Contributing writer Sahil Annamaneni ’24 interviewed Ms. Sarah Forbes, instructor in Spanish, Oliver Hurwitz ’21, Mr. Adam Lang, instructor in economics, Isamar Martinez ’24, and Phil Warren ’24 about adjusting to academic life this year.

The new daily schedule was designed to effectively support hybrid learning. Classes now meet four periods per week – either in the form of four 50-minute sessions or two 50-minute sessions and one 110-minute session – while in the past, classes usually met for five 45 minute periods per week. To simplify the structure, and to provide sufficient time for instructors, classes start on the hour (at 10:00 a.m. for example), and there are 10-minute passing periods, rather than 5-minute passing periods, between each class. For some classes such as science classes, however, the period will end five minutes early since seats need to be wiped down and workstations need to be cleaned out in a way that was not typically done before. The decision to make classes a standard fifty minutes was made to account for any technical difficulties and complications that may arise with Zoom and in-person class rotations now that quarantine has ended. Mr. Jared Hall, dean of academic life, pointed out that these changes should help lighten an unnecessary cognitive load involved in teaching and learning.  

During Quarantine

“Three-dimensional interaction is much more ideal than two-dimensional interaction, but that’s better than no interaction.”

Read the full interview with Oliver Hurwitz ’21, Mr. Adam Lang, instructor in economics, and Isamar Martinez ’24.

After Quarantine

“In person, you can pay attention better, and it’s a lot easier for a natural flow of discussion.”

Read the full interview with Ms. Sarah Forbes, instructor in Spanish, and Phil Warren ’24.