The University of Mount Union has created an innovative plan to safely resume instructional and residential operations in fall of 2020 in Alliance, Ohio. As well as making modifications to all areas of campus including classrooms, housing, dining areas, and group meeting spaces, the university will implement the Social Distancing Learning Model which includes both face-to-face and remote instruction.
The goal of this model is to maximize personal interaction between faculty and students, and between students in a course, while reducing attendance density in classrooms. During each week of instruction, a portion of students in a given course will meet face-to-face in one class session, while the other portion participates and learns remotely. In the next session, the two groups of students will switch places. This blended approach will best position Mount Union to maintain social distancing guidelines and recommendations while preserving the integrity of the exceptional learning experiences students have come to expect.
The implementation of the model will be strengthened by the creation of the new Faculty Development Center, which will offer a summer training institute to impart best practices for blending in-person and remote instruction to maximize learning, student engagement, and student success.
