This past Block 5, 心理学教授克里斯蒂·埃尔达尔(Kristi Erdal)和她的15名学生今年开始了一段说起来容易做起来难的旅程:面对面上课. Her course, Human Neuropsychology, 亲自见面讨论人类中枢神经系统的复杂组织, which includes everything from memory, language, and emotional disorders. Students gathered to learn brain imaging techniques, neuropsychological assessments, and to fully immerse themselves in a challenging, interesting, 在这一年中，他们的其他课程可能都是远程授课.

在追求这种困难的学习过程中，有许多挑战并不完全是学术性的. With 15 students, 图特科学中心没有足够大的教室，也没有足够通风的教室，无法保证每个学生都能安全上课. This meant a transition to Tutt Library 201, a larger room where students had spaced desks, the doors to the outdoor balcony constantly could be open, 还有几个电视屏幕，供学生们从房间的各个地方展示，而不必站起来离开他们指定的区域. On top of that, every student needed to have the proper access to campus, social distance entirely, and wear a mask. Even given all these caveats, for Professor Erdal, “所有的障碍都不会超过三维教学的好处,” especially for those in the class graduating this year.

As the course normally functions, 埃尔达尔在这个领域有很多相关的演讲者，他甚至还去了丹佛的克雷格医院做临床评估，看看神经心理学在这个领域是如何运作的, both of which had to be amended given the circumstances. While the field trip was ultimately canceled, the visitors all had to call in via Zoom, 这也说明了保持正常班级的诚信对厄达尔来说有多重要.

While the class is demanding academically, 学生们必须互相帮助和支持，以保持整个街区的班级都在场，这也是一项艰巨的任务. 埃尔达尔教授知道，让每个学生对大流行的环境感到舒适是很重要的，并确保没有人因接触者追踪和生病而感到落后或被排斥. To do this, Erdal created a system called “Zoom buddies,这是一对学生，他们被分配到一起，负责分享笔记, Zoom-ing each other during class, 如果两人中的任何一人无法上课，他们甚至会在线学习. “Zoom伙伴”这样做是为了让每个学生都觉得自己在由于CC规则而无法参加的时候仍然保持和参与课堂, contact-tracings, and keeping the CC community safe if they ever felt ill. 埃尔达尔还为所有视觉效果更好的学生戴上了一个透明的面具, or who didn’t speak English as their first language, 或者只是需要一些额外的视觉提示，而坐在房间的另一端. 无论障碍是什么，埃尔达尔都有一个快速的解决方案，让面对面的学习尽可能地“正常”.

对于学生们来说，埃尔达尔的努力、考虑和关心并没有被忽视. For Thomas Perry ’21这是他今年第二次亲自上课(都是和埃尔达尔一起上的)。. Perry says he really felt that this class was his “last hurrah,，并对课程中付出的努力表示由衷的感激. 他说:“看到赌博正规的十大网站的学生们齐心协力保护彼此的安全，真是令人感动。. “Especially during COVID times, it’s so easy to judge others for what they aren’t doing, and it’s so relieving to have seen us all be so good.佩里还指出，再次看到某人的面部表情是多么美妙, even if it was just through Erdal’s see-through mask.

For Christine Calger ’21在美国，埃尔达尔将课堂作为一个社区的努力也得到了体现. Calger最喜欢的部分是在一个非常困难的学习环境中对细节的关注. All the readings were engaging, the visitors highly interesting, and the class engagement high, she says.. 虽然卡尔杰最初的人生计划是去医学院, “这门课让我考虑将神经心理学作为另一条道路,” she says.

虽然这门课的中心是临床意义上的神经心理学, it couldn’t be more relevant this year. Erdal recently co-hosted a CC panel on mental health, 注意到所有虚拟学习可能对学生产生的后果. The ability to be part of a class where students can interact, see, 在面对面的环境中相互学习是她知道需要发生的事情. 埃尔达尔的课上没有发生过任何事故，学生们完全明白什么是危险的. Erdal knows also, that “especially for seniors, 重要的是，要让他们的研讨会体验尽可能接近他们在没有covid的年份所能获得的体验.”

For Erdal and her graduating seniors, 这门课最令人印象深刻的部分(除了复杂的神经学和心理学工作之外), was the will and compliance of the entire class. For Perry, “despite all the terrible stuff that has come out of COVID, 我认为它在很多方面培养了一种我以前从未经历过的以社区为基础的道德观.”

With all the negative to come out of the pandemic, 在本学年之前，赌博正规的十大网站的学生们还没有接受过测试，但他们的信念得到了新的加强. 除了她的学生们给第五街区的教室带来的伟大的工作和智力上的兴奋之外, 埃尔达尔指出，她的学生“对流行病严重性的理解”, 同时他们也愿意为了学习而忍受一些不方便, was inspiring. 他们一整年都在努力，能成为其中的一员真是太棒了.”

Professor Kristi Erdal co-hosted “CC Conversations on Mental Health in this Disembodied Year并将在本学期剩下的时间里继续亲自授课.