College of the Desert creates a hybrid learning environment as they approach the fall of 2022

College of the Desert offers some in-person classes this year as students and professors gear up to go back to school. Some students are getting excited to be back in the classroom after being "100 percent online since the start of COVID", said Sofia, a 2nd-year student at COD. "During the height of the COVID pandemic, COD transitioned to 100% online courses for over a year and started opening for in-person classes last year," said Professor Felix Marhuenda Donate.

Last semester about two-thirds of their Full-Time Equivalent Student was in online classes, and the remaining one-third with in-person instruction. This coming fall semester, COD anticipates an uptick in the amount of in-person enrollments; however, the California Community College Chancellors' Office expects that in-person registration may top off at around 50% for most Community Colleges.

Marhuenda Donate is giving us his prediction for the College of the Desert campus. Still, he said they would pay close attention to the enrollment numbers to make any necessary adjustments. "I like the classroom. I like interactions with my students. It was difficult during COVID not having that; it was difficult for many students not having the interactions with their professors," said Marhuenda Donate.

Marhuenda Donate is a Professor of Computer Informations Systems and was previously the Distance Education chair and led the district accreditation efforts and policy creations in the area.

Some professors say it is hard to conduct their instruction online. "There are other disciplines that they feel like it's not really conducive to learning to conduct all their classes online," said Marhuenda Donate. College of the desert recognizes that, so they offer an in-person hybrid format, or their new high flex format, where they have cameras in the classroom during instruction. The instructor conducts the class, records it, and then students get to watch it online if they could not make it into the school," said Marhuenda Donate.

Some students would like both options, like third-year Biology major Emunah Daffon. "I'm a little bit of both," said Daffon. Because I think in person, the one thing in person over online is the relationship. It's just like communication; you get to be with your friends, talk to new people, fail with your friends, be successful with your friends when you're online, and be kind of by yourself.

"I honestly think they should keep online an option," said Sofia. In the future, I don't think they should go entirely in person. I think online is like a massive thing for people who struggle with mental illness and, you know, who get who have a lot of anxiety going to school or, you know, being around people, around people and big classrooms and stuff like that.

"I think online instruction is here to stay," said Marhuenda Donate.

We've had we've, we've offered online classes for 20 years, and now we're getting much better at it. Many online universities, like Phoenix University and National University their enrollments continue to grow because of the flexibility of the format.