According to the Registrar’s Office, there are roughly 1,600 courses loaded onto Bridges this semester, including some from the School of Law. Sue Bosco, associate provost of academic affairs, believes the university has the groundwork needed for professors to build on. 

Bosco explained the biggest challenge was the training and shifting. Many professors not only had to learn the technology, but also had to change the content of their syllabi to fit online coursework.

“People have been actually really good about it. We know it’s a tough situation for the students; we want to help them as best as we can,” Bosco said. 

Tamia Burt, an adjunct writing professor, explains the biggest struggle was the pressure of changing content for online classes in a week. 

Burt explained she also got to learn new things and is excited to see the variety of options available to her as a teacher. As far as she is concerned, there’s drawbacks as well as positive effects. 

Burt feels like the transition was handled well and appreciated the amount of support offered along the way. In addition, she explained despite a few glitches and flaws, the overall support has not only been helpful, but reassuring. 

“It wasn’t perfect, but we weren’t expecting that, it kind of went as well as it could,” Burt said. 

But if this had to happen again in the future, Burt would want to have more training so it wouldn’t be as much of a struggle. 

Bosco added that students have been really great about the adjustment, saying she would “commend the students on their flexibility and willingness to work in this new way.” 

Though some students still struggle, such as senior political science major Andrea Macleod. She said she was having trouble transitioning into an online setting. 

“My professors, for the most part, have chosen a self-paced learning method so I have not had to deal with any technical difficulties of professors trying to work the new programs to lead online lectures. Despite that, I’m nervous that this change of structure will affect my academics,” Macleod said.