Does a ‘return to campus’ translate to a return to the classroom?

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many college and university administrators are facing challenging decisions about when and how to reopen their campuses The Chronicle of Higher Education has been following these decisions closely and as of June 10, 2020, only 8% of colleges and universities had announced they were planning for online courses The remainder are considering strategies and contingency plans that would bring their students back to campus in the fall One fundamental trade-off in these decisions is the balance between the quality of education and the health of students, staff and faculty However, the benefits of having students engaging with their instructor and peers in the classroom are in direct conflict with the latest research on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown that transmission of the coronavirus is highest when people are sitting indoors for a long period and talking