In a protective mask, a student picks up a brand-new laptop from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Laura Hope waved a Lexus into the Chaffey College parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga, directing the car to a pile of laptop computers.
A student picks up a brand-new laptop from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
In a protective mask, a student picks up a brand-new laptop from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A student waves to a faculty as he picks up a brand-new laptop from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A student reacts as he chooses a laptop from a roll of boxes in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A student picks up a brand-new laptop from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cars lineup as students pick up their laptops from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A student carries two boxes of brand-new laptops from a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A faculty leaves laptops on the parking lot floor for students to pick at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Misty Burruel, interim dean of Visual Performance Art, drops off a laptop for students to pick up at a predestinated location in a parking lot of Chaffey College at the Rancho Cucamonga campus on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. As a result of coronavirus pandemic, Chaffey College is loaning out 5,000 laptops to students to take home to participate in online classes due to all campuses being closed. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
“It is working really well,” Hope, the college’s associate superintendent of instruction and institutional effectiveness, said Tuesday, March 24.
It was Day One of what will be the loaning of 5,000 laptops to students within the next few weeks, enabling those without computers at home to participate in online classes. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the college has stopped all in-person learning.
On Monday, March 30, when the semester begins, 29,000 students will take classes online-only at Chaffey. Those studying nursing or kineseology won’t be able to continue their studies, however, because those classes and laboratories have been canceled, Hope said.
The all-online semester is an extension of online classes already happening at Chaffey, Hope said. One in three students take some online classes, she said. These students experience a success rate that is 4% higher than students taking in-person classes, Hope said.
“We have a rich environment already dedicated to distance learning,” she said.
The college expected to loan out 1,000 laptops Tuesday at the Rancho Cucamonga campus and Wednesday at the Chino and Fontana campuses. Students must reserve the computer loan ahead of time, said Melissa Pinion, a college spokesperson.
About 1,000 more will be delivered to the college on Friday, Pinion said. And 3,000 more are expected to arrive the following week, bringing the total available to loan to students for the semester to 5,000.
“We currently have a waiting list,” Pinion said.
The laptop program comes at a cost of $60,000, she said.
On Tuesday at the campus on Haven Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga, students got out of their cars briefly to pick up their laptops. They used the empty parking lot as a staging area.
Students are on spring break. Classes resume on Monday, Pinion said.
The campuses remain closed to visitors and all events have been canceled through May 2.
