OCC announces plans for fall semester

Onondaga Community College has submitted its plan to SUNY for the fall 2020 semester. It includes a combination of in-person and online classes. Classes begin Monday, Aug. 31.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the college has made numerous changes to support student learning and living, and to ensure safety for all members of the campus community. Those changes include: All learning spaces were measured to determine maximum allowable density.

Schedules for labs which require in-person, hands-on learning will be staggered for density purposes, allowing all students the opportunity to receive in-person instruction time from faculty as they normally would.

Some classes will be a combination of in-person and remote.

For example a class with 18 students which meets three days a week may have six students in-person Monday, a different six students in-person Wednesday, and a different six students in-person Friday.

Students not in physical attendance will interact with the class and their professor virtually and in real-time.

If a student becomes ill, he or she will be able to keep up with classes and coursework from a distance.

Some classes will be delivered entirely remotely—either in real-time or in traditional online formats where students participate on their own schedule.

All residence hall bedrooms will be singles (one student per room).

There will be no doubles or triples. Students living in suite-style units will continue to share common spaces in those suites in small, “family-style” groups.

One of the college’s four residence halls will remain empty and reserved for quarantine purposes, if necessary.

Students will move into residence halls during a staggered, four-day period in mid-August.

Students will undergo a health screening upon arrival.

Two of the campus’s three entrances will be open and everyone who comes to campus will undergo a brief health screening every day. Students living in residence halls will also be screened daily.

Since campus reopened as part of Phase 2, everyone entering campus has been screened daily. Screenings will continue as long as recommended by New York State.

All classroom, residence hall, and campus common areas will be cleaned and disinfected on a daily basis.

All on-campus instruction will conclude prior to the Thanksgiving break, and any activity following Thanksgiving until the end of the semester will be done remotely so that students do not travel and then return to campus.

“We look forward to welcoming students back this fall in a safe learning environment which will allow them the opportunity to work closely with our outstanding faculty. We’re confident our plan will enable all of us to come together and provide students the education they need to build the future they imagine,” said OCC President Dr. Casey Crabill.

OCC is also unveiling five new programs in the fall semester including: Electromechanical: Drone Technology AAS, Geospatial Science and Technology AAS, Health Sciences AS, Sound Recording AS and a Health Studies certificate.

Also, OCC’s first-in-the-nation Box of Books program, which cut student textbook costs in half, will return in the fall at an even lower price. Student textbook costs are calculated on a per-credit-hour basis rather than the sticker price. Due to the program’s success in its initial year, the per-credit price is being reduced from $21.50 to $20.50.