By: Liam Schmidt ’22, Staff Writer

As the fall semester continues, more professors are choosing to switch their courses from in-person to online.

Jaime Fettrow-Alderfer, assistant professor of English and advisor of La Vie Collegienne, is among those teaching remotely. Although she made the decision to switch in late September, she had been considering all of her options since the beginning of the semester.

“I gave it a good try, but then I started to feel nervous about the situation,” she said. “It just became apparent that in the best interests of my family, I make the transition to remote.”

For the first several weeks of classes, Fettrow-Alderfer felt comfortable on campus but ultimately concluded that the potential harm to her family was too great. Her hesitancy to transition to online was due mainly to her investment in face-to-face student and teacher interaction.

“My preference is to be in-person,” she said. “It was such a hard decision because I feel like Zoom is effective, certainly, but it’s hard when you have a class of more than ten students. I want to be in the classroom.”

While Fettrow-Alderfer has not encountered many issues with classes online, teaching has become more of a challenge.

“There are things that I can orally explain in a classroom far better than I can in Zoom,” she said. “I mean Zoom fatigue is real. I try to be mindful of that because a lot of students spend their entire day on Zoom.”

Although working from home has its challenges, Fettrow-Alderfer has also acknowledged some positive takeaways.

“Ultimately, the best benefit is that I can ensure the safety of my family as much as one can ensure that during a pandemic,” she said.

And that their whole family is now quarantined has also made another special member of the household noticeably happier.

“I think the family dog has won the lottery,” she said. “It’s a win-win for her and us because we get to spend so much time with her.”

Fettrow-Alderfer will be teaching remotely in the spring as well.