The California Community Colleges, the nation’s largest public college system, pivoted quickly in response to the coronavirus pandemic, converting from in-person to online instruction for nearly every course while continuing to provide hands-on training for first responders like firefighters.
This week, Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley discusses the challenges facing the 115-college system serving over 2 million students — and how it is adapting using multiple technologies and strategies — as it serves some of the state’s most vulnerable students deeply affected by the current crisis.
Plus, we speak with Marisa Martinez, editor-in-chief of University Times, Cal State LA’s student newspaper, which has continued to report extensively on the impact on the campus of the coronavirus crisis. She describes how the newspaper is covering the big story and gives portraits of students under stress.
To read the University Times’ coronavirus coverage, go here.
For background to this podcast, check out the following from EdSource:
- All community colleges in California suspending most in-person instruction
- California colleges and universities respond to the coronavirus: a quick guide
- Some California college students find refuge on campus during a pandemic
- $31 billion in federal coronavirus relief coming soon to schools, college students and universities