One of the interesting things that happened last spring was that some of my best students did wonderful work all semester, but then it turned out at the end that they had chosen PF instead of grades. Still don’t understand it.
Probably a reference to @ChemAM who used to post on this thread (you can look up prior posts if you want).
Update from Macalester.
Further limiting the number of students in campus housing. For the first 7 ½ week module, we will bring a smaller group of students back to campus housing than we had hoped. New students (first-year students and transfer students with housing contracts) and international students with housing contracts will reside in campus housing, including all first-year student-athletes who were to reside in the off-campus hotel. In addition, we recognize that, for some students, it is not possible to live or study at home due to a variety of factors. For this reason, Residential Life will open a waiver process through which these students may apply to return to campus housing. This change will allow all students living in residence halls to occupy a single room and will ensure that, should they need to quarantine or isolate, they can do so in their own rooms.
This is bad. (Edit: I should’ve checked to see if this had already been posted on this fast moving thread. I’m sorry if this is a duplicate.)
@suzyQ7 the pass/fail is an option. The professor will give a letter grade. The student has the option of converting that letter grade to P/F. It’s not good because it encourages students to strive for mediocrity. I really dislike it. Also, students who want to apply to graduate school, or students who need a certain GPA for qualification for certification (nursing or education), shouldn’t use this option and they need to be told for their own good. I hope their advisors will lay it on the line.
@garland I was really surprised and disappointed that my institution decided to extent the P/F option. The students are going to try to game the heck out of it.
In the spring there was a rationale for offering P/F; everything changed abruptly without warning. But now, students know what they’re getting into, and there’s no surprise.
I have several facebook friends who are teachers, and openly protesting a return to in-person school (posting photos of union rallies, protests, creative posters about being unable to teach from a coffin.) A few posting heartfelt panicked speaches and rallying support of friends and parents, behind school being unsafe. I can completely empathize with their fears except that several of these same teacher friends are also posting photos of themselves gathering with groups of friends, arms around eachother, and unmasked. Photos of themselves at GF protests shouting with masks pulled down under their chin, and photos with a group (not family members) on someone’s boat having a grand old time, noone in masks. These pictures make be pause and consider their judgement, because they will soon be in charge of making sure their k-12 classes follow strict covid precautions.
This schedule almost makes you wonder if they didn’t want to make hybrid too easy/comfortable, as to encourage either full-in or full-remote.
@suzyQ7 my rising sophomore couldn’t get an internship to save her life. Even with multiple visits to career services she couldn’t even get the type of job on campus that would teach her anything useful or boost her resume. She just doesn’t have the background to compete against the other students at her school. It’s an area I see her floundering and I have no clue how to even help her.
@homerdog my D20 had no grand plans, true, but she threw out a Hail Mary audition and actually ended up with an apprenticeship at a ballet company, complete with a behind the scenes job. The best possible gap year for a dancer, I think. She really lucked out.
This is a very good article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed about Purdue’s determination to return to in-person classes. https://www.chronicle.com/article/mitch-daniels-has-not-changed-his-mind?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1428960_nl_Academe-Today_date_20200811&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=234691&cid2=gen_login_refresh
S19 attends UofSC and heads back in a few days to an apartment. He has 6 classes, 4 of which are online, 2 hybrid. His profs have been sending emails detailing how classes will go, and I’m reassured. Every one of the classes is synchronous, video screens must be on so the prof can see you, and attendance will be taken. All classes will involve real-time discussion (his classes are under 30 students, so this is possible). Two profs highly encouraged students to call during office hours and chat one-on-one, or even arrange a socially-distanced F2F meeting outside.
So…no collecting a week’s worth of lecture videos to watch in one night, little opportunity to “hide.” There is provision for those who are ill (classes will be recorded), but taking advantage of this requires a medical note.
It’s about as good as online can get.
Have they tested this yet? Our college’s experience in the spring was that if they didn’t want disruptions to service student video had to be off. There wasn’t enough bandwidth to support the professor’s feed and all the students’ videoscreens.
from Tufts
“We value our partnerships with all of our host communities and, in that spirit, provided community support during this pandemic by hosting police officers, firefighters, healthcare workers and COVID-19 positive patients on campus this summer,” the statement reads. “As we have since March, we look forward to continuing to work closely with local officials to discuss our reopening plans and to address any questions or concerns they may have.”
Under the university’s plan, out-of-region and in-region student arrivals will be staggered over a period of weeks. All out-of-region students must produce at least three negative COVID-19 test results before ending their quarantine, while in-region students must have one negative test result.
Throughout the semester, all students – whether they are living on or off-campus – will be tested twice a week, according to the spokesperson. University employees and contractors in areas such as dining and custodial services will be tested twice a week, while student-facing faculty and staff will be tested once a week.
Students who end up testing positive for the coronavirus at any point will be moved to on-campus modular residential units, where they will be isolated and monitored.
The spokesperson said the university will also stress to students the need to observe all COVID-19 protocols, including wearing face masks and maintaining proper distancing, through an extensive campaign. A team of student ambassadors and existing staff will walk throughout the campus and near off-campus areas to hand out masks and provide compliance reminders.
Policy infractions will be considered individually and punishments will depend on the seriousness of the infraction, the spokesperson said. Punishments include potential separation from the university for “egregious infractions that put public health at great risk.”
Two of his profs did this in the spring and there was no problem. And the university says they have upgraded since then. We’ll see.
Regarding gap year resume builders, I know it’s a risky proposition but becoming an EMT could offer benefits.
My son has begun networking for internships next summer(in a completely unrelated field) and his involvement with emergency medical services has spurred a great deal of constructive conversation with people he has spoken with.
Here are the aspects of EMT work that those contacts have highlighted:
- Teamwork
- Decisiveness
- Patience
- Building rapport and trust with strangers
- Adaptability in the face of uncertainty
- Active listening skills
- Ability to maintain a professional demeanor at all times
- Analytical approach to problem solving in fluid situations
- Logical progression of tasks dictated by circumstances
- Separate larger problems into meaningful parts
- Anticipate problems and develop contingencies
One person from the “keep it simple stupid” school of thought simply said, “It would be great to have an EMT around in case of emergencies.”
He finished his accelerated certification course in four weeks, passed the state level practical exam and should pass the national NREMT exam in the coming weeks. During a gap year you could potentially become a Paramedic, which is an Advanced Life Support position. The class is a challenging one if you don’t have a background in anatomy and physiology. It would certainly keep students academically engaged during a year without other instruction.
The bonus, your student could work the rest of the gap year making $20-$30 per hour gaining experience after they get certified. It would be a no-brainer for nursing or pre-med students.
It’s not just the bandwith of the university system you have to worry about, but also the the student’s bandwith. All of my daughter’s classes last spring were synchronous as were her roommates. She had one class at the same time as both of her roommates which strained the bandwith and she kept getting dropped off during her class. She figured out that if she turned her camera off, she didn’t have a problem. She had to contact her professor to explain what was happening and he allowed her participate without having her camera on.
She and her roommates just upgraded their internet plan so hopefully she won’t have any issues this semester. All of their classes are synchronous again.
Just mentioning for those who live offcampus, have their own internet plans and may have multiple roommates with classes at the same times.
Purdue reinforced that all students should bring ethernet cables and plan on being hard wired for online classes. (They always recommend bringing ethernet cable but this year they’ve driven that home).
That said, D’s hybrid class is moving totally in person. They added a bunch of sections yesterday so she’s feeling happy about that. That leaves her with 4 classes totally in person, and only 2 online. Not terrible all things considered especially since one of the online courses is also working on adding more sections and moving to in-person.
Wow Luckyjade re: Tufts. It is in the press that the mayors of Medford and Sommerville are not happy with Tufts plans to reopen to students on campus. That was the tipping issue with UMASS Amherst going fully remote. But Amherst is small town not a large urban environment. What is troublesome to me is Tufts’s use of “student ambassadors” to hand out masks and enforce infractions. That was also the issue with UMASS and their unionized Resident Assistants and failure to reach a collectively bargained agreement . Using your student body to police their own is wrong imho.
Also, from last night’s meeting, I remember somebody on this thread asking how they would tell if someone was an on-campus student: they provided an answer for that. All students on-campus will have to wear lanyards with identification that only students invited back to campus are issued, so they can spot “guests” who are not supposed to be on-campus very quickly. They said students would be getting more information on how they intend to enforce rules in the pledge students receive today.
I think it is entirely appropriate for young adult students to police the rule compliance of other young adults-they will all be sent home if the rules are broken, and in this case peer pressure is good.
@NJSue @garland I also think there is an increased equity issue associated with distance learning. Some students, even beyond those with home conditions poor enough that they were approved to return to campus, will be in suboptimal learning conditions to a much greater extent than others, causing the gap in educational equity to widen. That is why many colleges switched to either mandatory or optional pass-fail classes last semester.
D reported that many Amherst students, even though the college gave each student the option of choosing whether they received a letter grade or a pass-fail in each individual class, believed the college should have switched to mandatory pass-fail for all classes because making the pass-fail designation optional would put the burden of explaining that pass-fail grade on the students, which would disproportionately impact those in less favorable home situations.
Since the both of you are college professors, I am curious: what is your opinion on pass-fail for online classes, especially with regard to the equity issue?
Agree. And UMass’s RAs are unionized? I thought RAs were students.