No because offering multiple sections of the same course in different formats, when enrollment does not justify it, costs a lot of wasted money. But the larger issue is that, depending on where you work, it’s unethical to force contingent faculty to take on more hazardous teaching assignment to save privileged tenured faculty from risk of infection. I would be offended to work and be associated with an institution that uses adjunct faculty as the equivalent of cannon fodder to teach in hazardous conditions. And parents, no matter how desperate they are to return to the normal, should not be wishing for such an arrangement.
NJSue: thank you
Absolutely. I stand corrected.
No rebuke implied, @alh
It’s more that I think that tenured faculty have a moral obligation to hold administrators accountable for making ethical decisions under circumstances that are very financially challenging.
Sue, I really appreciate your post. Thank you. It made me think.
There really should be a moral imperative to protect the health of every single campus worker.
That’s the starting point.
It’s not only masks but all paper products. I’m not sure if school cafeterias will have to use only paper products but all bars and restaurant here in Colorado do, and disposable cutlery too. I think the schools (k-12) and colleges will have to too, so although they’ll be saving on hot water to wash dishes, they have the added expense of take out containers and the cost of recycling. I got fajitas at Chili’s recently and it came in about 10 little containers, one for each topping.
I’m not sure water fountains or bottle refill stations will be on. At the dog park we go to the fountain is for humans on top and dogs down below, and they are closed. No drinks for doggies after the long walk.
Referring to the following?
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/north-fulton-county/officials-say-size-lovett-high-school-covid-19-cluster-unclear-because-families-reluctant-talk/EZHZ6BX4KNAS5LWG73RNP6I5ZA/
I expect Fall 2020 will be an environment where many students may not be on campus, where many students who are on campus may need to isolate themselves, and where many schools will hold finals online (already announced by some).
Because of of this, I’m still in the camp that schools with strong online capabilities will have fewer issues. The ability to take videos of lectures just gives you scale to reach students across time zones (at home) or just isolating in their dorm. Video conferencing allows profs to hold office hours and TAs to hold discussion groups. Toss in online uploading of psets and papers and schools should have a path to educate students while reducing exposure to vulnerable students and profs.
Granted, not the bet for labs and certain other course, but IMO a great option for many classes - engineering, math, comp sci, physics, and most intro courses.
I found this blog post in another part of the site, and thought it might interest this group. It touches on the economics of a university, and why they’re open in the fall without a plan. The first few paragraphs are meh, but it gets good when the author starts to talk numbers.
https://www.profgalloway.com/post-corona-higher-ed-part-deux
Yes, and even for non-COVID-19-related sickness or injury, the ability of a student or instructor to go to class remotely can be helpful. Class by videoconference may not be optimal for some, but if the sickness or injury would otherwise prevent going to class at all, it is better to have the videoconference option than miss class. Or if the student had to travel away from campus for some reason (job or medical school interview, field work for some class, away game as a student-athlete, etc.), then s/he can still attend class remotely if it is not at the exact same time as the purpose of the trip (or watch a recorded session if it does have a time conflict).
@2ndthreekids Duke plan seem pretty well thought out.
@Rivet2000 I agree with your scenarios but for this to really happen, colleges have to commit now to this modus operandi. Planning a class takes a lot of time, no matter the format. If colleges want well-executed courses, they need to choose an MO and commit now so that faculty can train and prepare. Administrators are reluctant to commit because they know that parents want things to be the same as they always were. In my region, sadly, that is just not going to happen.
I know upthread you mentioned a desire for faculty to say where they worked. I am not going to do that because I do not want to feed the rumor mill, or hamper the planning process. Believe me, no one wants clarity more than faculty.
I certainly hope that colleges are planning now. The Duke update posted by @2ndthreekids sounded like a reasonable and well though out approach. I’m not an expert on class preparation for video delivery, but it seems like something that should not be all that different than a regular lecture class.
It will depend on public health orders and the ability of parents and students to accept adaptation.
Also, universities will need to divert money to IT to assist professors in taping lectures, etc.
I’m not 100 percent sure yet and I know Bowdoin is so small but they made it sound like kids will take two in-person classes and two remote. I think when they register (they haven’t registered yet). I wonder if a student who doesn’t come to campus will just choose four of the remote options. That will limit them, of course, but hopefully Bowdoin will figure out what they need to offer as a remote option.
I do want to clarify something here. For some fields, maybe being an adjunct is a path to a TT position, but certainly not for all. For my field, people hoping for TT positions are supposed to go from their PhD to a post doc. Then maybe a second post doc. Then, if all goes well, maybe they get a position somewhere. They don’t adjunct along the way except maybe while they’re still students.
In fact, one of our adjuncts is a PhD who for whatever reason didn’t get a post doc, started adjuncting to feed his family, and is now stalled in his career. He makes a living adjuncting at multiple institutions. Can’t get a post doc after 7 years away from his research field, can’t get a TT position when he has to complete with people with multiple post docs. He can hope to get a lectureship someplace. Community colleges. Maybe.
A couple of things I noticed
- Dining will be mostly take out boxes with limited reservation based seated dining.
- They reference meeting local, state, and federal guidelines a few times.
- They say everyone will do their part or face discipline.
- The classroom stuff was lacking detail, but it did leave me thinking they're on it and capable.
Online delivery of lectures will gradually but significantly improve over time, as all colleges and a number of third-party software vendors are making investments in that space. Colleges with more financial resources may improve at a faster pace by paying more for more premium third-party products or developing innovative proprietary product internally, widening the existing gap.
As do faculty, who would much prefer to teach class in person. (if they can teach and stay healthy)
I wonder if people who have experience teaching, and teaching online, have anything to say about cheating. I TAed a few MOOC classes for Coursera, as a volunteer. In one of them, there was a shocking among of plagiarizing in the two free form assignments. At that that time, Coursera was free and didn’t offer anything for finishing a course successfully except the warm glow of achievement and an email, so there wasn’t much at stake, but people cheated anyway, and vociferously defended cheating.
What have your experiences been? Do people cheat? Do you think there”s more cheating in online classes?