@suzyQ7 The RA’s are students. Not sure if they’re a true “union” (they are student employees) or if they just call themselves that (I would think the latter).
I didn’t insist on seeing the students this Spring, although this Fall I may try to get them to check in for a moment at least occasionally. Some of my students did not have cameras available. Others were in home situations where it is an invasion of privacy to have everyone else viewing them on camera. We were warned to be judicious about this. I’m surprised that some colleges were seemingly not issuing any advice or caution to their faculty on the matter.
^^If student is using Zoom, they can set up a VIRTUAL background (default pics or their own) that will take care of the problem. Others can see your face and a fixed background
@RosePetal35 I don’t think that P/F schemes are the right way to address access and equity issues. I would much prefer that universities provide technological resources directly to students who need them. P/F schemes, in my opinion, hurt students in the long run because they don’t provide useful feedback or information. Like it or not, many students are motivated by grades, and if everything is P/F, they will do as little as possible. Also, online education can also improve access and equity in some cases. Some students, who work or have childcare issues, actually prefer online classes with a synchronous and asynchronous component. Having to come to campus is the hardship for them.
Many fields require a GPA for certification or licensure. Graduate schools want a GPA. Grades of P are also not transferable (C- is the lowest transferable grade) nor are they factored into scholarship GPA minimums. There are several pragmatic reasons to take a letter grade over a P grade.
An online class is not inherently harder or less accessible than an in-person class. There is nothing inherently unfair about that modality, as opposed to requiring students to come to an in-person location twice a week. The expectation that students should be held to lowered standards in online classes is not in the best interest of the student. I say this as someone who would much rather teach in person, but as we are going to be online whether we like it or not, we have to make the experience as effective as we can, and in my humble opinion, P/F grades are not pedagogically effective.
@NJSue But there are college students who return to families in dire straights. Those kids might feel like they need to be working part time, helping with siblings, cleaning the house.and might take on the stress of the parents’ financial or heath situations. When they are at school, they can focus on their studies. Some colleges have distributed iPads and paid for increased wifi access to kids like this but it remains that their studying situation is way different than a student holed up in their parent’s cushy suburban house.
Brown’s president announced updated COVID plan which includes delayed return of undergrads to campus until late September.
https://healthy.brown.edu/updates/fall-2020-update
UMass Amherst RA’s are unionized as members of UAW local chapter 2322. You can read up on the history of decision to organize since 2002. Thanks.
many schools decided to start earlier in Aug and end by thanksgiving. I think Ithaca was the outlier. Now many schools are holding back the kids returning until the fall. I guess the virus will be worse in the fall is not the prevailing thought anymore given how we did not control in the summer.
Great news: 99.7% of Notre Dame students tested COVID-free before returning to campus https://news.nd.edu/news/99-7-of-notre-dame-students-tested-covid-free-before-returning-to-campus/?fbclid=IwAR0x0t-5D8PDapi0lYOUF3iC5QsPihWobZrbtMWOmclApUMOfx8tL6sLU30
Keep Campus Closed – What Higher Ed is Too Afraid to Say
My son’s school finally canceled all fall athletics. Is that the canary in the coal mine?
The university President emailed all parents today to reiterate that the campus community is looking forward to welcoming freshmen in just under two weeks. Classes are still scheduled to begin in just over 2 weeks. The President also reinforced their decision not to test students prior to arrival was driven by a sense of social responsibility, not fiscal responsibility.
Tuition is due this week. Let’s see what next week brings. My son makes the 500 mile drive this weekend.
Does it seem to anyone else that Tufts is almost saying, “The surrounding community OWES us” in their statement?
"“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.”
Interesting situation in that you have many different views/perspectives. No way to please everyone. But so many people seem to review their view/perspective as being correct or the one that should rule the day. Lose-lose-lose situation.
@homerdog some colleges are allowing students who do not have home arrangements conducive to study to live or do work on campus, which I fully support. I don’t disagree that many students don’t have the space, privacy or bandwidth to spend hours online at home and that is a problem. But the solution is for the institution to ameliorate as much as possible those physical issues, not to give Pass grades to everyone. It’s an injustice to signal the excellent student’s achievement and mastery with the same “mark” as the person who did the bare minimum and it doesn’t encourage students to overcome their challenges and do their best.
Many, many college students in the US already commute and live at home. The elite residential college experience that allowed some students to escape less-than-ideal learning conditions at home was never accessible to them to begin with. The idea that online classes justify some special consideration in evaluation doesn’t help those students. It harms them by demotivating them and not certifying their achievements properly.
Why is a college sending its students to police property not owned by the campus? I wouldn’t recommend that any student confront strangers on a public street.
Excellent news for Notre Dame 99.7% negative at pre arrival covid testing Evergreen. Thanks for sharing.
Echoing what @NJSue said, the idea that most students go away to school to begin with is a myth. At least half my students any given semester commute from home. Dorms are expensive and many students, some lower income but many not, come from families who don’t see that as a necessary expense.
Pass/fail was a good idea in the spring, but finding ways to provide equity (my school gives loaner laptops and hotspots, for instance) makes sense in the long run.
It really is great news, but no one wants to talk about the good stuff.
Latest from Purdue. This letter went out to students yesterday. It stresses compliance with the protect Purdue plan and coming together to protect the community.
https://protect.purdue.edu/updates/back-to-school-message-from-president-daniels/
As an aside, tuition at Purdue isn’t due until the first day of class.
It only solves the problem to a limited extent. There’s a balancing act here that isn’t present as much in the actual classrooms. Nothing is as easy as it seems.