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Finlandia University announced this week that it is committed to a full return to in-person learning for the fall semester. Vice President for Academic Affairs Fredi de Yampert says that because the school places a high emphasis on experiential learning, it is already operating at roughly 70% of normal. Labs and other settings can’t be duplicated via Zoom. De Yampert believes that the university’s philosophy is best served in the classroom.
At the same time, Finlandia will continue to utilize streaming technology, thanks to the benefits it has seen this year in reducing disease transmission.
Finlandia is recommending that everyone, including young and healthy students, sign up for a vaccine when it becomes available to that cohort. The university says it believes that will happen in late summer or early fall. Federal officials are still hopeful for sometime in May.
De Yampert says COVID has provided several opportunities for Finlandia students, in addition to the obvious negative consequences to the learning environment and the community as a whole. Nursing students in particular got hands-on experience in helping to monitor and control a pandemic. De Yampert says they were very involved in the testing process.
