After over two months of solely online classes, some IU students adjusted back to in-person classes Monday and COVID-19 precautions implemented by the university for in-person instruction, such as mask and social distancing requirements.
Some IU students began attending in-person or hybrid classes Monday in addition to online classes. In-person classes ended on Nov. 20, but students continued classes virtually from Nov. 30 to the end of the fall semester. After winter break, online classes continued until Monday.
[Related: Asynchronous classes are supposed to make learning flexible. Some students say they’re stressful.]
IU sophomore Sydney Stokes, an exercise science major, said she had her first in-person anatomy exam since the pandemic began Monday.
“It’s just a new experience,” she said. “It wasn’t like what I expected.”
Stokes said she usually thinks of in-person exams as tests on pen and paper, but students took this exam on computers.
Stokes said she had an in-person class last semester, but this anatomy class was different. She said her lab took place in a computer lab rather than an anatomy lab, which Stokes said she thinks is for social distancing purposes. The computers were spaced out, she said, and there were designated spots for students to sit.
Stokes said students lined up to be checked in at the door. Students had to enter through one door and exit through another. Students wore masks throughout class as required by the university.
IU sophomore Sonia Nussbaum, a nonprofit management and leadership major, also had her first in-person class since classes moved online Monday. Nussbaum’s class is a hybrid class, meaning part of the instruction is online and part in person, she said.
Nussbaum said there were dots to show students where to sit in the classroom, and one to two students could sit in each row. She estimated there were around 15 people in the classroom, though the classroom could be used for about 40 students before the pandemic, Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum said she was a little emotional connecting with her peers in person again.
“I think we really took for granted before COVID the connections we were able to make,” she said.
