California Faculty Association President Charles Toombs sent out a mass email to faculty members Tuesday, stating that they should not be penalized if they cannot make the transition from in-person teaching to online.
The association is a labor union that represents lecturers, professors and staff at all California State Universities.
“CFA emphasizes that not all courses can accommodate virtual or online treatment due to subject matter and pedagogical needs,” Toombs stated in the email. “Many courses take weeks, if not months, to plan and translate to online platforms.”
San Jose State is making this transition this week and the university is preparing faculty members to move to fully online to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.
As of Tuesday, there are no confirmed cases at any of the 23 CSU campuses, according to Toombs’ email. SJSU joined San Francisco State, San Diego State and California State University, East Bay in transitioning from in-person classes to online.
Toombs addressed concerns over potential hardships students may face if forced to take courses online.
“Administrations should also consider the needs of students, who may lack access to the internet or face other obstacles to completing their coursework remotely,” Toombs stated in the email.
For highly interactive courses such as dance and music, the email said that university administrations need to provide more guidance for faculty members to make the transition.
“It is going to be incredibly difficult for dance because a dance education relies completely on in-studio dance practice,” Heather Cooper, associate director of the school of music and dance, said.
She said despite the department’s agreement with SJSU President Mary Papazian’s decision to move in-person classes online until spring break, it will be hard to make the transition given the physical nature of dance.
“Not having studio practice time is going to really negatively impact their [the students’] education,” Cooper said.
She said that the department will meet Wednesday to plan out how professors will use online methods of teaching and public events for dance performances until spring break.
