| NEWS | MCCCD Twitter The fall 2021 semester at Maricopa County Community College District’s 10 colleges won’t be too different than the one that preceded it. Remote Possibilities Other colleges will go back to a pre- pandemic normal, but MCCCD will remain mostly online this fall. BY RAY STERN county’s community colleges plan to stay mostly online. “We’re doing our best to create a sched- A ule that we believe will meet our students’ needs, based on the feedback we’re hearing from students,” said Eric Leshinskie, in- terim provost of the Maricopa County Community College District, adding that faculty members are as “excited” as stu- dents to return to campus at some point. “There is excitement across all levels, as there is hesitation across all levels.” The district, which oversees 10 colleges, went to fully online classes when the pan- demic began in spring 2020 after Governor Doug Ducey ordered schools to close. It of- fered only limited in-person classes this spring, and plans to keep them limited for the coming fall semester. Overall, 56 percent of classes across the 10 colleges will be offered in an online for- mat, with 36 percent “in-person and hy- brid,” according to the district. Another eight percent are in other formats “like field-based study or independent study.” The in-person hybrid category includes classes with an in-person component, such as a weekly class meeting, while part of the class is virtual. Fully in-person classes will comprise only 19 percent of the district’s classes. The distribution of in-person-to-online rizona State University has chosen to return to nearly pre-pandemic levels of in- person classes for the fall 2021 semester, while the classes varies widely across the colleges: Chandler Gilbert Community College, for instance, will have 62.4 percent of its classes as “in-person and hybrid,” while Mesa Community College will have only 38.2 percent in that category. Conversely, CGCC will have 34.7 percent of classes on- line, a category that includes “online, live online, [and] hybrid virtual,” while MCC will have 53.6 percent of classes online. Online classes can be virtual and syn- chronous, which means the instructor and students are present together in real time, or asynchronous, which can be taken any- time by a student. “That seems [like] overkill,” said Will Humble, executive director for the Arizona Public Health Association, of the district’s online-heavy plan. “My bet is that they’re using the pandemic to justify a business model change that they like. (ie it’s cheaper).” Phoenix New Times asked ASU last week about its Fall 2021 class modalities, and a spokesperson responded on Thurs- day that “the number of in-person and iCourses (asynchronous, virtual) offerings on the Fall 2021 schedule is approximately the same as the number in each of those modalities in Fall 2019.” ASU offered 89 percent of its classes in- person for Fall 2019, and is offering 84 per- cent in-person for Fall 2021. Both ASU and the community colleges had online offerings before the pandemic; Rio Salado Community College, of the 10, has always been primarily online. On Friday, ASU sent a letter to its em- ployees and students that it would resume “pre-pandemic operations” starting July 15. “We are looking forward to providing our students with a full campus experience that will include in-person classes and in- person learning opportunities, extracur- ricular activities, and support,” said the letter signed by executive vice presidents Mark Searle and Morgan Olsen, as >> p 23 17 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES JUNE 24TH – JUNE 30TH, 2021
