WEST BARNSTABLE – Cape Cod Community College has announced that all upcoming summer and fall classes will be conducted through distance learning formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Dr. John Cox explained that the decision was made carefully after consulting with many important parts of the school’s operations.
Responding to the needs of students, Cox said, was vital in order to ensure that they could pursue higher education with no interruptions.
“We’re looking at how do we continue to educate while the world is building this bridge to a vaccine or until we reach this herd immunity,” Cox said.
Summer classes will be taught through online and remote means. Online classes are done entirely through the internet with no scheduled meeting times with faculty members or students, with communication done primarily through message boards.
Remote classes are done online during scheduled times, where teachers and classmates meet on Zoom or other video conferencing applications.
Fall semester courses will use these methods along with hybrid classes, which are held online and require minimal hours on campus to complete hands-on lessons.
Strict guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control regarding social distancing and other prevention measures will be followed.
Cox said that making the decision now was the right idea for everyone involved.
“We thought now was the proper time based on the trend lines that we’ve seen to make this call,” he said, “and it also enables our faculty time to prepare for the courses that we would actually be offering in the fall.”
Adjustments to the plan will be made if needed, Cox said.
Cox thanked students, faculty, and staff members at the college for their efforts in pivoting to distance learning during the pandemic.
The spring semester’s courses at Cape Cod Community College were transferred to online and remote platforms in March.
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