(Blackwood, NJ) – Camden County College President Donald A. Borden announced that most fall 2020 for-credit, workforce development, and noncredit courses will be offered online or remotely, with many nursing, health sciences, lab, and studio courses offered in-person subject to state approval and adherence to safety protocols recommended by the health care community.
“As we continue to monitor COVID-19 and its impact on College operations, we remain acutely aware of how the pandemic will affect campus re-entry and fall 2020 semester instruction.” Borden said. “Our primary responsibility is to ensure the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff and community members as we gradually reintegrate onto our campuses and instructional sites. Public safety and security measures, including CDC standards for access, wellness monitoring, and social distancing will guide our fall teaching strategy.”
Following an announcement from Governor Murphy permitting phased re-entry for higher education, the College continues to prepare instructional plans for the fall semester. A Return to Campus task force is actively developing an array of re-entry strategies. Among contingency planning is a Curriculum and Instruction subgroup comprised of Academic Affairs faculty and administrators. The task force has explored alternative teaching approaches from various perspectives including space, classroom and laboratory resources, and how class meetings could be safely and effectively managed in the fall.
“Ultimately, unrestricted face-to-face instruction for lecture course sections is not achievable for the fall 2020 semester, even with carefully-staged sequencing of students, rotating class meeting days and times, and essential social distancing and sanitation protocols.” Borden said. “The burden placed on students, faculty members, facilities personnel, housekeeping, and our Public Safety staff would prove not only unmanageable, but unsafe.”
For the fall 2020 semester, all lecture course sections will be offered in an online modality. Those courses containing both lecture and lab instructional components will convert to a hybrid
course modality, allowing for limited in-person instruction in keeping with the Governor’s plan and CDC standards.
Sequenced re-entry for in-person lab and practicum courses that could not be completed for the spring 2020 semester will have first preference when campuses reopen. A prioritized re-entry timeline for staging in-person fall lab and practicum instruction is likewise in preparation for students’ return to campus.
Because the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be fluid, re-entry details will evolve and could change. The College is prepared to reassess and readjust our approach to fall teaching modalities should circumstances dictate. Registration for the fall semester is taking place now at www.camdencc.edu/fall.
Camden County College, located in Blackwood, Camden and Cherry Hill, is one of the largest community colleges in New Jersey and ranks among the top nationwide in terms of associate degree graduates and workforce training.
