Despite some slight hiccups, the Northern Marianas College\u2019s transition from face-to-face classes to virtual formats is going generally well, according to NMC interim president Frankie Eliptico.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still many challenges and we are assessing them on a daily basis, but we have received positive feedback so far,\u201d he said. \u201cThe students, the faculty, and others at NMC have been amazing in their efforts to transition to virtual formats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliptico acknowledges that the college is expected to further refine, modify, and adjust the online class system in a bid to further improve it as they move forward. \u201cBut that\u2019s to be expected when undertaking this scale of activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since March 18, students have begun meeting with their instructors through Zoom, a web-based video conferencing application, as a precautionary measure and in a bid to comply with the social distancing rule that is seen as an effective way to prevent a possible spread of COVID-19 virus in the CNMI. According to Eliptico, there is no specific date in place as to when the college will go back to face-to-face classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will bring our students and employees back to campus once it is safe to do so,\u201d Eliptico said.<\/p>\n
Eliptico also said that the college has developed a Pandemic Planning Task Force, which is intended to help the NMC community prepare for a potential outbreak in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur main priority is the students and their wellbeing,\u201d Eliptico said. \u201cWe will continue to monitor the spread of the virus and will inform our students and employees immediately of any changes to the academic calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n
NMC counselors have been calling students to make sure they are faring well with their online classes.<\/p>\n
An NMC student, who agreed to talk about his experience on the condition of anonymity, said that he doesn\u2019t really like it mainly because of technological issues, but understands that it\u2019s something that he has to get used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I guess I\u2019m fine with it, it would be better if I was equipped for it,\u201d he said. He stated that he\u2019s not used to seeing classmates through a single screen and prefers to be on campus since he learns better in a face-to-face learning environment.<\/p>\n
Another NMC student who agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity said that her experience hasn\u2019t been too bad. She\u2019s still able to ask questions about current topics, and she\u2019s able to still learn efficiently during each session.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m okay with the current situation\u2014I\u2019m fortunate to have internet access but it\u2019s kind of unrealistic to expect everyone to do online classes so I hope they\u2019re [teachers] understanding of others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite some slight hiccups, the Northern Marianas College\u2019s transition from face-to-face classes to virtual formats…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-319740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-nmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}