Suzanne Guldimann is the editor of the Topanga New Times, and also TNT’s resident naturalist. She was recently asked to give a talk on being…
Local community colleges are moving fully online for summer and fall classes. Nearly 3000 classes will be available online at Santa Monica College. SMC is also offering counseling and support services to help students cope with the changes.
Enrollment for the Fall 2020 semester (which starts August 31) and for the Summer intersession (beginning June 22) is already underway. A press release clarifies that a limited number of courses that are not easily offered in a fully online environment may be offered via a hybrid option, if health and safety requirements permit. That could potentially include lab classes and hands on art coursework.
SMC’s main campus at 1900 Pico Blvd. and five satellite campuses also remain closed to the public until further notice. Classes at SMC Emeritus—the college’s program for older adults—and those delivered through Community Education and the noncredit program will also take place online, wherever possible.
This decision was announced by Superintendent/President Kathryn Jeffery, following a recommendation made by the SMC Emergency Operations Team, which has been monitoring developments related to COVID-19, based mainly on two factors: a vaccine for the novel coronavirus will likely not be widely available until 2021 at the earliest; and it will be nearly impossible for SMC—the college’s campuses are all “open-access”—to identify, monitor, and distinguish between possible COVID-19 and typical flu cases in the fall.
“Your instructors and counselors are learning new skills, software, and tools so that they can give you the best possible academic experience,” Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery wrote in her email to SMC students.
Learn more or enroll in classes at smc.edu
Pierce College in Woodland Hills, and all of the other colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District, are also switching to remote/online learning only for summer and fall of 2020. The announcement was made by LACCD Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez. “Given the present health and safety restrictions, all summer session classes, scheduled to begin June 15, and all fall semester classes will be offered in remote learning/online environments,” he said.
Registration for Pierce College Summer Sessions opens May 11; Classes Begin June 15. For more information visit http://www.piercecollege.edu
