44 ForOregonState.org/Stater THE social distancing dots outside grocery stores are peeling. Shortages of toilet paper, baby formula and yeast are no more. The daily recounting of casualties is done. But even as the worst of the pandemic recedes into the rearview mirror, the fact is that four years ago the world changed. Oregon State’s public service-minded researchers and outreach specialists remain focused on learning from all we went through. From lasting changes to the way classes are taught to inventive ways to protect our health as a community, here’s a look at some of the lessons. 1. FLEXIBILITY MAKES COLLEGE CLASSES BETTER When the nation hunkered down in March 2020, nearly 2,000 OSU faculty members had two weeks to reboot spring term courses in fully remote mode. The Center for Teaching and Learning and its partners consulted with hundreds of faculty, while Ecampus and its nationally renowned team of instructional designers scaled up training and extended their expertise to the entire faculty. Most faculty members knew of and had even used the Canvas online learning management system, but suddenly it and Zoom were the hub of nearly all instruction at OSU. When students resisted the less personal approach, many instructors shipped out boxes of materials for hands-on lab activities, while others designed small Zoom breakout room activities where everyone worked to keep the fun in learning. At first it seemed to work, said Regan A. R. Gurung, associate vice provost and executive director of the Center for Teaching and Learning: “I teach a 400-person class and often can barely see facial features of those in the back. Teaching remotely made every student the same size on my screen and in some ways provided more equal access to me.” But as the pandemic wore on, more students wearied of the format and turned off their cameras. Gurung collaborated with more than 40 educators at universities across the country on the book Higher Education Beyond COVID, released in fall 2023. A key takeaway: Faculty and students did better when remote classes were organized but flexible, providing multiple ways for students to learn and engage. Gurung sees evidence of lasting benefits to the upheaval caused by COVID. Almost all general-purpose classrooms across the Corvallis campus are now wired and equipped forweb collaboration.The Center for Teaching and Learning is training faculty in new methods that ensure that the system will be more prepared for all sorts of future disruptions, from extreme weather to wildfires. Many now record classes so students who are sick — or who might benefit from listening to the material again — don’t miss out. Some also still provide live Zoom access so students can participate if they can’t make it in person. “The pandemic had higher education scrutinize much of what we took for granted, or at the very least, the pedagogical practices that had not changed in a long time,” said Gurung. — SIOBHAN MURRAY 2. IN A CRISIS, A LAB IS A LAB It’s hard to make public health decisions when basic information is scarce. The nation faced the onset of the pandemic with COVID-19 testing supplies and facilities in short supply. But the scientists at the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, housed within OSU’s Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, knew they had the expertise and equipment to serve the people of Oregon as well as their pets. Many pathogens that affect animals also affect humans — rabies, swine flu and COVID-19 are wellknown examples. The OVDL, like other veterinary labs across the country, recognizes the connections between the health of people, animals and the environment. The lab also has the capacity to test at scale, as many pathogens spread rapidly among livestock operations housing thousands of animals. Early on, when the lab’s leadership reached out to public health officials and offered to help with human COVID-19 testing, “They pretty much poo-pooed the idea because we were ‘just a vet lab’,” said Donna Mulrooney, quality assurance manager for the OVDL. The lab pushed its case while also applying for, and receiving, a federal certification that allowed it to handle human samples. Oregon’s public health officials were won over, and the OVDL processed more than 300,000 PCR tests from across the state. Included were all PCR tests for
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