No matter how your class is delivered, you can have an enjoyable and meaningful learning experience. It is not at all unusual for Kent State students taking on-campus classes to add an online course to their schedule. In fact, last fall over 50% of students did just that.
This fall, however, even if your intention was to take all of your classes on campus, your schedule may show a variety of class delivery types such as as Traditional (TR) with building and room number, TR with building listed as Remote, Hybrid, V1, V2, or V3.
Designation Definitions:
- TR with building and room number - a traditional on-campus class (These classes will be delivered remotely after Thanksgiving break)
- TR with building listed as Remote - the instructor will deliver the class through Blackboard and may deliver live class sessions at your scheduled class time through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
- Hybrid - classes converted to Hybrid, meaning that students will spend part of class time in the classroom and part of it on a computer
- V1, V2, or V3 - classes that were already created as online classes prior to COVID-19
What are all of these designations? Why can’t I attend all of my classes in person?
COVID-19 had a tremendous impact on how classes can be delivered. Socially distancing is essential in every classroom which means fewer students can be in any classroom at one time. What is the best way to meet the educational needs and desires of students while still keeping them safe? That was the question that resulted in hours and hours of discussion and planning.
Each classroom was measured and mapped out to determine how many students could safely be in the room with their instructor. It quickly became obvious that many classrooms would not be able to hold all of the enrolled students at the same time. The search was on to find spaces that weren’t typically used as a classroom that might be able to accommodate more students at a time. These were added to the rooms available to be scheduled. Even with those extra spaces, it was obvious that there was no way to schedule all of the on-campus classes.
The next step in planning was to prioritize scheduling classes where a physical presence was most essential. All classes that could be scheduled in a classroom with the expectation of students attending all of their scheduled classes in that classroom until Thanksgiving break, show up on your schedule as TR with the building and room # listed. (These classes will be delivered remotely after Thanksgiving break.)
After those were scheduled, the next step was to schedule as many other classes into classrooms as possible even if not all of the students could attend at the same time. Classrooms were outfitted with lecture-capture software so that a professor could deliver a lecture to the students in the room while simultaneously delivering the lecture to students at home on their computer. These classes were converted to Hybrid, meaning that students would spend part of their class time in the classroom and part of it on a computer.
The remaining classes originally intended for on-campus for which there was no classroom available were reclassified as TR with the building listed as Remote. The Remote designation means that the instructor will deliver the class through Blackboard and may deliver live class sessions at your scheduled class time through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
V1, V2, and V3 classifications are for classes that were already created as online classes prior to COVID-19.
- V1 – 100% online requiring no face-to-face or online live sessions
- V2 – 100% online with one or more synchronous online live sessions
- V3 – A blend of a minimum of 50% online sessions (asynchronous or synchronous) and requirement of one or more face-to-face meetings