WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass.- MassBay Community College will offer its spring 2021 courses exclusively online or remote, except for a handful that involve laboratory work. This format mirrors how the fall semester courses are currently being delivered to students.

“After carefully considering the current state of affairs regarding the pandemic, and in keeping with our paramount objective of limiting the spread of COVID-19 among the MassBay community, we have decided not to open the College to on-campus classes and activities this spring,” said President Podell. “We have proven our ability to effectively offer our courses online and remotely while continuing to offer our students the robust academic and personal support services that are the hallmark of a MassBay education.”

All fall semester courses at MassBay are being offered online or remotely except for a few Biotechnology, Health Sciences, and Automotive Technology courses that contain a required hands-on laboratory component. The College has prepared and is following comprehensive access plans for each of its three campuses in Wellesley Hills, Framingham, and Ashland to accommodate students attending these lab-based courses.

This fall, compared to fall 2019, the College has doubled the number of courses that use free or Open Educational Resources (OER) to 74 courses, which makes these classes more affordable to students. 

Open Educational Resources are free or low-cost text, media, and other digital assets which are useful for teaching, learning, and research. They are offered under a Creative Commons license that permits others to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute them. In this format, students receive free or low-cost (under $40) access and use of the materials without the expense of buying or renting textbooks or other required course materials.

To learn more about MassBay, plan to attend the virtual Fall Open House (https://www.massbay.edu/openhouse ) on Saturday, November 14thfrom 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., or visit www.massbay.edu.