College experience changing with coronavirus spread

Classes started up at the College of Menominee Nation last week, and returning students couldn’t help but notice the way their classrooms had changed.

Fewer desks and chairs are in place in classrooms. Teachers are teaching behind a wall of Plexiglas as large, flat-screen televisions showcase information in the way that blackboards and whiteboards used to.

Buildings have temperature kiosks at their main entrances. Looking like overgrown iPhones, the kiosks check the temperature of anyone entering the building, and anyone with a temperature over 100 degrees will be asked to leave.

Additional distance learning facilities were added to allow more classes to be taught by professors on the Green Bay campus, or even by visiting faculty from outside the state or country. There are also labs set up so that staff on the Keshena campus can teach to two adjacent classrooms if a class gets more students than there are available desks.

The campus commons has even transformed. A kitchen where students could whip up a quick meal is closed. Small study areas are closed off, and more open areas for study have fewer chairs. Hangout areas are no longer there to avoid the risk of students congregating and spreading the coronavirus.

It’s not the same college experience their parents had, or even the same as last year before Gov. Tony Evers closed all learning institutions in March — including colleges and universities. However, it is the college experience that needs to exist in order to continue to teach adults and further their education, according to Geraldine Sanapaw, CMN’s interim academic officer.

“We’ve rearranged our classrooms to allow for social distancing so there is 6 feet between all students,” Sanapaw said. “We’re removing extra tables and chairs to discourage anybody from sharing tables.”

The college also has a tent outside that it used this summer for children’s programs, but it will also be used by faculty to allow for outside classes as long as the weather cooperates, Sanapaw said.

“You’re not inside that confined room where it’s easier to spread germs,” she said. “That’ll be limited once the weather gets cold, but that is an option.”

Students were able to select from three types of classes, similar to the learning models that K-12 schools are adopting. Sanapaw said there are classes that are taught face to face, classes that are completely online and a hybrid version that incorporates both learning styles.

“With the online classes, students do not have to come on the campus at all,” Sanapaw said. “With the hybrid, a minimum of 25% (of the class) must be face to face.”

The classes that require some face-to-face interaction include any that require lab work — including welding, electrical and other technical education classes. Those classes are set up so only one or two students meet in the lab with the instructor at a given time, according to Sanapaw.

She noted that there are certain English and business classes that require interacting with the instructor. Incoming freshmen are being encouraged to take the in-person English courses, as they require a lot of writing, which necessitates the interaction with a teacher.

“We want to encourage the student and the instructor to make a connection,” Sanapaw said. “That way, if we do end up going all online like we did in the spring, at least we’re getting that connection between the student and the faculty member so they kind of get to know each other a little bit. This is their first semester in college, and we want to make sure that they’re successful.”

The first week has been an experience. On the second day of classes, Aug. 18, the internet went down for the Menominee reservation and several surrounding communities due to a fiberoptic cable in Schofield being cut, Sanapaw noted, which made delivering and accessing the online courses difficult.

“The internet’s always going to be a problem with us being located so remotely,” Sanapaw said. “The outage affected a number of schools and our community, but it’s something in the back of our minds as we try to get hotspots for students, and we try to order extra laptops so they can check them out so that they have the equipment.”

CMN has also implemented a new learning system, Canvas, in the hopes of creating some consistency for students. Sanapaw said instructors had been using different online programs like Google Classroom, Google Hangout and Zoom.

Teachers were called back to work earlier than normal in order to train on the Canvas system so it could be rolled out when the fall semester started, according to Sanapaw.

“They’ll be able to upload homework, have discussions with other classes,” she said.

CMN was already moving toward having a system where online and in-person learning could intertwine long before the pandemic hit. After a harsh winter two years ago required many school days to be canceled, college officials looked at ways to allow teaching to continue — even on days when getting to campus was next to impossible.

CMN has an advantage over most other colleges because it doesn’t have the food services, recreation center, housing and other programs that larger colleges have; ergo it will not have to deal with layoffs on the same scale as other higher learning institutions as the risk of closure continues. However, there are plenty of other things that have impacted the college, according to Sanapaw.

“We would do potluck sessions to encourage students to come to tutoring sessions, but we can’t do that now (for health reasons),” Sanapaw said. “You can’t have buffet-style events happening. That is something we’re looking at this fall — how can we encourage students to come to the tutoring and other services we have available for them?”

The college is part of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin’s infrastructure, and whenever closures take place by the tribe — like one in early August — CMN might have to follow suit. Sanapaw believes the college is prepared, though.

“We’ve been preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” Sanapaw said.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com