Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s COVID-19 Alert: Preparing the Physical Classroom for In-Person and Hybrid Learning

Below please find League Business Leaders Network member Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s COVID-19 alert.

Preparing the Physical Classroom for In-Person and Hybrid Learning

Brandon Brauer

By this point in late September, almost all higher education institutions have begun classes again, and the majority are exclusively online. Administrators have been constantly discussing practical steps and general strategies aimed at the possibility of holding in-person or hybrid classes (i.e., one live class with some students online over Zoom or similar software, and others physically in the classroom). Of those schools that have tried conducting in-person learning, some have had to scrap their plans and quickly switch to a strictly online model in the face of unanticipated obstacles. However, several universities have had success of a sort in these first weeks of the new semester. In this context, success for a given school or class can be seen as: (1) all students who want to attend a particular class are able to do so either online or in-person, and (2) if there are new COVID-19 cases, the practices implemented cause minimal disruption to the class.