SITKA, ALASKA
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
The racket in the big bay of the UAS Sitka campus is a construction class. They’re building a kayak shelter for neighboring Mt. Edgecumbe High School. The actual construction in this building is all but over. The spaces campus director Jeff Johnston is showing me will be occupied in November.
The rooms below have sensors that turn on lights when we walk by. They also have thermostat controls that turn off the heat when no one’s around. And they’re equipped with cameras, screens, and smart boards to serve students who may never step on this island.
“What we’re doing is making a transition to the whole campus from a more traditional campus to a virtual one. Seventy-five percent of our students don’t live in Sitka. So, we’re trying to serve those students well, and as a by-product, local students will get even better service.”
Most Sitkans are probably unaware that UAS has built a two-story building in town. The campus is located entirely within a former aircraft hangar, a part of the Sitka Naval Air Station built during World War II.
The new construction fills a corner of the hangar once used for storage and small engine repair classes. Now, most of the lower floor classroom and lab spaces will be devoted to the health sciences curriculum. Upstairs, where we’re standing, will be a student success center, where advisers will help students navigate the increasingly wired world of education.
“Our student success people are going to be multi-talented. So they’ll be grouped in an area where they can provide support for the virtual student. Our new phone system will have voice-over-internet. We’ll be able to set it up so you call one number, and it actually checks to see who’s logged in to their computer, and direct the call to that computer.”
But not all education can be virtual. Downstairs, there’s a large room that will be furnished with hospital beds, and headboards that simulate a hospital environment. There’s also a king-sized bathroom, where an entire class of nursing students can learn how to bathe patients.
You also can’t do lab work online.
“This will be our large bio-storage area. This is where we’ll have all the shelves and containers to build the kits that we send out to students in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and chemistry and the basic biology course.”
The kits are large, gray Rubbermaid totes common in Alaska for holding everything from wild game to children’s toys. The old UAS lab is filled floor-to-ceiling with them. Johnston says the kits are an efficient way to run a laboratory program. They’re even distributed to local students.
Still, nothing beats the surprise of getting a special package in the mail.
“Let’s look and see what’s in this. Unfortunately we brought the president of the university through, when someone sent back their fetal pig. It leaked a little bit into the container.”
Just my luck, the kit Johnston shows me is full of pretty much what you’d expect for a college biology lab. He calls this a “blended curriculum.” Students studying to be certified nurse aides, for example, can do the didactic program online, and then come to Sitka for the practical.
The investment to make this possible has been about $5-million dollars in a combination of grants. The federal Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian program provided about half the funding. The program is designed to improve the academic quality and self-sufficiency of eligible institutions.
Jeff Johnston thinks that’s happening.
“When I teach the nutrition course, I’ll get someone say ‘I have to leave for just a second to put my two-year-old to bed.’ I think it’s opened up programs for students who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to access higher ed. That’s what I find especially gratifying about what we do in that arena.”
© Copyright 1970, Raven Radio Foundation Inc.
