Do students really need a campus?
To best answer this question, you'll need an understanding of which parts of the campus can be substituted, which parts can be supplemented, and which parts can be complemented by digital technologies. In theory, courses that require little personalization and/or human interaction could be recorded as multi-media presentations, and then watched by students at their own speed. Technology can deliver content to an infinitely large audience at a low cost while maintaining a proper social distance. Will it really be possible to shift to a hybrid model? we're about to find out. It isn't just the students who are taking classes remotely, even the instructors are now forced to teach those classes from their homes. If remote experiments prove successful, there may turn out to be fewer students in any one classroom at a time. If this trend is sustained, it could present an interesting opportunity for architects and designers to get creative with how our colleges look and function.What do students and faculty want?
There is a rather stark divide here. Not all faculty members are comfortable with virtual classrooms and there are many who are not yet proficient in even basic audio--visual equipment. As students across the nation enter online classrooms in the coming weeks, they're going to learn that many professors are not trained to design multimedia presentations, with elaborate notations and graphics. Colleges and universities will need to use this moment to assess what training is needed to provide a smooth experience. Students also face a number of issues with online classes; they can feel as if they don't belong to a peer group, which in real life instills a sense of competition, motivating all to excel. In addition, anything done online will reduce students' attention span due to the effortless accessibility to social media and other digital content while attending online classes.