{"id":451592,"date":"2020-09-18T14:34:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T18:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=451592"},"modified":"2020-10-02T15:48:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T19:48:27","slug":"an-adapted-classroom-students-and-faculty-find-new-ways-to-engage-in-teaching-and-learning-451592","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/an-adapted-classroom-students-and-faculty-find-new-ways-to-engage-in-teaching-and-learning-451592\/","title":{"rendered":"An adapted classroom: Students and faculty find new ways to engage in teaching and learning"},"content":{"rendered":"
Students and faculty members adapt to new\u2014and safety-conscious\u2014ways of interacting as teachers, scholars, and researchers.<\/div>\n

Teaching and learning at the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a> look a little different this fall. As Rochester has slowly opened campus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, students and professors are engaging in the work of scholarship and research, but they are interacting in innovative and coronavirus-adapted ways.<\/p>\n

Some classes in the College<\/a> and at the Eastman School of Music<\/a> have been reduced in size, some are being taught virtually. Masks are the norm for in-person instruction.<\/p>\n

And faculty members have put into practice teaching methods that model the University\u2019s safety protocols: building online options into courses, using clear boards to separate teachers from students, holding classes outdoors, employing the Oxford-Cambridge tutorial system (which combines group classes with individual meetings), and working in labs set up at half capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an unprecedented experience for everybody,\u201d says Rudi Fasan, the Andrew S. Kende Professor in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. \u201cI think the University and faculty have done a great job of adapting to this new reality. It\u2019s had a major impact in the way we teach and conduct research. We shut our research lab down for a few months, but were able to resume this summer and ramp up to a point where we can be productive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at some of the ways University faculty members are teaching this semester:<\/p>\n

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\"students<\/p>\n

CONNECTING AT COBBS HILL<\/strong>: Elizabeth Garijo-Garde \u201923, a music and public health major, Facetimes with classmate Ashley Wang \u201922, a public health major and nursing student, during a trip to Rochester\u2019s Cobbs Hill as part of the class Environmental Health and Justice in the Rochester Community led by Katrina Korfmacher, an associate professor of environmental medicine. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"photo<\/p>\n

DANCE DAYS<\/strong>: An outdoor dance floor and rehearsal space has been set up near Spurrier Hall. Classes like West African Dance (above), led by dance program instructor Kerfala (Fana) Bangoura, feature both in-person and Zoom options. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"Eastman<\/p>\n

CHORAL CONDUCTING<\/strong>: Professor of Conducting and Ensembles William Weinert leads a rehearsal for the Eastman Chorale as the ensemble also practices the safety protocols of wearing masks and staying physically apart. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"students<\/p>\n

CHEMISTRY COURSE<\/strong>: First-year students (left to right) Vedat Duzgezen, Jordan Blair, Ethan Kahn, and Christine Bednarzh work in a lab set up at half capacity in Hutchison Hall. The lab is for the chemistry course Chemical Concepts, Systems, and Practice, taught by Carl (JC) Olsen, an assistant professor. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster).<\/p>\n

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\"masked<\/p>\n

CLEAN ROOM<\/strong>: Students grab antiseptic wipes during a break in a rehearsal session for the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, led by Neil Varon, a professor of conducting and ensembles. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"faculty<\/p>\n

WRITERS RETREAT<\/strong>: Novelist Joanna Scott, the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English, meets outdoors with Kai Reed \u201922, a physics and mathematics major who\u2019s working on a cluster through the Department of English. Scott and William Miller, an assistant professor of English, are using a tutorial structure common at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge that combines group classes with individualized meetings. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"class<\/p>\n

MERIDIAN MEETING<\/strong>: Joan Saab, an associate professor of art and art history and of visual and cultural studies, and students in her class Topics in American Art: Public Art meet at the Meridian Marker on the Eastman Quadrangle. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"class<\/p>\n

LECTURE NOTES<\/strong>: Robert Minckley, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biology, leads a session of the class Ecosystem Conservation and Human Society. Held in Lander Auditorium, the class offers a Zoom option for remote students, while students who attend in person have to wear masks and follow distance protocols to reduce capacity in the auditorium. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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\"sock<\/p>\n

WELL DRESSED<\/strong>: What better way to dampen aerosol transmission from a bassoon during a rehearsal for the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra than a musically themed sock? (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/p>\n

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