Amid the fears of COVID-19 spreading, students, faculty and staff are scrambling to transfer their current classes to strictly online. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 as a global pandemic Wednesday, which resulted in Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen releasing a statement Wednesday to declare the university will move all classes online from March 23 to April 3.

Brad Dell, Iowa State director of theater, said the directing, acting and design classes will be moved to Zoom — a platform for video conferencing. 

“We are looking [at] having [to do] some research on contemporary plays and doing some of those presentations,” Dell said. “We’re also looking at them doing monologues rather than scenes and then videoing themselves doing those scenes and uploading them. […] Our directing class, where students are directing other students, they’re going to be setting up Zoom conferences with their casts.” 

An option for design students for the theater department is to take photos of the work and send them to their professors. 

“We here in this program talk about that it’s all about empowering citizen artistry — that’s the centerpiece of our program,” Dell said. “I think as citizen artists, we are looking at the needs of our community, and right now, our community, both locally and globally, is in crisis. Looking how we can respond to that, adapt and be a part of the solution in creative and innovative and empowering ways as much as possible.” 

Professors in science-based majors are also looking for online alternatives for their laboratory sections.

Stephanie Loveland, associate teaching professor for the chemical and biological engineering department, currently teaches a chemical process safety lecture course and a unit operation lab course, which is required for chemical engineering students to take. 

“The biggest challenge for me is really just going to be instead of coming to class, trying to make reasonable lecture material and those kinds of things for online,” Loveland said. “[…] I think with a lecture class, it’s doable, it’s just going to take a little bit of effort.” 

For online alternatives, Loveland said she is looking into virtual labs or giving her students data to analyze. She is also responsible for leading a study abroad group to Spain in the summer, and nine of the students going are graduating seniors. 

“It’s quite likely that [the study abroad program] is going to be canceled,” Loveland said. “[…] I would have to offer them some version of the lab course here instead of in Spain — which is where we’re supposed to be going. I don’t know what that’s going to look like yet.” 

The study abroad program has not been officially canceled, though Loveland said she is anticipating it will be.

The College of Design faculty and students may experience a delay as they rely on studio labs to work on projects, which goes into their end-of-the-year portfolios.

Carol Faber, associate professor of graphic design, said she uses the studio pedagogy model of working with students one-on-one, creating design work in studio with feedback, information and demonstrations in person.

“I am committed to providing the best possible environment for my students and am planning flexible alternatives with options for students to interact and share in a virtual space,” Faber said in a statement. “Their success is important to me, and I want them to be less stressed about the online environment. I am also restructuring assignments to work better for the online environment.”

Along with a study abroad program, the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) plans to go to the IISE North Central Regional Conference April 2 through April 4.

Ani Yam, sophomore in industrial engineering and events chair for IISE, said the event will have to be postponed. 

“We actually were planning a conference […]. We now have to make decisions on if we’re going to postpone it, if we’re going to cancel it,” Yam said. “It’s hard because it’s something we’ve been planning for two years […]. We’ve been connecting with so many companies to get sponsorships […]. This is the conference that was regional, so we have 10 other schools that are being impacted.” 

More information about the classes should be sent by March 23, according to Wintersteen’s statement announcing classes are to move online. Wintersteen said in the email they know how “disappointing and disruptive” the decision to transition courses to online was, but it was made in consultation with the Board of Regents out of caution. 

“So it’s all playing it by day,” Yam said. “It’s just kind of scary, which is why I was kind of breaking down as much as overwhelmed […]. Personally, I think I’m just a planner, and I like knowing what’s going to happen.” 

Students and faculty have said their concern is the uncertainty that comes along, as the university will reassess the situation during the week of March 30 and the online instruction period may be extended depending on the conditions. 

“The uncertainty is always going to be unsettling, but we just have to acknowledge this is not something we have control over and learn how to adjust and adapt [with] how things change,” Loveland said.

Currently, there are no reported cases regarding COVID-19 on Iowa State’s campus, in Ames or Story County.

More information is expected to be released as it becomes available in regard to the spread of COVID-19, how online coursework will be completed, event cancellation, etc.

Reporting contributed by Sage Smith.