Atwood Class

Based on scientific data and national reporting, the Covid-Omicron variant is currently at a high level of infection, community spread, and hospitalizations both nationally and in our region, a trend that is predicted to begin declining and present less risk by early February. This survey is intended to provide students with an opportunity to voice any concerns they might have about their comfort levels with attending class in-person during the last two weeks of January. Please note the university has not implemented an online policy for the first few weeks of the semester. Out of my own ethical responsibility to the health and safety of our classroom community, I want to ensure students have a say in their learning conditions. All answers to the survey questions are anonymous and will only be used to assess the aggregate risk level of in-person attendance for our class specifically. 

To help determine your personal sense of risk level, please note our scheduled classroom seats a capacity of 50 students; the course is enrolled at half that number so we will be able to arrange seating with social distancing. Also, a campus mask mandate remains in place and I will provide KN95 masks at the start of each class to any student who needs one. I will request that all students wear a KN95 mask during our class, the minimum recommended protection level, and that students refrain from eating.

If the majority of the class expresses a desire to remain online to the end of Week 3, then we will meet virtually in Zoom every Tues and Thursday at our regularly scheduled class time. If attending synchronous online classes presents difficulties for anyone, please be sure to communicate this with me and I will try to provide accommodations.