No one I know who has had even a “mild” case of the virus would dream of trying to conduct an online class while in recovery. Maybe, we should differentiate between people who are sick and people who test positive but are relatively asymptomatic?
Our school doesn’t have teaching assistants, as it is primarily an undergrad institution. One of the advantages of going there, few though they may be.
@1NJParent Where are these TAs going to come from and how will they be funded out of higher education budgets that have now tightened? Typically, the supply of qualified graduate students is finite.
McGill just announced they are going online for the fall. Barring a vaccine being discovered, developed, and made available sometime before Christmas, I can’t see the winter 2021 semester going forward either. That is in the height of the flu season, and C-19 appears to have similar characteristics to it.
All of the college experiences will be canceled or severely limited. Masks will be required inside all buildings. Students will be spending a lot of time on their dorm room. Each school will have their own wrinkles, but it won’t be very different.
Food seems to be a big problem. There is no way to wear a mask, so the solutions will involve social distancing. I think the food will be plated or boxed, and then delivered to the student. There won’t be any buffet lines. The custom stations might happen. As for seating, it’s looking like 25-50% of capacity and they will only be able to eat with their roommates and maybe their hall/floor. Take out can be eaten outside or in the dorm.
Bowdoin might be able to loosen things up because they’re more remote and all of the students live on campus. If someone contracts the virus, then things could be strict.
One thing I haven’t seen discussed here is study groups or group projects if the fall is online. These are common in many classes. For the spring, where groups were already formed, it was easy enough for kids to continue them via text message/zoom/facetime etc. Many people have said that one of the reasons online was not so bad in the spring was because of these groups.
But what happens in the fall? You have no idea who else is registered for your classes. You can’t just strike up a conversation with the person seated next to you or discover that someone else in your class lives just down the hall. Unless they distribute class rosters with phone numbers and emails, how do you connect with other kids? Privacy concerns aside, what if you don’t know anyone on the list? Do you just start randomly contacting people in the hopes that someone will respond and will be a good person to work with? I envision a lot more solo work in the fall if online continues.
Montreal has been particularly hard hit with regards to the number infected and they still don’t have it under control. Even though they are starting to loosen restrictions, I’m not surprised by McGill’s decision. U de M has made a similar announcement and I expect Concordia will follow suit. I’m still waiting to hear what schools in Ontario are going to do but I don’t expect them to make any announcements before June. Cases here in Ontario have been falling and our government has been slower to loosen restrictions than Quebec has been. I am hoping that if we can keep the numbers low schools will be able to implement a hybrid format for some courses though I expect the majority will be on-line.
@me29034 I agree with that. And, even if kids are on campus, can they even study together in person? And where??? S19 likes to study in all different buildings, not just the library. Will buildings be open and can kids go and sit together to get work done? Seriously, if studying can’t be done together somehow, kids can’t eat together, kids can’t work out together, then what is the point of paying for room and board?
And what about first year students who don’t even know anyone yet? Good thing they are adept at social media, I guess.
Students who have previously taken a class and did well could be hired as TAs for the class. My S, currently a sophomore, worked as a TA for a class he took as freshman.
The additional cost is relatively low compared to the savings from a larger class.
@TheVulcan MIT’s points seem reasonable (although not as imaginative as I would have hoped) given the current understanding of their particular situation. The “plan” is general enough to indicate direction yet vague enough to leave plenty of wiggle room. Their position on Gap/Deferrals could/will change if significant numbers choose that path. I’d bet that they do not lower tuition because they will create a two tier system that would lower their brand value Think about it, if they offer lower tuition online and higher tuition onsite (I’m talking tuition here, not R&B) they put themselves in the position of continuing “MIT Online University” into the future - probs not what they want to do. It will be interesting to see what their peer institutions are doing regards tuition going forward. I don’t think any have implied that tuition will be “adjusted” so far.
The reality is that the college experience will be quite different for the foreseeable future and will require innovative solutions to make the experience as good as possible. Some students will fare better in these conditions than others. Students that need multiple of special learning places and intimate study groups to survive will be at a disadvantage. Students that embrace reality and use all the communications capabilities at their fingertips will continue to thrive.
Last thought - Students without access to internet and compute resources will be at a disadvantage. State and local government need to be part of the answer, but they have much on their plate.
If McGill and other Montreal schools such as Concordia and U De M go online, surely other urban, eastern schools such as Columbia, NYU, MIT, and Harvard, to name a very few, will also have to consider going online for the fall at least? They have been hit harder by C-19 in those cities.
Suppose a lac in an area that hasn’t been hard hit, tests every kid before they can come back to campus. If that is even possible that would mitigate a whole lot of risk. Those kids can’t spread it whether they are 6 ft apart or shoulder to shoulder. Then restrict off campus movement to reduce the odds of coming in contact with the infection from somewhere off campus. The bigger risk would come from faculty and staff moving to and from campus and being out in their respective neighborhoods.
Not a fool proof plan and of course dependent on access to rapid testing, but for smaller schools it could be feasible
^^Schools in metropolitan areas with limited housing availability relative to the sizes of their student bodies, limited ability to isolate themselves will face much bigger challenge to open their schools in the fall than schools that are relatively small and isolatable, and have sufficient on-campus housing and easy access to nearby lodging facilities.
Those are private schools - isn’t McGill is a public institution and the cost to attend is not 70K for full pay students. I think that makes a difference - you can see from a lot of commentators on this thread that parents don’t want to pay 70K for online.
@wisteria100, are you suggesting that your remote school test all students, faculty and staff, and then go back to a pre-covid style of student life, where students live in dorms, eat at cafeterias, socialize and go to class with no new restrictions except that students are not allowed off campus?
Then you’d have somewhat reduced the chance of an outbreak, but if you nevertheless had one, because a faculty member or staff member brought the infection in, it would spread like wildfire in the dry tinder of the dorm, infecting lots of students (who are at low risk) and then lots of faculty and staff (who might not be).
No college wants to be the University of Killed Three Professors, A Cook and A Janitor.
One of the things Brown is considering to reduce density is to move to a trimester system for this year only (or any Covid year), and have kids on campus for 2 out of 3 semesters and at home the third semester. Housing is tight in Providence, so they can’t just rent a bunch of places for their students.
You do realize there are thousands of college students on campus right now, right? It is not the disaster so frequently mentioned here. At many universities, first gen students, low income kids, and internationals (as well as grad students) all stayed on campus. Some even caught COVID. They recovered. Staff members have caught COVID as well, from wherever, as they are working from home largely. They too have recovered or are in treatment. Not having students does not mean everyone stays super healthy, and having students does not equal the plague
@suzyQ7 McGill’s tuition rates for internationals in certain faculties can be around 40K CAN.
Question for those with current college students especially rising 1st years and 4th years–if you knew by July that the entire 2020-21 school year would likely be online and non-residential, what would you advise for your students? Stick it out and finish or take leave if allowed that option?