Donnelle Eller and David Mullen/USA Today Network

March 12 update:

Simpson College says it will extend its spring break an additional week through March 29 due to the spread of the coronavirus.

"During that time, we will continue our preparations and evaluate as a possibility that we move our undergraduate and graduate courses online," Bob Lane, Simpson's interim president, told students. The Indianola college plans to remain open during spring break.

Lane said Simpson will make a final decision about "the future of course delivery" the week of March 23.

More:Running list of Iowa schools closing or canceling classes due to the coronavirus

"We recognize there are long-term implications for our labs, internships and other course activities and will continue to work individually with students to ensure their needs are met," he said.

Grand View University will suspend face-to-face instruction for two weeks after its spring break, following other Iowa colleges who elected to do the same to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

The eastside Des Moines college announced in a news release Thursday that classes would be delivered online from March 23 to April 3. The university, including residence halls and dining centers, will remain open during that time.

On Wednesday, Iowa’s three state universities, Drake University and Des Moines University each announced they would halt in-person instruction for the same two weeks. Grinnell College on Tuesday announced it switch to online-only classes for the remainder of the spring semester.

More:The latest on coronavirus in Iowa

Grand View said it decided to “move to a social distancing mode.”

“The two-week period of online instruction aligns with the incubation of the virus and will help reduce the likelihood of community spread,” the news release said. “Grand View also encourages everyone to practice social distancing and avoid encounters with large groups of people.”

In eastern Iowa, Kirkwood Community College said Thursday that all classes with a lecture format will not meet in person from March 23 through at least April 10.

The college is based in Cedar Rapids but has a secondary campus in Iowa City and several centers throughout the region.

Kirkwood says that, for now, lab classes and others that require hands-on learning will continue to meet in person.

The college says that instructors will be informing their students by March 20 how specific classes will be affected. Students are on spring break next week.

Also Thursday, St. Ambrose University in Davenport said that it has suspended face-to-face instruction through at least March 29. It says residence halls will be closed beginning Monday, with exceptions for some students who may need to remain.

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Iowa's three state universities, Drake University and Des Moines University told their nearly 86,000 students Wednesday that they're trading in-person classes for online instruction until at least April 3.

Des Moines Area Community College, the state's largest two-year school, and Mercy College of Health Sciences also said they're moving most classes online.

The colleges and universities said they're taking the action to protect the health of students and faculty. Their action follows a Tuesday decision by Grinnell College to cancel in-person classes for the remainder of the semester.

Online courses at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, University of Northern Iowa, Drake and Des Moines University will begin March 23, following spring break.

The decision affects nearly 35,000 students at UI; about 31,500 students at ISU; 13,200 at UNI; nearly 5,000 at Drake and about 1,500 at Des Moines University, a private medical school.

"Students traveling home for spring break are strongly encouraged to stay home for those two weeks," Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen said in a statement to students.

Mercy College of Health Sciences, with about 700 nursing students, said all classes will be held online beginning March 23 and all large gatherings will be canceled, including a research symposium.

Des Moines Area Community College told its 23,260 students it's canceling "face-to-face" classes March 23-28.

"This will allow self-isolation and social distancing to be a priority for anyone who has traveled during break," DMACC told students in an email.

Some in-person classes will resume beginning March 30, it said.

The four-year universities left open the option for students to return to campus if they prefer, with residence halls and dining and other facilities remaining open, although classes will be online only. Several of the schools will require students wishing to stay on campus to register.

University of Northern Iowa spokesman Steve Schmadeke said the university expects most students will remain off campus and that the presence of the relative few who remain won't detract from measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19.

College closings:More than 100 colleges cancel in-person classes and move online

In Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, officials have confirmed a growing number of cases of coronavirus, traced to a group of mostly older residents who went on a cruise together in Egypt. At the university, "We urge all students to make the choice that is best for their own personal health and safety," said President Bruce Harreld.

ISU student Natalia Rios Martinez is under a precautionary quarantine on campus in Ames after studying in Italy, site of one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks. Martinez, a sophomore from Puerto Rico, said online courses are a good move.

"My experience in Italy, I think, (is that) they waited far too long to cancel activities," she said. “I think Iowa is just making preparations before anything bad happens."

More:University of Iowa, Iowa State, University of Northern Iowa suspend in-person classes. Read their statements.

DMACC said some face-to-face lab-based, hands-on classes will continue and that those students will be notified about specifics over the next several days. The switch to online-only classes creates a number of complications at the other schools.

The University of Iowa said it's "evaluating how to provide classroom experiences, such as laboratory and performance classes, virtually, and the academic units will provide specific guidance by March 20."

Wintersteen said ISU courses that include lab sessions, studio performances and "other experiential learning sections" will not be held. Instructors may require some work to be made up later, she said.

More on the coronavirus in Iowa:

In an email obtained by the Ames Tribune, ISU band director Javan Shields told members all rehearsals and concerts were being canceled for the semester.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the university has asked me to shut concert band down for the semester,” he wrote. “Our concerts and rehearsals have been effectively canceled and we will not be permitted to meet as a class due to COVID-19.”

Drake Provost Sue Mattison told students and faculty that most on-campus events at Drake will be canceled, beginning Saturday. However, the school said the Drake Relays, which attracted 42,800 fans and alumni last year, are still planned for April.

"We will continue to monitor and assess the risk for any events beyond April 5, including Drake Relays and commencement," the university said. "For now, those events are expected to continue as planned."

Perhaps predictably, many students were not especially upset about the prospect of extra time off campus. Austin Dewberry, an ISU senior, said he thought online classes might save him time.

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“I personally like it,” Dewberry said. It "gives me the ability to budget my time a lot better, because I’m not restricted to go to classes at certain times.”

Still, Dewberry, an industrial engineering student, was concerned about missing a lab where students cast molten aluminum multiple ways. Learning the techniques online will be a struggle, he said.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to learn it anywhere near as well by watching a video, or hearing someone talk about it, rather than doing it,” he said.

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.

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