Week of March 16
This is spring break for Coe and for the Cedar Rapids Community School district. WE did not have big spring break plans this year. We were supposed to go visit Jamey’s parents in western SD, but cancelled that because Jamey had some work obligations (not because we were necessarily worried about health). Willa had a college visit scheduled at Creighton for Thursday; they offered a virtual alternative. We’ll go later.
Over the weekend virtually all sporting events are cancelled: March Madness, the Masters Golf Tournament, all NCAA competitions, and following suit the American Rivers Conference cancels all spring sports.
On Sunday night Governor Reynolds recommends all school districts shut down for four weeks.
Monday & Tuesday, March 16-17
The associate dean and I host open-table brainstorm sessions for faculty that are around and want to chat about how an online Coe might operate. We have a total of about 18-20 people that show up during the two sessions (including a few who reached out via email because they are in high risk categories and are avoiding public places).
We meet with IT, Marketing, and provost to talk through what limitations we might have in moving classes online. We are most concerned with the fact that we have limited knowledge about what students have for tools and access at home.
Coe closes recreational facilities and limits access to the library to pickup only (stacks are closed). Domestic May terms are cancelled.
Wednesday, March 18
29 confirmed cases in Iowa, none in Linn County. The college prepares for all non-essential staff to work from home starting tomorrow.
Coe announces we’ll shift to online classes starting March 30; commencement is cancelled.
Thursday & Friday, March 19-20
We start demo-ing Zoom and Google Hangouts for faculty and continue to add to our Covid-19 Continuity website. This is a work in progress I started last week and will continue to update as faculty start working on transforming their course work to an online learning environment.
On Friday night our family has our first “eat-out-take-home” dinner. Local restaurants are offering pick-up only or curbside delivery options. There are 39 cases in Iowa, a surge in guns sales, and continuing lack of toilet paper.
Stro @ Coe 