NC State is restructuring classrooms and installing barriers because of COVID-19
N.C. State University is adjusting classrooms and setting new rules as it prepares to bring 36,000 students back to campus in August during the coronavirus pandemic.
The university has set up two mock classrooms, including an auditorium, that faculty and department chairs from different disciplines can walk through to see how they might change their own rooms and teaching methods this fall. The mock classrooms feature signage, floor markings, adjusted seating arrangements and Plexiglas barriers.
The biggest changes students and faculty will notice are the smaller class sizes that will be held in the same spaces that typically accommodate large classes.
Doug Morton, associate vice chancellor for facilities at N.C. State, said they can’t have 200 students in a room, even though they might fit. Classrooms will be operating at about a 30%-40% capacity.
The university is working on changing the seating arrangements and spreading out desks or tables in more than 250 classrooms and about 100 labs on campus to meet CDC, state and university guidelines, according to Morton.
In some classrooms, they’ll be installing barriers to maintain physical distancing, and faculty might be teaching from behind a Plexiglas shield. That could be critical for some courses like a foreign language, where the nuances of the speech could be muddled by a mask, Morton said.
“It’s that kind of thought about each type of class being taught and how can we maximize the experience for the students,” Morton said.
N.C. State students, faculty, staff and visitors will also be required to wear face masks on campus throughout the fall semester. Students and professors will have to wear face coverings the entire time they’re in classrooms and laboratories and in outdoor spaces on campus where “appropriate physical distancing cannot be guaranteed,” according to N.C. State.
Students and faculty at other UNC System institutions can expect similar changes. UNC-Chapel Hill is also making adjustments to academic buildings and requiring face masks on campus.
To reduce congestion in buildings and hallways, N.C. State is also evaluating entry and exit points. Morton said they’ve considered having one primary entrance to the building and using all the other doors as exits, but no plans are set. He said those changes would require new signs and floor markings and will be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other safety measures.
N.C. State is making adjustments to its bus system, which carries more than three million students a year across campus, Morton said. Riders will only be able to stand in four places on the Wolfline bus, less than half of the seats will be available and everyone will have to be wearing a mask.
Morton said the 10 task forces created to address re-opening campus safely during the pandemic are working on solutions from research to facilities to dining to student involvement.
“The campus on all levels has had to come together,” Morton said. “We all want to succeed at this. We all want to create that safe environment.”
N.C. State is starting it’s fall semester on Aug. 10, nine days earlier than it was originally scheduled. Students will start moving in on July 31.
