How are students on CC coping that attend Colleges and Universities that closed campuses and went to all-virtual learning this fall? How are parents coping (especially those with students at home)?
My family had some struggles (some grumpiness, depression, too many adults in the same house, and not enough WIFI) when our oldest came home in the spring. Re-acclimating to a full household presented enough challenges to make our family look for an alternative approach when our DD22 and DS24’s University went to all virtual classes and no on-campus housing options less than 2 weeks before fall 2020 move-in. We ended up with an option that has had an “happy beginning” (We moved our kids into a family member’s uninhabited home out of state, which happened to be within walking distance of their beloved Grandparent’s home). They were tested for Covid-19 right before dropping them off and they have spent a good deal of time with their Grandparents who had been self-isolating heavily since this outbreak began while getting to live independently as young adults. They have excelled in virtual classes so far, but can not wait to be back in the classroom and on-campus as soon as it has been deemed safe to do so. They believe that they may not be learning as much as they would with in-class learning, but I have been hearing that from lots of students (and some parents) on all levels.
I am not sure how things would have worked out if we all had to live together for another semester, so I am curious how other families are doing and count our blessings that we had an alternative.
Oh gosh. It has nothing at all to do with sports. I will say that Bowdoin’s president seems very tight with the Harvard medical community and Harvard also planned for online classes through next semester. I think, with Bowdoin’s big endowment, they can afford to go remote and not lure students onto campus offering in person classes and then switching to remote. They also bought every student an ipad Pro so that all students were using the same technology.
They also didn’t want to plan one thing (some in person or some hybrid) and then have to switch to remote which is happening now on campuses and couldn’t be predicted back in June. This gave them the chance to train their professors in the best remote pedagogy and not have a last minute switch to remote like happened in the spring. Those classes out there right now that are “hybrid” meaning that some kids go to class each day and the others skype in is not best practice for remote classes. Even our high school did research into that and it’s not the way to go. I don’t remember all of the details but one I remember is that kids who are calling in can’t contribute in class very well because the kids in class can’t hear them. I guess it’s fine for large lectures but S19 doesn’t have any of those.
There are other colleges not even having kids on campus - the entire Claremont consortium for one. LACs in warm weather CA and they are all remote with no one on campus. Bowdoin is at least trying to have some kids on campus.
Now, if the LACs that are going for it with all kids on campus and some in person classes can keep the virus at bay, that’s great and I’d hope other schools will use that information to adjust a little for spring. Those schools risked it and hoped for the best - that they could offer some in-person classes and keep those going all semester. It’s early so we don’t know if that will happen. If they do switch to all remote, then it will be Bowdoin that looks good having planned for that all along.
As for professors willing to meet in person, I believe that most are and it’s in the plan when things ease up hopefully next week. I can see that plan includes visits “by appointment” with career services, counseling services, faculty, etc. So, while I’m sure none will be forced to meet students in person, it is a possibility. Meeting one student in their office (or maybe outside) is way different than class.
Adding: It’s some of the wealthiest and highest ranked schools in the country that are all remote classes. That decision has nothing to do with money. It’s about keeping the virus in check. It’s very expensive to give up room and board so only certain schools thought they could afford to have only a small percentage or no students on campus.
Your D’s activities are centered around academics, so it’s working out for her. The vast majority of college students spend more time on non-academic social stuff, and that’s the experience that isn’t there this year.
fwiw, my college student is similar to your D and is fine. She can watch a Harry Potter movie with friends for the 100th time and be happy.
My perception is colored by living near CU Boulder and seeing the beer cans and solo cups on my morning run, but it doesn’t seem like it’s happening in large numbers at most schools.
U Chicago is known as “where fun goes to die”, so maybe that’s the place.
Totally agree that they will look like stars if everyone ends up remote. But my issue is that they are opening and having students on campus but are not doing some in person. I’m not sure if “hybrid is the worst” for college students. It’s not for my D - she hears the professor clearly teaching in the classroom and 10 or so students in class, also. She just wishes it were truly 50% of the time in class/50% online. If they reduced the student social distancing in class, they could go 50/50 (they are tested and masked, prof is 10ft away).I don’t like that Bowdoin has already ruled any in person instruction out for Spring. This fall is is different story.
It’s because they are so prestigious that they can do whatever they want and not lose students. They don’t have to waste time and brainpower trying to get both in person and online to work, they just threw in the towel and focused on online. Cause they can. If it was really just about the virus, they would have closed campus. It’s more about the tenured professors, in my opinion. And the fact that sports are cancelled. I can’t even imagine how they will message having sports go full on during spring, yet online classes.
Just finished reading it. Good grief. He was complaining about a day and half spent confined to his room. Thirty-six hours. For comparison, you had to complete two rounds of testing for coronavirus at Wesleyan which typically meant seven days of confinement to your room. And, this guy had a roommate. People like him spend first semester freshman year working on transfer applications to HYP for “health reasons”.
wow they did not throw in the towel. They researched every which way to hold class and how to get back to campus. All of their work is available below. They had freshmen on campus so that they could meet each other and some upperclassmen (their RAs) and get a feel for the campus. Hopefully, next week when the level changes from orange to yellow, kids will be able to get into buildings, move around more, and hang out together in small groups. The other group they have on campus are those who have hardships and cannot live at home.
It’s also possible that the town of Brunswick was risk adverse. Colby isn’t near their town. Bates’ town (Lewiston) is lower SES than Brunswick and maybe wanted the kids back to shop and dine in town. We know that other schools (notably Amherst and UMass) got a lot of pushback from Amherst the town.
I hope I"m not being misunderstood. I was ok (am ok?) with Bowdoin’s plan but if the other schools can show that in-person class can be done then I’m hoping Bowdoin will reconsider for spring. If it’s proven that x activity is also safe enough, then maybe Bowdoin will switch up some other restrictions as well.
My daughter is 5 weeks in and happy at Duke. She does take her remote classes in her single, but otherwise is hanging out in the common room studying, watching movies and eating on the quad. I’m interested to see if all their testing will be able to make it work. They’re at a severe disadvantage of having much, much higher rates in the surrounding community than many of these LACs and I’d say their restrictions are significantly less than what I’m reading about here. But they are certainly testing enough.
Bowdoin and Amherst both had a shortage of single rooms no one gave much thought to until testing and quarantining for covid-19 made building density an issue. Everyone in a single room was the gold standard back in April, remember? With more information coming in from places like Williams and Middlebury, they can probably open up more doubles and perhaps even triples in time for Spring 2021.
Students at West Coast schools who decided to stay remote at their non-West-Coast homes should be happy right now. About that “beautiful weather, everything outside” plan? Um, yeah.
I’m talking about the fact they threw in the towel for ** some in person learning for spring. ** I think they did - because if there was a chance of it, wouldn’t they have left that door partially open in July? Professors have probably made plans to teach from elsewhere for Spring, I feel like they are not going to change that up at this point, but admit I have not read the links. I’m only bothered by the lack of attempting to do in person teaching for spring. I get the reduced density on campus and other restrictions. I don’t like that they already announced online learning for spring. I know, I know Harvard did too - but Bowdoin is a remote LAC, so doesn’t really compare.
Edited to add-
I actually think there is zero chance they will switch it up for spring. Because the virus will still be here ( testing and vaccine may reduce spread considerably with social distancing, but certainly won’t eliminate) and they decided to not try hybrid. So how would they manage to still support students and profs that are not comfortable in the spring, even with lower rates of transmission? They would need online hybrid in order to do both in person and online and they decided against that already.
Well we have a friend on the west coast with a beautiful home and great weather and their daughter is miserable at home and wishes she could be at her Boston area college with restrictions and all.
@stiffler117 I tried to leave you a private message but I’m not sure you have enough posts to get a PM. Regarding the disciplinary action taken against you for your public comments about Juniata’s Covid plan, consider reaching out to FIRE. FIRE’s mission is to “defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience — the essential qualities of liberty.”
@homerdog The hybrid classes do allow for remote kids to hear in person kids if everyone is using headphones. I think a lot of schools made the decision that hybrid was better for their school and student body than zoom only.
And didn’t the Bowdoin President kind of make the decision unilaterally? Like he had 4 options from the planning committee and picked none of them and went with his own plan? I don’t think you can say that Bowdoin’s plan is better than the other LACs. My kid would not want to be on campus with remote learning the only option.
My kid’s LAC has been on campus for 4 weeks with almost all 3,000 students on campus, most in double rooms, and with the majority of classes F2F, with similar testing, masking and distancing rules that other LAC’s are using. Definitely no loosening of restrictions. In fact, the college president just did a clever “pep talk” video with the football coach about the need to stay vigilant and not start to let things slide. https://youtu.be/GRNFLdznYag
There is literally no beautiful weather anywhere on the west coast right now. Air quality is terrible everywhere here, so outside activities are limited to nonexistent. I believe that was Cardinal Fang’s point – that east coasters should be glad they are remote if they are enrolled in a west coast school.
With the conditions we are having right now in SoCal, I’m glad my D20 is on the opposite coast, and that my D21 is likely heading OOS for college. The air is horrible and fire season seems to get worse every year.
That was indeed my point: There is no beautiful weather on the West Coast right now. From Vancouver to San Diego, the air quality ranges from terrible to worse than terrible. If your child is enrolled in a West Coast school and they are not on the West Coast, right now they’re better off.
We can’t go outside, and for those of us that don’t have indoor air filters, the air inside is also terrible. I haven’t been outside my door for two days. My eyes are burning and I’ve been coughing. I’ve mostly been camped out two feet from my portable air purifier, which is working hard but not up to the task of purifying the air in my whole house. And this is what it’s like in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. The West Coast is on fire.
I see - missed that. West coast students who were forced to stay home have the worst of both worlds then. Sorry for what is going on out there - I hope these fires pass quickly and your air quality improves soon.
