Can hands-on career education go online during school shutdowns? – PBS News Hour
In fields like history, literature and French, transitioning to online learning — as many colleges have done to fight the spread of the coronavirus — might sound challenging but doable. In some career and technical programs, it’s a different story.
At Peninsula College in Washington state, Eoin Doherty, who coordinates the school’s welding program, is scrambling to devise a plan for offering classes amid new restrictions resulting from the virus. In welding labs, an instructor demonstrates a technique to students on a machine, sends them off to practice on their own and walks around to check their work. That simply can’t be done online, he said.
For now, the campus is closed, and the school is on spring break. If they’re allowed to offer labs in person when classes restart on April 13, Doherty and college administrators plan to run students through coursework in smaller groups to maintain social distance. But if Washington Gov. Jay Inslee extends an order for residents to stay home past that date, that won’t be an option.