>> JOSEPH HELBLE: Hello, everyone. Welcome to our
14th Community Conversation addressing planning response and operations in the time of COVID‑19.
I'm Joe Helble the Provost of Dartmouth College and I'm joining you from the Starr Instructional
Studio from Berry library. I'm joined by Justin Anderson from another studio on campus. Justin and
I will be joined today for a conversation focused on the academic side of fall term by Sue Mehrer,
Lisa Baldez, and Meredith Kelly. We'll follow our usual format today with the campus update,
live Q&A moderated by Justin, a conversation with my three colleagues, and finally a chance
for them to answer your questions directly. You know, as I sit here today, it's hard for
me to believe it's almost October. We've had undergraduate students back on campus for more
than four weeks. Students local and remote are now in their third week of classes. And many
graduate and professional school students have been busy for months. And in some cases in the lab
since the end of May. Mask and social distancing in the high availability of parking spaces make it
pretty clear that this is not like any other year at Dartmouth. But for me, the campus truly feels
alive once again as it should on a fall afternoon. Today I'm like to focus my comments on an
operational update focusing on testing, some policy reminders, the conclusion of orientation
for first‑year students and the start of classes for all before turning to my colleagues for a
discussion of their work and their teaching in the classroom and in the libraries. First I'll turn
to testing. We've now moved fully beyond arrival testing. Which had all undergraduate students
screened on arrival and on day zero. Day three and day seven. To our fall term operating plan
which now has all students being tested weekly. Dartmouth has performed more than 16,000 tests
on campus. 16,548, to be exact, with a total of 4 positives as of this morning. A positive test
rate of 0.024%. This information is reported on a revised COVID‑19 dashboard which can be accessed
directly from the Dartmouth together comprehensive resource campus operations during COVID‑19
accessible directly from the Dartmouth home page. We've moved from updating twice per week to now
updating it daily including the weekends if new information is available. Dates reflecting
the latest update are displayed in each table so the community will know it's seeing the
latest information. Now, as a regular point of comparison and one I have been pointing out
since testing data began several weeks ago, most of our peers in New England remain in the
same rage with a positive test rate of 0.01% to 0.05%. In total for most campuses including
ours in the single digits. UNH and UVM with their larger populations have rates that remain
relatively low at 0.16% and 0.05% respectively. Far below those of many larger universities in
other parts of the country. By way of comparison, the state of New Hampshire reports a 0.04% for the
county and 1.9% for the state of New Hampshire. We need to remind ourselves that comparison of our
college and university data to state data is not an apples to apples comparison because colleges
and universities are testing a symptomatic individual with high frequency whereas the general
population is not tested with the same regularity. But I mention this because we stale abreast of the
data overall to keep track of the potential for community transmission. And through September,
it's worth noting the picture in New Hampshire and in the state of Vermont remains very
positive. Not perfect, of course. We also need to remind ourselves that the ultimate goal
is zero transmission. And that hasn't changed. But the signs to date for the campus and the
community are strongly encouraging. Testing itself underwent a transition this past week.
Thanks are due to many but particularly the many volunteers at the student testing tent and the
team from student health services, facilities. The tent covering the front part of the Maynard
lot where staff and volunteers processed more than 1,000 students per day with virtually no lines
through more than two weeks of daily testing as disappeared replaced by just a few cars in
the parking lot as I walked across campus this morning. A sign of a return to normal for
the lot, but the relative emptiness of cars a strong reminder that this is not a typical term.
Testing is now moved to the field house where it will remain for the rest of fall term as
a consolidated location for student and employee testing. The facility just opened Monday morning
and I do understand there were some lines when it first opened. But I'm told the system adjusted
because by the time I went for my test Monday afternoon, there were no more than perhaps four
or five people in line ahead of me for the few minutes while I waited to be signed in and tested.
Our expectation is approximately 5,000 samples will be there this week. A rate we anticipate
continuing throughout the duration of fall term. Now, for this week, Leverone continues to be
the site for all those tested. We do anticipate opening a second testing center one day per
week for those who work and study on the Levanin testing center. Details are being finalized and
should be announced some time before our next community conversation two weeks from today. As
a reminder for all employee testing, all those currently authorized to work on campus regularly
five days per week are being tested weekly. Those employees who are on campus for a fraction
of each week will be tested every other week. And those who only need to be on campus
occasionally will be contacted by human resources for periodic testing. Again, to avoid long lines,
employees will receive an email to register for specific testing times and appointments.
Now, in addition to Leverone being the testing site this week, Dick's House staff
will continue to be available to administrate flu shots for anyone receiving their COVID test
between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. For those who have not already received a flu shot and
who aren't scheduled for the COVID test tomorrow, our colleagues at Dartmouth‑Hitchcock
Medical Center are running a drive through medical clinic throughout the month of October.
Details and signup information are available to members of the Dartmouth community through the
DHMC website. A reminder that Dartmouth employees could also schedule one through Dick's House
pharmacy or through their primary care physician. Now, I mention this because simply put we
are encouraging everyone to get a flu shot this year to help protect your health to
support community health and to reduce the complicating risks of flu combined with
COVID‑19. In terms of campus operations overall, we remain at the middle limited access
level as indicated under the campus life tab on the Dartmouth Together COVID‑19 website. As a
reminder, this means those employees whose jobs allows them to work remotely should continue
to do so. For those who are working on campus including those who may be permitted to return
to occasional on‑campus work and of course for all students who are accessing the campus or
living on the campus, a friendly reminder that the temperature self‑assessment or TSA must be
completed daily or whenever you will be on campus if it is not daily. Details including the brief
TSA questionnaire are available via the TSA button under the Dartmouth Together logo on our Dartmouth
Together COVID‑19 website. Related to this, I need to again ask that everyone
students faculty and staff alike know and follow the restrictions on travel which
are an essential part of our continuing to keep infection rates low and keep campus facilities
operational. I cannot stress this enough. As Dr. Lisa Adams and Josh Keniston said in
their email this morning, we continue to receive inquiries on travel outside the local region
and the question of whether one can test out of the quarantine requirements. I cannot
say this clearly enough. You cannot. No one employees included may test out of the
quarantine requirement after traveling outside of the designated area. Travel is strongly, strongly
discouraged. And for those who do travel outside of their allowable regions which differ for
students and employees, quarantine for 14 days upon return is required. Yes, I recognize this is
restrictive. We all recognize this is restrictive. But as I said when we last met, we are asking
everyone not just our undergraduate students to sacrifice some individual freedom in
support of the greater community good. More information is provided in Josh and
Lisa's email this morning including a link to the policy. And details can be readily found
by following the links on our COVID website. As also noted in the task force message to
campus this morning, Dartmouth has partnered with Everfi to have staying healthy in a changing
environment for students and for employees. Students have already been provided with a link to
this training and faculty and staff will receive one later this week. Even if you are familiar
with our policies and practices for reducing the risk of infection, it's a helpful refresher and a
reminder that this is, indeed, a global pandemic. A global pandemic meaning that it affects
everyone. And it affects some communities disproportionately, something we cannot lose sight
of. Those who are older and at later stages of life. Those who are immunocompromised or may have
other underlying medical conditions. And those who come from communities of color where the infection
rate and the death toll have been disproportionate and alarming. I think we all owe it to everyone to
make sure that everyone who works and studies on this campus feels that we each have one another's
best interest in mind. We are each being attentive to community health. We are each doing everything
we can to protect the health of the community. To that end, one of the data sets that I continue
to keep an eye on is the national data set. As a reminder of the overall scope of the
challenge that we face. So I'm an engineer. I've said before I love data, humor me and let me
take a look back at the past six months of data. At the national level, the infection rate, the
number of daily reported positive cases grew steadily and rapidly from that point in March when
all colleges and universities and most businesses closed on‑site operations into mid‑April. From
there, a period of slow but steady decline in infection rates followed. Even some cause for
optimism before climbing again substantially to a mid‑July peak of more than 70,000 confirmed
positive new cases each and every day. While this peak was followed by an encouraging decline
through mid‑August, since then, things have stalled. And we have remained at a level of more
than 40,000 per day for more than a month since. I offer these as a reminder that we are not
close to being out of the woods and our continued engagement as a community by engaging with the
course by completing the TSA daily, by adhering to restrictions on travel and continuing to mask
and practice social distancing, all of this is important to all of us in our navigating
through this successfully as a community. Now let me finish with some
observations on our academic mission particularly as things have gotten underway
over the course of the month of September. Fall started as you know with a virtual
orientation for first‑year students and a two‑week period of restricted
mobility quarantine for all students returning to campus. This was asking a lot.
There is absolutely no question this was hard. I connected by Zoom with several of advisees who
assured me they were hanging in there doing okay. I heard similar stories by many colleagues who
were checking in with their advisees. Coordinating over 125 sessions of in‑person activity ranging
from different forms of painting to outdoor yoga and mindfulness in partnership with student
wellness. To explore the self‑guided public art walking tour developed by the Hood Museum
of Art. Or participating in one of 56 sessions of eight types of trips all of which started
and end on campus. All designed to give students particularly first‑year students an introduction
to what we and so many alumni mean when we refer to our sense of place that is so much a part of
Dartmouth. With quarantine behind us, I notice there are tents, a dozen of them scattered about
campus reservable to be used while observing the masking and social distancing and requirements for
unscheduled events. Or available to be scheduled for up to 25 person events depending upon the
space, of course, and space associated limits. We now see classes fully underway for all students
be they resident on campus in Hanover or at home wherever that may be. Faculty and staff
doing creative things to engage all students. The professors of theater creating a radio drama
with remote students. Peter, I would love to hear that when the term ends. Engineering professors
teaching computer aided design, shipping materials to students learning remotely so they can conduct
the design and project assembly work expected as part of the course work no matter where they are
on the planet. A religion course pairing students for discussion that involves collaboration
across sections putting a student from a remote section paired with one from an on‑campus
section to foster discussion and dialogue. These are just a few examples of the commitment
to engaging students that we see across the entire campus. And we'll hear more of this from
my colleagues shortly. And what do I see? I see students scattered on the green and around campus,
more of them now that arrival quarantine is over for all. They're socially distanced. They are
wearing masks. I had the director of dining services John who was with us just a month
ago for a Community Conversation tell me that even with last night's rain, roughly 80% of our
students still ventured outside with their meals with the rest using our open table reservation
for dining in. And John said directly that the energy from the students was hardly deterred by
the weather. What an incredibly encouraging sign. I ran into a few of our safety and security
officers Monday night and just asked them how things were and how the weekend had been.
And they said, you know, the students seemed appreciative to be here and they were doing
what we asked them to do. They were masking. They were social distancing. All of this is so
incredibly positive. So let me end by reflecting back on where we were a month ago after President
Hanlon and I decided to bring under half back to campus for residential education this fall. At
that moment I said directly to our students that I and we, this campus community, believed in
you. That we knew you recognized that this was indeed our moment as a community to steer
a path for Dartmouth through challenging times. We're still a long way from our destination, but
here we are. A month later. And I could not be prouder of the way everyone, students,
staff, faculty, and the local community have come together to make this work. So to
everyone in the Dartmouth and local community, let me simply say sincerely, thank you. We still have
much work to do. We know that winter is coming. But we'll learn from the fall to help us chart our
course through the winter and we'll speak more on this in coming Community Conversations. But as
of today, I could not be happier with the start. Thank you to all who have helped make this
happen. Justin? Let's turn to you and see if there are any questions I can help answer.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Thank you, Joe. And I think I do have some questions that you can help answer.
I want to start with something that you said in your introduction about despite, you know,
positive signs and how well the campus seems to be adapting so far that we are not close to being out
of the woods. And I realize you mean that sort of on a universal or global scale. Not just simply
relevant to Dartmouth. Nevertheless, I think it's an important reminder. And it actually runs
counter to a lot of the questions that have come in that are sort of wanting to know when we will
loosen up restrictions. You know, when will we think about increasing the number of students on
campus? Is what we're seeing now going to change the number of student who is will be allowed on
campus in winter term or in spring term? Likewise, might we start more in‑class instruction as things
are going smoothly? So I guess could you talk about that tension, about how we are a long way
from being out of the woods. Yet at the same time it seems like things are going well. And I think
that has people yearning to be able to do more than what we maybe had been planning on.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: It's ‑‑ thank you, Justin. That's a good question. And I have
different variations of that asked of me often by students, by alumni, even by some parents.
And members of the faculty and staff. And our approach has been data driven, to
pay attention to the situation on campus. To pay attention to state and federal guidance. To
pay attention to levels of disease transmission nationally. And to recognize that we ‑‑ there
is great danger in becoming complacent. There is great danger in becoming overconfident. And
so what does all that mean? It means that I, too, would like to move to a condition where
we can bring more employees back on campus. I, too, would like to move to a condition where
we can bring more students back on campus. But we are paying careful attention to what is
working and what the guidance is and what we are seeing in terms of disease transmission rates
increasing in areas that loosen their restrictions too quickly or loosen their restrictions in ways
that we think may be too flexible given what we're trying to do. Let's not forget we don't have 2,000
or 4,000 individuals all living in single bedroom apartments by themselves and never interacting
with other students. This is a community. And we know that the greatest risk to college campuses is
community transmission when one or two individuals are hosting the virus, hosting the disease
and gather in large numbers with their peers. The surest way to manage that is to keep the
campus dedensified. Our plan is to look very much like the fall term for the winter term. I think
it's important we navigate and complete the fall term successfully before we think about whether
it may be possible in winter term. But Justin, I tell you my objective is to help see this
through the entire academic year with a positive experience for everyone. And if that means we're
going to be a little bit more conservative, that's the direction we're going to head.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Speaking of winter term, Joe, there definitely is interest and curiosity
about when there will be an announcement about what winter term will look like.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: Yeah. In terms of classes, right now we anticipate
it looking as we said much like the fall term. We are going to continue to give
faculty flexibility in deciding how they would like to offer their curriculum. I'm an
optimist, Justin. And I'm going to be optimistic that as more and more of our faculty members
see us continue to navigate the fall term in a positive way, more and more members of our
faculty will be open to individual or small group meetings with our students, we'll be open
to offering hybrid sections of their classes that have in‑person components for student who is are
here. Who will bring students into their lap for research experiences or who will, in fact,
teach fully residential sections on campus. But the answer to that question is going to evolve
and emerge over the course of the fall term. And the more we do to continue fall term
successfully, I think the greater the chances that it will be even more in‑person
opportunity for students on campus in winter. >> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Joe, a question about masks.
And before I get into the specific question ‑‑ >> JOSEPH HELBLE: Wear them.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Let me just say that being on campus now over the course
of the last couple weeks, it's incredible just how often you see groups of students outside
exercising by themselves wearing a mask. It's rare that you actually don't see students and others
on the green in Hanover not wearing masks. It's really been impressive to see how seriously people
are taking a measure like masking up that we know can make a difference. And I think it speaks
to ‑‑ I think it speaks to how seriously committed the students are to once they
are here doing what they can in order to stay here and to really put the
community first. So I just wanted to take a moment to give everyone, the students in
particular, a shoutout for really taking the measures that we have requested seriously.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: I appreciate your noting that, Justin. It's what the safety and security
officers, first thing they said to me the other night. It's what I notice. It's what Sue
Mehrer said she noticed a week ago. There was even a letter from the resident in the Valley
News this morning saying kudos to you, students. You're wearing masks and being socially distant.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Yeah. It's great to see. And I know that it will keep up as long as we need it
to be the case. And I suspect that's going to be for a while. The question, though, that comes in.
It's a good question. It's sort of a hypothetical. It's premised by saying there's a little bit of
confusion about the mask policy. If a student is in a basement of a dorm, say, doing laundry
and there is no one else around ‑‑ they're by themselves doing laundry ‑‑ are they required to
wear the mask? And the question comes from a place of concern if that person is not wearing the mask
in those circumstances, they are concerned that perhaps they would be reported and they might
be asked to leave campus. So I guess we're just looking for a little bit more clarity on
exactly when and where to wear the mask. We know the why. But the when and the where.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: Right. So I'm going to offer this, Justin, as I have with other things
as a word of caution in being conservative. I think there will be circumstances that
students and faculty and staff will interpret as gray zones. When in doubt, wear it. What
I've said consistently is if you're in a place that's a public space meaning
another individual could easily walk through, your mask should be on. If
you're in your individual room or individual office that is yours and yours alone and someone
would knock to enter, it is not a public space. It is a space that is reasonably thought of as
yours. Then you do not need to be wearing a mask. But if you're in a space that could be public with
other people passing through, wear the mask. We ask that you wear it indoors. And quite honestly
we ask you wear it outdoors. I make a point of wearing mine when I walk across the green even
if no one is around within a hundred feet of me and I see everyone else doing the same. Part of
it's to build a habit. Part of it is to build reassurance in the community that we're all taking
this seriously. That's my answer to the question. Wear it in a public place.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: So in this scenario that I relaid, if you're in your
basement by yourself doing laundry, still wear a mask because there's certainly a chance that
you could be greeted by others at any moment. >> JOSEPH HELBLE: Yes.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: So we have time for one more question. You know, not just when John
is a guest with us, Joe, we get a lot of questions about dining and about food and about when and
about how much. But a couple questions came in acknowledging that though summer seems to be
extended, at some point it is going to get colder. And what will we do when students can no longer
eat outdoors? Either in the tents or on the green. So either formally or informally. How are we
going to handle just sort of the need to have more people eating indoors than is currently the case?
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: And so Justin, I'm not going to answer that question directly because the answer
is as of today we don't know. That doesn't mean we have absolutely no idea. It means that we are
evaluating different options. We're learning from what works and what doesn't work so well over
the course of the fall term. We're learning from how students are using the open table app
to schedule in‑person or in‑facility dining. What hours are popular, how do they spread
themselves out. We are asking questions about what other spaces we could make available. And we
recognize it being able to solve that for winter term is critically important. Because there's
no question that both winter term and if we were still operating in this mode, the start of spring
term, we're not going to have the flexibility to be outdoors the way we had fall term. But we're
beneficiaries of starting with fall term where we can learn by observing student behavior. We can
learn from seeing what works and what doesn't. And I know that John and his colleagues Joss the VP
for Campus Services and the task force themselves are very much on top of this. We will have future
conversations about winter term. I think we will probably not be ready to start discussing some
of the options in detail until late October. But I anticipate being able to provide a significant
amount of detail before students leave. So thanks. Thanks for raising that question. It's obviously
an important one and very much on our minds. So with that, Justin. Sorry for not getting to
more questions. But let's turn to our guests this afternoon. And so I'd like to bring back
Sue Mehrer, Lisa Baldez, and Meredith Kelly. So great to have you with us. All as first‑time
guests in Community Conversations so welcome. I'd like to start with a question or two for Sue
since I'm sitting here physically in the library and the library in many ways is the nerve center
of teaching and research that happens on campus. I know that when we were planning in May to reopen
parts of our physical campus, one of the things that was most important to the campus was the
reopening of Baker Berry Library as a physical space and the reopening of the capabilities
that the library staff make available. You, of course, would remind me and the community
that the library never went away. You were doing business in a different way. Can you tell
us what it was like in the early days when everything was being done remotely? How did you
and your colleagues help support teaching and research at the beginning of the pandemic?
>> SUE MEHRER: Very happy to. Thank you for inviting me today. Gosh, six months if
you're thinking about early spring and of course at that point almost all staff worked
remotely but continued to work very closely with faculty and students with our campus partners
like ITC to really play our part in all of this. So for example, in addition to co‑teaching
online, our subject and specialist librarians worked closely with faculty and students
to identify those kind of resources that are suitable for online learning and teaching. Or
find alternative resources that were temporarily unavailable. You know, scanned and digitalized
copies of materials from our own collections. So those were making sure that the resources
were still available in that online environment. But as you said, even though we
closed our doors in mid‑March, there was still a library staff present on site on
campus here. So that allowed us not only to offer the kind of click and collect service that we had
throughout this pandemic so that the community, the Dartmouth community here in the upper
valley had the opportunity to get access to the physical collections we'd made
available through the curbside collection. But it also meant having staff on site, we were
able to scan articles or book chapters from our collections again to support sort of teaching and
class work throughout the term. Which I think was much appreciated. So from the very beginning
we were part of that transitioning to online learning and finding ways to make that possible.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: Great. So let me ask you a follow‑up question as we fast forward to where
we are now. Just yesterday I was walking across campus and I ran into Jay Lyle who's a relatively
new member of the faculty, a professor in the government department. I saw him walking past
and he had a stack of books with him. And I know where you've just come from. Even behind a mask,
I could tell that he was just beaming and he said, you don't know how great it feels to be able
to walk out of the library with this in my hand and be able to go home and read. So without
his background what kind of services are you providing now to faculty, staff, and students?
>> SUE MEHRER: Yeah, so our in‑person services are mainly in Baker Berry Library and as you know
from the beginning of July, we've been able to make access to the physical collections in Baker
Berry Library available again. To the community on campus. But of course now we also are open again
for our study which is really great. We're there throughout the week and will be throughout
the term. And that is also much appreciated. Throughout that time, we're still providing the
kind of pageing service for the click and collect. You can come to there to pick up a stack of books.
But also services like coming online again and coming online again and I know our faculty have
been waiting for that to come back. And that's up and running again. And, you know, there are
a number of in‑person services that we're still providing that are sort of by prior appointment.
The specialized assistance that you'll get through the Jones Media Center or Art Library. So those
you have to plan ahead a little bit and make an appointment. But we are here to provide that
in‑person service and be as flexible as we can. >> JOSEPH HELBLE: That's great. And it's great
to see students taking their rules and guidance seriously. Staff I know are as I came into the
library earlier this afternoon to access the media center. I had two of your colleagues make
sure that I produced my ID before they would let me into the building. So I thought that was a
wonderful thing to see. So thanks very much. Lisa, let me turn to you and talk a bit about
teaching this term. So you're teaching an introduction to Latin America class. A class for
first‑year students. And you mentioned to me the other day that this is, in fact, the first time
you've taught a class online. You're the former director of DCAL our center for the advancement
of learning. And I know from conversations we had five years ago you're thinking how best to
engage students as partners in their own learning. Did you approach things differently this term?
How has it gone so far and what are you doing? >> LISA BALDEZ: Yeah. Thanks for having me.
You know, I think the first thing I want to say is I'm really grateful to Dartmouth that we
had the choice of how we wanted to teach. That meant a lot. And that kind of put the ball in our
courts in terms of what we're comfortable with. That is not the case at all universities around
the country. So I'm really grateful for that. In some ways having been DCAL director has in
this context increased my anxiety about teaching. I have worked hard to kind of incorporate active
learning and all kinds of interesting pedagogical techniques in my classroom. And the transition was
not obvious. I was a little worried about it. And I actually went to a couple of DCAL sessions over
the summer. I started off one meeting by saying I was talking about what I was worried about. One
of the learning designers, she looked at me and goes ‑‑ she says, we got you, Lisa. And I just
felt my anxiety just melt away. Because I know ‑‑ one thing I know being director of DCAL is we have
an incredible amount of support to support us in every aspect. Anything we want to do in teaching.
So, you know, I have worked with her. I'm worked with Adam and people at DCAL. This term I'm
working with Amelia in the Hood Museum. She put together an incredible kind of project that
we're going to do on some art that we have in the collection based on Cuba for the course. I ran
into Sara yesterday. Sara is the director of the Book Arts Workshop. We're going to put together
something for my students in a couple weeks. And in some ways, I've been kind of almost
enchanted by things that are ‑‑ there's things that we can do online that I'm not sure how
we'd replicate it in an in‑person classroom. I'm using a tool I've learned at DCAL called
hypothesis which allows students to annotate a single text. Every one shows up online in a
single text. So that is kind of a collaborative reading process. And it really ‑‑ it allows people
to highlight what they find important and have a conversation about it. And that would be difficult
to do in an in‑person classroom with an actual paper document. It wouldn't quite work as well.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: So is that something you can bring back to your in‑person offering?
>> LISA BALDEZ: Yeah, I do. But it works really well online because students can do it on
their own time. My students have also told me they really appreciate having recorded lectures because
they can watch them on their own time. They can go back. They can speed things up. They can slow
things down. So it's been a boon for them. >> JOSEPH HELBLE: That's great. Thank you.
Meredith, let me turn to you with a question or two about teaching. Then I'm going to ask a few
more before we turn to our audience and see what's on their minds. I'm interested in how you're
approaching the fall term. As I understand it, you're teaching two classes. Introductory
physical geology class you're teaching remotely or, in fact, fully online. And then a graduate
level class that involves some field work. If you don't mind, first tell me briefly about
the remote class. Any particular challenges that you're experiencing and demonstrating
scientific concepts in a virtual environment? How are you doing that? How are
you getting students to engage with the material in an online context?
>> MEREDITH KELLY: Thanks, Joe. Thanks for having me here. So the remote class is an undergraduate
class. The title is How the Earth Works so it's a big broad spectrum of earth sciences. I'm
co-teaching it. This is also similar to my first time remote teaching, but luckily Sarah and Ed who
is also in our department taught this class in the spring. And that was sort of, you know, a first
trial through it. So they really set things up and we're building on that and changing some
things. But essentially what we've done is flipped the class. So all the lectures are prerecorded and
students watch them prior to the class meetings. Then we use class time for exercises, for data
analysis, for all kinds of things. And then also discussions. And then there's an additional
required weekly three‑hour lab session. Okay? So it's interesting. I mean, earth sciences
is really inherently a hands‑on field; right? Like, we like to pick things up and look at them.
That's one of the reasons I got into this field. Because I love that. And that's in a way what gets
me excited about teaching and doing all this. So typically in an in‑person class we have labs
where we have students investigate samples of minerals and rocks and, you know, interrogate
these with different physical properties and learn about them. And then we actually take the
students out into the field. We go on field trips around in the Hanover area and use that knowledge
base of mineral and rocks to interpret the geological history of the area. So obviously we
can't do that, but we've ‑‑ I think ‑‑ I hope we really tried to get a different way of doing
that remotely. We've had incredible support from DCAL. We were really fortunate to get one of
the experimental learning initiative grants. And with that grant, we were able to purchase and send
mineral rock kits to every student in the class. Each student in the class should now have their
own personal set of 75 different minerals and rocks that we're going to use through different
labs and also in class exercises. So we're going to ‑‑ they're actually going to be able
to scratch these things and throw them in vinegar and see if they fizz and all these tests
to identify different properties. They're going to be able to do that. And they do that in ‑‑
again, in the lab setting or class setting. We also have been working with Ed and
Jonathan to make our field trips virtual. And our initial effort to do this was to make
them accessible. But it's been a boon because this is now ‑‑ we can really use them in a remote
environment. We have great 3D imagery of these field sites. We can do virtual field trips.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: By virtual you truly mean virtual. They're not going out in their
own back yard and you're guiding them with a GoPro camera on their head. You mean
you have a virtual image of a specific site and that's what they're examining.
>> MEREDITH KELLY: Yeah. We have the look at the bedrock of the bottom of the
gorge where we take them. You can see in this sketch model look at the different faces and zoom
in and out and investigate minerals and rocks and really use those skills that you learned with the
kits to start interpreting geological history. So that's exciting. And that's been fun and fun
to develop. We're really working on that. So you asked about, like, how students are
interacting and debating and discussing these. >> JOSEPH HELBLE: So just quickly
tell me a little bit about that. >> MEREDITH KELLY: So, you know, we have all of
the classes are either exercises or discussions. And the labs are small groups. So we have students
mainly in small groups working on projects, on ideas. And they can discuss them in small
groups. Then in class we have a larger discussion. I have to say I was really worried that people
wouldn't ask questions in a Zoom environment with, like, 60 people. And they do. I want to give
a shoutout to all my students that people are unmuting themselves and asking questions and
having a great discussion. It's been super fun. >> JOSEPH HELBLE: That's great. Well, thank you.
So we ‑‑ I'm going to turn to Justin in a minute, but I want to ask one last question. Lisa,
I'm going to put this to you particularly with Sue sitting here. One of the things you and
I have spoken about is how the library and library staff have been particularly supportive
and helpful to you in getting your class underway and pulling materials together. So not to put
you on the spot, but this is an opportunity to ask how the library and more broadly how the
staff community has been able to support your teaching. You've already mentioned the learning
designers in DCAL, but what about the library? >> LISA BALDEZ: I don't know how I'd teach
the class I'm teaching without the library. Every source that I wanted to include, every
source that I needed is available online. And that makes it possible for my students in Mombasa,
in Miami, in Los Angeles to have easy access to the texts. And it just ‑‑ people came together
to find them really quickly. All the films that I have are online. It just ‑‑ it's been a real ‑‑
really great knowing that I have that kind of support and it's been really easy as a result.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: So thank you, Lisa. And that's really helpful I think as a reminder to all of
us that 50 years ago we thought of the library as a collection of books and magazines
and physical resources. But it's really become for this campus certainly a collection of
intellectual resources where we have specialists who are working in tandem with our faculty
to pull together the resources that they need to deliver the content to their students. And it's
really been ‑‑ I mean, one of the things that's most impressed me about the Dartmouth community
since I came here 15 years ago. So thank you, all. I'm going to turn to Justin now. I'm sure he
has questions that have come in from the audience and he'll take it from here. Over to you.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Thanks, Joe. And since you ended with a brief conversation
about the library, I'd love to start with the library. This is a question for Sue although
Joe, don't go too far, because you actually may be the person that would be most capable of
answering this question. But the question is, when will the public be able to access the library
again? And one of the reasons I wanted to ask this was sort of what you said, Joe. I wanted to
acknowledge to Sue that people want to come back to the library. And I know that she knows
that, but that is the thing ‑‑ that is a question that we've gotten over and over over the course
of the last couple of weeks is about access to the library. And so I thought I'd put that question
out there for Sue to address or to Joe. But Sue, people are dying to get back into the library.
And so when can the public expect access again? >> SUE MEHRER: It's a different question. It's
great to hear the public want to come. One of the best things about Dartmouth and the library
is this very open door policy and open access. Right now, you know, safe ‑‑ the health and
safety of our Dartmouth community comes first. It's all part of the keeping the campus
dedensified. There's an access system, you know, that prevents public to access. And we're really
part of adhering to the Dartmouth visitor policy which right now is to say, you know, does not
invite visitors other than those on campus on site. Until that changes, you know, we will adhere
to those same kind of policy. But perhaps Joe is better placed to answer when that might change.
That's the million‑dollar question, isn't it? >> JOSEPH HELBLE: Sue, you've answered
that beautifully. And all I would say is that given everything you just said and
given our determination to navigate this term successfully for our students, faculty, staff, and
the local community, there are going to be things that people desire in terms of campus access that
we are simply not going to be in a position to provide. And so I don't anticipate that changing
over the course of the month of October. Might it later in November or December? I don't know. It
depends upon so many things. But certainly for the foreseeable future meaning the next month
with apologies to the community, we're going to continue to operate in this restricted mode.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Lisa, if we can, I'd like to go to you. A couple of different
questions have come in that I think would be perfect for you based on something that you
said and answered to one of Joe's questions. Which is that you found some characteristics or
aspects of teaching online to be enchanting. Which is ‑‑ was a great description. And I find myself
wanting to hear sort of more about what it is that has been enchanting beyond the examples that you
provided such as being able to record lectures so that students can go back more readily. But
sort of in that vein, one questioner asks based on your teaching experience this term,
what will you be adjusting going forward? And then sort of relatedly, could you envision
teaching online or hybrid courses in the future regardless of COVID restrictions?
>> LISA BALDEZ: I think I could absolutely envision doing it. Again, I said we have, you
know, lots of resources to support us in that endeavor. And I think one of the aspects
of it and Meredith alluded to this is that I was worried about, you know, the dynamics
of the classroom. You know, would people feel like literally remote. And my experience,
too, is that the dynamics of what a classroom are is just different. And it's just different.
It's not better or worse. It's just a completely different configuration of power within the
classroom. And I think it's in ways that have ‑‑ I would say even democratized the nature of
class discussion. So while I can see this moving forward, there is nothing to replace what
it feels like to have an in‑person classroom. And I'm grateful I have an in‑person component to my
classroom. It's just the dimensionality of getting to know students, of the flow of conversation,
of the way people ask questions, of the things that happen just before class and just after is
really valuable. And I'm glad I have ‑‑ I just have a small piece of that, but I'm glad I have
a piece of it for right now. And I certainly hope we'll have that in the not too distant future.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Meredith, if I could turn to you. You gave a shoutout to the students in EARS1.
A questioner asks about advising. So I think you said there's about 60 people in this class.
How are you engaging with them individually in terms of office hours or when they
need, when they have individual questions that go beyond the actual class time? Do they
send you a Zoom invite? Do you have open, you know, office hours? How is that working?
>> MEREDITH KELLY: Okay. So I'm co‑teaching this, again. So the way I do it is I have a set office
hour and I have a note that just says any time you need something, just email me and we can set up a
meeting or I can answer questions by email. And I have to say, my office hours are more packed now
than they were when I was teaching in person. And I feel like it's just made it easier to, like,
pop in and say hi or ask a simple question. And it's great. I let students know if they want an
individual meeting with me, then they can schedule a time for that. Even during office hours if they
don't mind having another couple students there that we can all discuss a certain question.
I've had students just come by and say hi. And I think that was more during the quarantine
period when people were, like, just feeling like they wanted other people and were feeling
sort of lonely. So we just chatted about what Dartmouth is like. It's been really fun. I mean,
I totally agree with Lisa though. There's nothing that replaces the in‑person classroom. Like you
see someone walk in and you realize they're on the sports team and you can chat about that. I
miss that. So it's not the same, but I do feel like I'm getting to know students and, you know,
it's still fun. And my co‑teacher has a different setup. So she has nightly office hours where
people can schedule. And she has sort of a ‑‑ I think a cookie and tea time where people can
stop by and there's more of a group setting. Try to offer a variety of things for people.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Lisa, it would be great to hear from you on that same question of advising.
How is it that you are, you know, interacting with your students beyond simply the classroom time?
>> LISA BALDEZ: Like Meredith said, open time on Zoom. Now we're advising second year students.
It was like a joyous reunion. It was like, hey. You're here. It was so great to see
people and connect with them. There had been so much anticipation about,
you know, how this was all going to go. Especially for first‑year students.
Some of which were far flung. So that's allowed ‑‑ it's given people a mechanism
to connect and it's so ‑‑ it's kind of a metaphysical thing. How are you connecting
in this weird space we're all navigating? I think people are not taking things for granted.
And they realize how precious these connections are and really using them to the fullest.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Sue, if I could go back to you with a question about special collections and how
students ‑‑ the question is about students. But faculty I suppose as well or staff. How can
they access special collections during this period? Is that possible? How does that work?
>> SUE MEHRER: Yes, it's absolutely possible. I mentioned some of the in‑person services
are by appointment only. So students would make an appointment around special collections
and we give them a time and they probably ask what materials they would be using. So that's
for the students that are on campus, on site at the moment for the kind of in‑person visits. But
I also just want to say that in addition to that, the library staff has developed a system for
streaming materials from the classroom. So wherever students are they can interact. So there
are different ways of accessing those materials whether you are here or remotely. And we're trying
to remove as many barriers as we can to make access to those materials possible for students.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: Meredith, if we could go back to you for a question. And both you
and Lisa hinted on ‑‑ hinted at ‑‑ or more than hinted. Just said that as positive as the online
experience can be, that it's also not the same as being, you know, with students in the classroom,
in the lab, in the field. So beyond that which is hugely significant, what are
some other challenges that you are facing by this new medium? What are things that have
been difficult and how are you dealing with that or how might you adjust as you move forward?
>> MEREDITH KELLY: That's a good question. I mean, I think there's a whole array of things
from just the challenges of working with a remote environment but as Lisa said, the
support that we have through DCAL and through, like, the Dartmouth Institute of Technology, those
have been incredible resources for preparing that. I think the time is hard. I spend a lot more
time preparing materials, prerecording lectures. I spend the time prerecording lectures and the
time in class. I find myself triple checking thing tos to make sure they're absolutely clear. I make
sure the directions on the printed material are so clear that if I'm not in that breakout group
when the group does the exercise or the lab and they run into questions, they don't get off on the
wrong track from the get go. I think that's hard. I think ‑‑ yeah. That's a couple things.
>> JUSTIN ANDERSON: We have time for one more question and I want to go back to
Lisa for the last word here. And I'm sorry to come back to your description of being
enchanted. I'm probably ‑‑ we'll bring this up when we bump into each other in town.
We can talk about this more. But what's been ‑‑ what's been sort of the most pleasant surprise
over the course of ‑‑ it's been a very short‑term so far. But what's been the most
pleasant surprise that you've experienced during this most unusual fall term?
>> LISA BALDEZ: I think there's ‑‑ I'm not sure what's behind this, but there's a
level at which ‑‑ there's kind of a level of ease in the discussions. You know, this relates
to that point about students feeling really comfortable asking questions where in‑person
sometimes it requires some structure to get people to ask questions. There's almost,
like, some kind of threshold is thrower for participation. It feels more
casual. People speak more freely. And that to me ‑‑ I think there's something
there, you know, about all kinds of almost invisible dynamics in the classroom.
They're invisible within the classroom but they're very felt. And those things are gone. So
there's a very ‑‑ a different dynamic and that's what I mean by kind of democratizing the space.
Maybe there's an op‑ed to be written in there. >> JUSTIN ANDERSON: I'll call you about that
later on. That sounds good. Thank you very much, Lisa. Thank you, Meredith. Thank you, Sue, for
joining us. And Sue, thank you for allowing us to use this space over the course of the last
couple of months. It's been great to be here and a pleasure to see you over the course
of those many months. That is all we have time for today, so I'll just go back to you, Joe.
>> JOSEPH HELBLE: Great. Thank you, Justin. Lisa, Meredith, and Sue, let me add my thanks to you
for the discussion and conversation. You've got me excited wanting to spend more time in the library
again and wanting to take each of your classes. Let me end with a quick comment. Lisa something
you said now at the end struck me. I've noticed as I've walked around campus over the course of the
past month that when I pass students just walking on the sidewalk, there's a level of engagement
that I don't remember being there before. And I don't know it's because we're all masked
and so somehow that makes us more comfortable as strangers to just say good morning and hello
to one another, but there's eye contact and that brief human interaction that isn't typical. And
maybe I and maybe our students are just not paying attention to their iPhones in maybe the same
way. I prefer to believe we're all just so happy and appreciative of being on a campus where we
can physically interact with one another at a distance after all this time of isolation
that there's ‑‑ I don't know what it is, but it feels different and it feels special
to me. So as you write that op‑ed, think about this aspect of it as well. Because it truly has
been for me an unexpected surprise and welcome. So thank you, all. Thanks to everyone for
joining us today. Once again, for a Community Conversation. We will be back in two weeks.
And again two weeks after that in October with additional updates. We'll begin to talk
about our planning for winter term as I alluded to earlier today. And as I promised last week, at
some point in the next month, in the next four to six weeks we will spend sol time speaking about
planning for Dartmouth's fiscal year '22 budget. Until then, stay well, everyone. Stay safe.
Have a good couple of weeks. Thanks for engaging with our students and our community
and we'll see you soon. Have a good afternoon.
