When classes begin in August, we will limit the number of students who can reside on campus and take classes in person. We have decided to give priority to freshmen (and transfers with fewer than 30 college credits). They will move into the residence halls as planned, beginning August 17. The District of Columbia has asked that all people arriving from 27 states designated as “high risk” areas quarantine for 14 days. In compliance with that request, we will conduct our freshman and new graduate student orientations, as well as our first two weeks of classes, online. Those students will quarantine through September 6.
Regrettably, sophomores, juniors, and seniors will not be able to live on campus this fall, and will take all of their classes online.
Boston College has about 7600 students living on campus. 800 or so live on Newton campus. Lots of students are staying home or taking online classes mainly. About 6800 on upper and lower campuses at full capacity.
The grad schools have some separate campuses. Newton and across the road by the art museum for theology.
Also students originally slated for overseas semester in the fall are on the new pine manor campus.
The number living on the main campus will be around 5500 students.
Not 14k as mentioned earlier.
Most students I’ve spoken to or heard from via d22 are excited to return. They are also pragmatic that change may occur and will have some challenges.
Thr communication have been regular and ok. Recently a bit more info.
Classes are 3 in person. 2 online. One online is an elderly prof and they are happy she is still teaching. These are primarily small less than 20 students in public health type classes. So they are on it.
I think they should be very careful with the nursing students doing clinicals.
Our n24 is returning to Pitt but will live off campus and take online. Still engaged in the city and campus.
“I find Zoom to be completely draining and exhausting”/Quote
This is a nut shell!
This week D21 is spending 8 hours on Zoom/platform with NASA program and 2.5 hours on Zoom for Engineering Research Apprenticeship. I mean she is about to die form exhaustion. She said if college is like this for 21/22 she would gap.
@homerdog D reported that at Amherst, while the professors tried, her classes were for the most part just watching a lecture (and just reading PowerPoint slides with Chem, where they didn’t even try to do synchronous lectures since many people lived in many different time zones).
I understand but that was last minute spring semester learning. I’ve already mentioned it but S19’s Bowdoin remote classes in the spring were almost all synchronous. He got lucky. Classes were small for him this last semester. Anywhere from 25 to 12 kids. His math class at 25 was synchronous but then the prof also broke the kids into groups of three to do group work and then met with each of those groups via Zoom once a week. His essay class of 12 met synchronously and discussed each others’ writing three hours a week, etc.
This fall, with Bowdoin choosing all remote, faculty is being trained on the best way to teach remotely. They hired a consulting firm. All classes will be logged into from a central site. They are trying to use the very best pedagogy for remote learning which is not just pretending class is in person and holding it “live” or recording lectures and then taking tests. There will be plenty of interaction - sending lab kits to students at home and having them record their labs, small group work, etc. There is an expectation from the college that a certain percent of classtime will be synchronous with the professor.
Because, as we have seen repeatedly in this thread, parents are demanding classes in person. How many times have we seen posters lament that “3 out of 4” classes for their DC are now online? People keep measuring the quality of the campus experience by how many classes are f2f. We are getting regular updates on which colleges are now “sadly” moving more and more courses online. One minute everyone seems to want classes in person, but then when colleges try to do this people complain that it’s a bad idea because conditions are not optimal.
My college spent the summer upgrading tech in the classrooms/lecture halls. My colleagues at different colleges and universities (big and small) are reporting the same thing. This includes installing multiple microphones and speakers around the rooms to pick up both the professor’s and student’s voices. Earlier this summer I was worried about my students hearing me through my mask, but we have had several demonstrations with a masked person in the front of the room speaking in a normal voice, and you can hear clearly in the back of the room. Someone in the back will say something, and the person in front can hear them clearly. The tracking cameras work great and students who are learning remotely can easily see and hear the professor. I think most colleges have already thought of this. After all, unlike most on this thread, this is their profession.
FWIW, at my college only 1/4 courses are fully remote. My D is attending college in a few weeks, and 3 out of 4 classes are f2f. Two of her professors have already emailed her. We’ll see if that changes. Upstate NY still has good numbers.
If my courses end up going remote it will not be due to the college pulling a bait and switch. It will be due to Covid numbers in the state rising rapidly, or a necessary quarantine. Sometimes colleges really are trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, we’re in the middle of a pandemic so plans need to be flexible.
I understand this may not be happening at every college, but the blanket statements are not helpful. As someone already mentioned, there are a lot of colleges and universities. This thread focuses on the same few.
D2 is a graduate student at Columbia and it’s her last year with a job offer already. She called me today to ask me if she were to do all of her classes online would be ok. I asked if there were other options and why she would prefer online rather than in person. She said she was on a class call about Columbia’s plan for this fall. Someone asked how the school was going to ensure everyone would adhere to the pandemic safety protocol. The representative said they would depend on the students to do the right thing. D2 thought to herself, “Hmm, no. That’s not a good plan.”
I was trying to keep my mouth shut about telling D2 not to take the subway and go to her classes in person, but was going to at some point.
@ProfSD I hope Hamilton pulls out a win and your job goes well as well this fall. Believe me, I want in-person classes to work. I’m so curious about the NESCACs, of course. From our perspective, it would be huge if Bowdoin could use best practices at the small schools that made it through the whole semester.
CSU football players and university athletic department staff say coaches have told players not to report COVID-19 symptoms, threatened players with reduced playing time if they quarantine and claim CSU is altering contact tracing reports to keep players practicing.
The Methodist churches are stepping up to provide a supervised learning space for kids enrolled online in Houston schools who don’t have adult supervision in the home.
Shocked! (not really) Foolish to think this is not happening in all schools (even on the high school level) There are high school parents that will cover symptoms so that their DC can play their sport.
Sorry, I’m having trouble with the quote function! Here is my new post:
Yes, online classes should be better this fall. Fingers crossed after all of the hard work that has been done. All that you describe above is what is going on at my kids’ school. I think each class has a requirement of minimum of 3 hours of weekly live interaction, along with incorporating other elements, fancy lab kits and art kits mailed home, etc. But I still find Zoom/online draining, with and without breakout groups. Breakout groups do not make it dramatically less unappealing to me. I taught a small class in the spring via Zoom (after 6 or 7 weeks in person). It was small enough that everyone could participate in the discussion and could be viewed basically as one breakout group. We were lucky that we all had already been able to build great rapport with each other in the first 7 weeks, so when we moved to online, we already had personal connections (unfortunately, that won’t be true this year). Still, it was a pale shadow of in-person in my opinion. To me, the experience of walking up to the building, bumping into a few people you know on the way (with masks and chatting 6 feet away, still ok), being together live in the same room, maybe a little chit-chat between the professor and a few students after class is over (even with masks/6 ft), there’s just some magic to it. I am not saying that students can’t learn very well in online classes—of course they can. But full day online classes really don’t appeal to me.
I am intrigued why Sylvan’s synchronous lectures can’t be recorded. I do think there is a great benefit, if we’ve got this technology going, to be able to review taped lectures. Maybe they want to make sure the kids have an incentive to attend class when they are supposed to?
I completely understand why many schools are leaning heavily towards online classes this year, and if I was in charge, I might decide to make that choice. But those that are trying to provide live classes and able to do it safely, I totally get why it can feel worth it, even in extra-large rooms.
Thank you for saying this. Schools will use their technology for those that can. I just don’t understand the bait and switch mentality. I have not seen it. Not one of at least 25 people I know going back to school (all different types of schools), has seen it. Professors /teachers I have talked to are really hard at work to make the experience the best it can be. No one said it’s going to be perfect. But I guarantee that some of the technology will be here next year. Schools will see what works and what doesn’t and what will make them more efficient next year. If people think next fall they will see the same school as last year (before covid), they are fooling themselves. Every industry is changing due to this pandemic. Higher education will be no different.
^^Yes, interesting about the synchronous classes not being recorded - I think it is too allow for open discussion. It makes it hard to int’l students or those in far away time zones (ie Hawaii to East Coast) to be able to be in the class though.
I did also read somewhere that Professors were encouraged to record class sessions so that students can play back (one of the benefits of remote learning) - maybe it was that Harvard site. But maybe professor only records when he/she speaking, not when students speaking. Would make for weird recording though. Or maybe it gets edited before publication.
I really hope that all works out for the schools that are trying for F2F and having even some students back. I haven’t read how other countries are doing but I am sure schools here are looking at their best practices and experiences as they try to move forward with plans.
If they turn off the ability to record in zoom (didn’t know they can do that), then just record your screen. Many different ways to do it Snagit is worth it.
Are you supposed to pack a thermometer with your kid or the school provides? I just hadn’t thought about that before so I guess I need to go get some thermometers.
Private school in NC has entire 4th grade and teachers quarantine for 14 days because a student tested positive for Covid . Students 11 years-old and under do not have to wear masks at the school.
Since May, where I work has had a nurse each day taking temps and asking some Covid symptom and travel questions. Office has been split into 2 teams so half of us can go in one week and the other half the next. For May and June, there were from 30-40 people there a day typically. Increased to 60-100 people per day in July. A lot of people at this point are still working from home.
One morning I asked the nurse (its been the same one every day) how many people answered yes to any of the questions. A few people over that time answered yes to the travel question. But in all of that time, no one was denied entry to the building. May be the case that the ones who would have been denied entry stayed home. May also be the case that some people just haven’t been honest about the questions. More significant the consequences, I suspect the more likely not answering truthfully will be. For college kids, the consequences may be significant (or at least viewed to be so). Increased tendency. Not saying it will apply to all (and certainly nobody’s kid here :))