alamo Colleges District, continues its remote learning and follows strict safety procedures during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Kathleen Labus, Northeast Lakeview director of marketing and public relations, said the college will continue to make use of remote learning, holding live class meetings at scheduled days and times using fully interactive learning via Zoom, Canvas and other remote-access tools.

When the fall semester begins Aug. 24, online courses will also be delivered and available for students to log in and follow.

Remote and online classes are not new to Northeast Lakeview, which closed out the spring 2020 semester and conducted its summer coursework using remote learning offering.

“There was a lot of anxiety when you first transition. They had been in in-person classes the first part of the semester,” Labus said, “and had to finish remotely. We even had a virtual graduation … we’re finding new ways of doing things.”

The college held a student forum in mid-July “basically asking students, ‘How do you feel about remote learning?’ she said. “They are becoming a little bit more comfortable and a little less anxious.

“Because everybody was remote — everybody, even in elementary and high school — it’s kind of become the norm. I think students are feeling a little bit more normal learning in that environment,” she added.

An email went out to all Alamo Colleges employees this summer announcing the district’s Return to Campus plan for the semester.

“Student success and completion remain key priorities for the fall semester,” said Alamo Colleges Chancellor Mike Flores. “A great deal of time and work has gone into creating this plan to provide faculty, staff and students with the resources, plans and support need to prepare for fall.”

The fall semester, as Labus explained, will look very similar to the spring, with most classes being held remotely except for career and technical courses and some arts and sciences courses that may require face-to-face learning, up to 10 percent capacity.

“For summer, it was all remote, there was no in-class learning,” Labus said. “After graduation, we were already talking fall. We had meetings every week, we never stopped meeting. We just rolled right into fall.”

Some aspects of the Return To Campus plan include: Face coverings worn by everyone on campus and social distancing protocols followed; health screenings and temperature checks required for everyone on campus; and Student Services offering limited on-site student support by appointment.

There will be no on-campus events this semester, and all meetings/training will be virtual. An incident report process and incident response plan will be in place, together with a close contact identification process and disinfecting plan, to deal with anyone who becomes ill with COVID-19.

Labus said student familiarity with the remote learning process may produce a less stressful fall semester.

“Students may like the online approach,” she said. “We’re at this point of increasing the online course offerings. Again, it’s not going to be 100 percent … but we’re offering more of those and offering them remotely.”

She said employees returned “for a real robust training” period.

“They took that week to train people on Zoom. We had used it before, for meetings …but (the training) was giving them the advance course, such as how to share screens, and how to troubleshoot,” Labus said. “Because really, you don’t know what questions there may be, until you get in there with the students.”

Labus said district operations will return to “Stay Home, Work Safe” on Nov. 26 and remain at that level after Thanksgiving through the end of the fall term.

Alamo Colleges District Board Chair Marcelo Casillas thanked the district for its hard work putting the fall offerings together.

“We have worked collaboratively across the district and disciplines, and among all levels of the organization, to develop a plan to begin a slow and careful return to campuses,” Casillas said. “We extend our deep gratitude for the work teams have done to create this essential plan that serves as a district-wide framework for COVID response.”