Let’s not forget that “college kids” are indeed adults!
The problem is, facts about COVID-19 generally are in short supply (e.g. lack of testing => do not know the true level of case and death numbers), so anyone trying to plan for the near future needs to consider a wide range of possibilities. And when the near future becomes close enough in the future, a decision must be made, probably with insufficient information to make an informed decision. College administrations (among others, such as various levels of government) are in this situation of being forced to make decisions where they cannot make informed decisions and end up relying on speculation to fill in the blanks where facts are absent. Any decision chosen has a high likelihood of being the wrong one when looked at in hindsight a few years from now.
@homerdog My understanding is that BU will start in the fall but what’s being discussed is whether they’ll allow kids on campus or whether it’s 100% online school…and if it does turn out to be distance learning, that would absolutely color my decision as to whether I’d pay for that vs a city/school where they could be on campus (but I have to say that i’m grateful my kids aren’t in decision years so I won’t have to cross that road!)
That presumes that reasonably accurate testing is widely-enough available.
Students who test negative but haven’t been previously infected are still at risk from community transmission.
I don’t see a hybrid solution working where some students are allowed back on campus but others are not. The logistics of having to run classes in parallel both in person and on-line would be doable for standard lecture/tutorial courses I supposed but what do you do about lab/practicum/studio classes? In addition how effective do you think on-line courses would be for first year students? Many have a hard enough transition from high school with in-person format. How many would flounder in on-line classes?
Lots of speculation in your response as well. The facts that we DO have aren’t terribly convincing that reopening schools in the fall will happen and if it will happen, proves to be a good idea.
This whole discussion is just one long speculation.
Colleges will get creative.
Berkeley has a CS class that is so large that they don’t have a lecture hall large enough for it. My understanding (and I could be wrong on the details) is that some kids take the class live and some kids take the class virtually. I can see that happening more in the future.
I think colleges will also develop hybrid type flipped classes where the lectures are online but smaller discussion groups might be in person - staggered and in large lecture halls.
Since rec facilities and sporting events most likely won’t be utilized for quite some time, I can see colleges using gyms and arenas (where students can be spread out) as alternative instructional venues.
Does your office/employer intend to do that as well, since you are at far greater risk than those under 30?
Perhaps UTSA could put up partitions in the 65,000 seat covered Alamo Dome to make “classrooms” that have around several times the number of seats as the classes put in them. Even the biggest classes would not require more than a small section of the Alamo Dome to accommodate social distancing in class, so there could be numerous “classrooms” in there.
But then most colleges do not have that big a covered stadium.
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What if the state of Maine required anyone coming from out of state, both students and non-students, to self-isolate? Bowdoin could allow the dorms to open to those students for those 2 weeks, either prior to the start of school or concurrent with (online classes for 2 weeks). Obviously, there’d still be exposure to roommates, communal bathrooms, etc. But food could be brought in, dorm floors could be isolated from each other.
Once the 2 weeks isolation is up, then other state-wide measures would still be in effect. For example, face covering in public, crowd limits, etc. Class sizes would be limited.
Could that work?
Seems like this may be more workable for a school like Bowdoin that for schools in more urban areas.
I have no idea what Covid-19 has in store for us for the next 18 months.
I have no idea what colleges and universities will do in the next 18 months to mitigate the effects of the virus on their curriculum.
What I’m positive WON’T happen in the next 18 months are travel restrictions that don’t allow “adult” students to travel to their off campus apartments if they choose to do so. The “stay at home” order you are currently under, wherever you are, is a suggestion for the civic minded among us. No American is unable to get in their car and drive wherever they want right now, during the height of the pandemic.
Testing was initially neglected and then repeatedly over-promised, so it’s healthy to be sceptical. However, if the issue still isn’t fully resolved by this fall, we’d be in even deeper trouble than we realize now. There might still be issues with antibody tests and people with antibodies may yet to be shown they’re immune, but the accuracy of some PCR tests has already improved beyond 90% and the cotton swab issue should also be resolved by this fall.
Well, try driving into Breckenridge, Colorado, a popular ski resort town. You’re likely to be stopped and turned around since only those who can prove it’s their primary residence are even allowed into town. Same restrictions in many other vacation communities in Colorado. As well as other states, including Wyoming which DOESN’T have a stay-at-home directive but which does have some resort towns which have closed themselves off to all but those who can prove they live there.
This was in the SF Chronicle today. If they are testing it in April, I can see this technology eventually being used by colleges and in college towns.
Interesting. I wonder how many will voluntarily sign up?
Add Rhode Island, Florida and Texas to your list.
But in the Fall, students with off-campus leases will become legal residents. Communities would be able to quarantine them for 14 days, but not prevent them from moving/living there, correct?
@lkg4answers I posted about 13 pages back that SF isn’t the furthest advanced city with track and trace. New technology may help (perhaps identifying people from cellphone records?) but this is always going to be a labor intensive process requiring substantial resources.
Salt Lake City has track and trace up and running already, which made me pretty confident Utah will have its colleges open in August:
MODERATOR’S NOTE: You’re wandering off topic again…
Actually they’re not at all as likely.