We haven’t received any guidance about what K-12 education is going to look like in the fall yet, but I read the following yesterday which may have some influence on our local powers that be in making that decision -
@socaldad2002 high school is a tough one. At the public schools around here, kids have to move nine times a day and many schools have 2000+ kids in one building. We think college classes are hard to social distance? High school is way worse. All this talk about colleges and their classes at a distance with masks and their one way hallways and the singles in the dorms sounds insanely careful compared to 2000 kids being crammed into a high school on any given day wearing their masks with their fingers crossed against the virus. Even if the school has half of the kids go on any given day, it’s not going to remotely look like a college building with everyone six feet apart, facing forward and following the arrows.
@TheGFG: "‘Other than large classes that are moved only online, all courses normally assigned a room will be assigned a room so students can gather even if the instructor is present remotely in order to better facilitate student interactions.’
This from Rice is interesting."
That is fabulous.
This is thinking outside the box and I like it.
Also, it probably helps that Rice only has about 3,900 undergrads and 72% of their classes have fewer than 20 students.
That’s because international universities (including Canadian ones) don’t place the same emphasis on “the college experience” as many American universities do. From what I’ve heard, most students in foreign countries don’t view themselves as paying for an amazing experience; they view college as just another stepping stone on the way to getting a job. I’ve also noticed that students attending international universities in general, before colleges and universities started announcing their plans, are way less opinionated on whether colleges will reopen or not; this is because they are not as passionate since the college experience isn’t nearly as big of a deal to them.
They could cut the class changes in half by going to block scheduling (either A/B or 4x4).
Not sure if anyone here shares UC Berkeley plan for the fall yet. But here is is, no surprising there. They will announce specifically which classes/discussions/labs will be on line and which will be in person at a later time. But you can guess it depends on the size.
"We have created a set of options for you. You and your family will need to decide which course of action is right for you based on your circumstances, your preferences, your goals, and your judgment of the risk. Please be assured that we are committed to providing you with the highest quality educational experience and will do everything possible to support your progress toward a UC Berkeley degree.
Instruction/Academics
It is our intention to conduct limited in-person classes this fall for those students who wish to come to campus. The in-person classes will be restricted to a small number of people, as dictated by factors including public health guidance and our own building density guidelines.
Instruction in large courses will be offered by remote means. However, some smaller discussion groups that are part of larger courses or other activities may be offered in person. We are in the process of determining which courses will have an in-person option this fall and will have our course schedule available in July.
Students will not be required to take in-person classes or be present on campus for the smaller discussion sections. Almost all academic offerings, including those with in-person instructional activities, will also be provided via a remotely delivered method. Students who require accommodations for classes, whether online or in person, can contact the Disabled Students’ Program.
An innovative “Semester in the Cloud” program is being developed for a group of large “gateway” courses as well as several other critical-path classes that will allow students to make progress toward meeting major and breadth requirements. A great deal of thought and investment has gone into the Semester in the Cloud program. All of those courses will be offered remotely.
As we have communicated previously, tuition and mandatory fees have been set regardless of the method of instruction.
Finally, to reduce COVID-19 exposure that could come about as a result of students traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, all in-person instruction (as well as final exams) will be delivered remotely after Thanksgiving.
On-Campus Housing
Our housing plans are also subject to the restrictions of local public health authorities. We plan to house up to 6,500 students in our on-campus residence halls in single and double rooms. We will stagger student arrival to residence halls and undergraduate apartments beginning in early August to avoid the typical crowded move-in experience. We will reserve space at one of our housing complexes for quarantine and isolation purposes. Students moving into residence halls will likely be required to undergo COVID-19 testing immediately prior to returning to campus and/or upon arrival to campus and will be expected to isolate for 7-10 days after arriving on campus.
The following categories of students are among those who will be given priority for on-campus housing:
Students for whom living in Cal Housing is their self-selected best option
Students who have already signed housing contracts
Students with documented disabilities/need for housing accommodations
Students with Estimated Financial Contribution at $0
Berkeley Hope Scholars, Fiat Lux Scholars, and Regents’ and Chancellor’s scholars
Cultural/identity/living-learning housing programs (African American, Asian Pacific American, Casa Magdalena Mora, Native American, Unity LGBTQIA+ House, Empowering Women in STEM (WISE), Transfer Experience)
Student Athletes
Students who wish to cancel their existing on-campus housing contract will receive a message explaining how to do so without penalty. Students who have applied but not yet received a contract will receive a message with information on the action required to complete the housing contract process.
On-campus dining will be offered on a “to-go” basis.
Student Activities and Events
Pandemic conditions may make it inadvisable to hold in-person events as we have done in the past; this consideration will likely cause us to restrict the use of campus facilities for events and meetings this fall. Students will be supported in engaging in clubs, activities and events remotely and we will do all that we can to enrich the student experience for all.
Incoming freshmen and transfer undergraduate students participating in Golden Bear Orientation will receive detailed information about the program on Friday.
Protecting the Health of the Community
Because it is in everyone’s interest to Keep Berkeley Healthy, everyone who will be present on campus will be required to meet campus, city and state mandates of physical distancing, face coverings and hand washing hygiene. We’ll ask you to read and sign a Keep Berkeley Healthy pledge prior to returning to campus."
@TheVulcan wrote
I dunno, am I the only one who thinks it’s kind of embarrassing that a world-class university sitting on 30 billion dollars in endowment money doesn’t have the infrastructure to return all of its undergraduates safely to campus when the least well-regarded Christian college in rural Mississippi can figure out how?
Disney is requiring masks on property and temp checks even though you can leave their property and can go maskless in the surrounding area. Colleges have a right to set whatever rules they feel they need to keep students and staff safe on campus. Will this lead to more kids deferring? Depends on when these rules are announced and if the school will allow it. I really think schools are painting the best picture they can to get students to commit with only a handful of schools being honest about how next year will look.
You’ve made this assertion before and I have disagreed with it. At schools with large populations of students attending away from home (whether that be on-campus residence or off-campus student housing) like the one my son attends, the university experience is very much an important consideration. While there is always a subset of students who view post-secondary education as strictly a credentialing requirement, even among them, many still value the social experience of campus life. Certainly for us attending university for our children is about far more than simple accreditation. It is not
As to
is both incorrect and insulting. Students in Canada value their “university experience” just as much as American ones do. Trust me there has been lots of opinionated vocalizations by students over the fall plans of the various schools. What is different however is that since the majority of our institutions are public, they have less influence on the decision making process. That is driven by in large part by directives from the various levels of government to which the schools’ board of governors must adhere.
So there will be meal delivery service for the first 7 - 10 days for all the on-campus residents, since they will be in isolation?
Gov Murphy (NJ) just announced that colleges should expect a combination of online and in person classes, and that they are focusing on “10 key areas” such as housing and computer labs.
He said that schools have to hand in their plans 14 days before they open. I suspect that k12 will have a similar time line.
14 days before colleges reopen means they have until the end of July or the beginning of August to finalize things (and of course plans may change as the semester progresses).
@fretfulmother Let me ask you this: if there is such a strong possibility that there will be a vaccine or extremely effective treatments by spring, why would Harvard cancel in-person classes for the entire year and not just fall semester?
@CTTC all students have to isolate for 7-10 days?? No way. Sorry. Who is going to agree to that? Gap year. Or take remote class from home. Big, urban schools having a lot of trouble with this.
Agree on the block schedule for high school but how to decide which half (or third) get to go each day? Kids could still end up with one class full and another class with three kids in it. Very few students have exactly the same classes.
My school system utilizes the A/B block scheduling and the probable plan is to have all students go to school 2 days/week. They haven’t figured out how to do that, so that it’s the same 2 days/week yet, I don’t think. Right now in-person is every class every other day. A neighboring school system uses the 4x4 block schedule, where each student has only 4 classes, and they finish up each course after a semester instead of year.
Princeton dropped both the,SAT requirement, and the SCEA round. I assume other SCEA schools will as well.
@homerdog I actually have to disagree with you on this one; I would agree to that in a heartbeat in exchange for being allowed to return to college.
It’s not that “the least well-regarded Christian college in rural Mississippi can figure out how” (maybe they can, maybe they can’t; we won’t know, and they won’t know, until the year is up), it’s that they can’t afford the consequences of trying to do anything less.
Very few institutions have enough financial and reputational stock to afford to err on the side of caution in this very serious and dangerous situation.
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My son would definitely agree to initially isolating on campus. He would much rather isolate himself for 7-10 days at school if it meant he could actually return to campus rather than spend another semester/year home with his parents and away from all of his friends.
When I was a teenager, my mother, who was active in community organizations, returned from a meeting where they gave all attendees one of those quizzes that determines whether you’re an extrovert, an introvert or a mixture. She remarked, “All the extroverts think everyone is an extrovert.” I’ve never forgotten that.
So, who is going to agree to isolate for 7-10 days in order to get an on-campus experience for the year? That would be, introverts like me who would think of it as refreshing, and people who are in the middle who would find it something of a challenge but well worth it. Plus extroverts who would get through it, with a lot of social media and other online contacts. Oh, and people with no honor, who make promises they have no intention of keeping, but we’ll hope there aren’t many of those.