Katya Agrawal, Contributing Photographer

Yale is pushing to roll back COVID-19 policies liberally allowing asynchronous courses. 

Since COVID-19, courses and students have largely requested and received asynchronous formatting or attendance for extenuating or pedagogical reasons. However, Yale recently reminded professors that the expectation for teaching at Yale is in person. 

Pericles Lewis, dean of Yale College, told the News that he does not believe there has been “too much of a change” except for the accommodations that they approved for courses during COVID-19 but are now returning to the previous policies.

“I still think that it’s probably best pedagogically to come to lecture live and to be there live, but I understand that things get in the way of that for some people. Some people can’t make it to the physical classroom for whatever reason and I don’t want them to feel like their learning is going to suffer in any way because of that, especially post COVID,” Andrea Aldrich, the director of undergraduate studies for the political science department, told the News.

The undergraduate regulations state that “A student may not elect courses with meeting times that overlap.” However, “if, for good cause, a student is obliged to elect two courses that overlap in meeting times,” the student must go through the process with their residential college dean, both instructors, and petition the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing explaining why they must enroll in both courses in the current term and how they will meet all the requirements for both courses, which can include asynchronous attendance.

Professors can also request to include asynchronous aspects to their courses. According to Lewis, professors may explain why they want to teach a course asynchronously to the Course of Study Committee, and the committee will approve it if it is “pedagogically sound.” Professors who require an asynchronous format due to health reasons also communicate with the related offices to accommodate their requests.

Aldrich explained that professors who would have recycled their recorded lectures for another semester is what “the university is probably not on board with.”

Michael Oristaglio, the director of the Energy Studies multidisciplinary academic program, teaches the courses “Fossil Fuels and World Energy” as well as “Renewable Energy.” Oristaglio has included asynchronous formats that vary from splitting his class into two sections, each attending live once a week and asynchronously another, allowing students who petition to attend Zoom synchronous sessions, while encouraging live attendance through extra credit.

He believes that as the number of students who made asynchronous petitions through the committee rose in his class it triggered the administration to question whether they were allowing too many asynchronous courses and requests.

“I think there was a larger number [of requests], because this is a larger course … Let’s say we generated 20 requests, if they got another 100 requests, that’s a lot of work on that committee. So I think that’s what triggered the question of, ‘Oh, are we allowing too much asynchronous here?’” Oristaglio said.

Aldrich teaches the course “Women, Politics, and Policy.” She includes the option to learn the content through recorded lectures or attend live but requires attendance in sections and mentioned that the largest reason she chooses to structure her course that way is accessibility. 

Aldrich said that she has received largely positive student feedback about her option for students to view the recorded lectures at a later time as they felt it took the pressure off them when they knew that the same material would be available to them.

“From things I’ve learned about teaching throughout the years, the more different ways that you can offer students to engage with the material, the larger the chance you have that every student in your courses will find at least one way that works for them,” Aldrich said. 

Oristaglio also shared that students who have extracurriculars, practice, rehearsal or other courses have appreciated his flexibility as he encourages them to petition for the accommodation through the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing’s process. 

Aldrich also explained that while for some students taking a class asynchronously might be a good solution to overlapping courses, for others using an asynchronous option their pace and performance in the course is evidence they are not fully immersed in the course. 

“That’s one of the things being on an on campus experience. There are plenty of experiences you can get in other colleges that are totally online if that’s what you want. Even if a lot more courses at Yale were like that, maybe the students want that, but I would assume that’s not really what most students want,” Aldrich said.

The Yale College Dean’s Office is located at 1 Prospect St.

KARLA CORTES
Karla Cortes covers Student Policy and Affairs at Yale under the University Desk. From Woodstock, Georgia, she is a sophomore in Silliman College majoring in political science.