How is everybody doing at the online-whiteboard face?

[CatandtheFiddle]

Just thought I'd check in to see how academics are doing. Particularly after some pretty nasty trashings received by academic staff elsewhere.

How are you going with thinking through delivery of modules from September?

Or are we going to be required by our universities to risk our health in teaching incoming Freshers face to face? It puts a new meaning on Freshers' flu ...

This blog post explaining the riskiest activities really puts it in perspective for me:

erinbromage.wixsite.com/covid19/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them?fbclid=IwAR39YzYQMCZpxPvfG1rqZMqraJlxw0AbEtAEv4h57QWyBsycmRkmTqhDJwc

I think we might all have to teach outside, and wearing masks!!

Oh so sorry to read that Phoenician - it sounds tough. And not irational at all.

Can you break down the threads in the wobble?

Child & responsibility all.the.time - is the child's father there to do his half of the work?

Lack of exercise or getting out of the house - go for a walk or a run outside. I do that every 2nd day (used to hate running) and it's just gorgeous (and I feel so virtuous running my 5k)

Finishing a big project - is this about a kind of fear of failure? I know when I start a project, I am full of wonderful subtle complex ideas. The finished product often feels very thin in comparison with the wonderful essay/book in my head ...

Does your place offer an Employee Assistance programme? They offer counselling.

Thanks cat and fiddle yes it's not all on me - equal share of kid+ he definitely does most around house. I've just felt very up and down this week and am having trouble holding awareness that space for research is disappearing (again) just as I've got life organised to write. + I am see big battles ahead + so many colleagues (mostly female) holding emotional labour of students at all levels. Am feeling bit better after talking to colleague,am off for a walk/chat with wee one ... I reckon we've got Summer then it's brave new world - or am I being overly dramatic?

I think part of the problem is that we just don't know. I'm a planner, and a looker-ahead, and I am having to stop myself do that (gently) and just get through each day.

There are too many unknowns to think about in September - I'm trying to cultivate a "what will be will be" attitutde, although part of me is a bit anxious as I could e more vulnerable than most colleagues to getting C-19 really badly (an ordinary 'common cold' can lay me out for up to a week).

I think that it's touggher for us all because we have a totally not-even-mediocre government, which has no policy, no ethics, and tey all look light deer caught in the headlights.

Glad you're feeling a bit less stressed today.

Online marking, 6 days into a 16 day slog (weekends don’t exist). I’m going to vent here because I know I’m being a bit unreasonable. It took the support staff 9 days to get the exam scripts for my first exam to me, 80 final year papers. 3 working days later I got an email asking why I hadn’t returned them, because they need two weeks to process the marks, party because they are having regular rest days. I expect I will be threatened with “reporting to the convenor of the Board of Examiners” for not complying. Luckily that’s me and I will let myself off.

The good side is that the exams scripts are a joy. The open book 48 hour system means that everyone has time to write their best answer, some are just so perceptive and knowledgeable. I’m really enjoying reading them. There is no evidence or even feeling of collusion.

Chemenger that's terrible!! How long does it take you to mark a paper? For me, it's about 30 minutes for one. If it's anything similar, they gave you 40 hours of work - a full regular week. Can you make that point to them?

That's great that the answers are good :)

It’s 2 papers, both with around 80 students. I also work “part time” at 28 hours a week (ha ha). I think it’s taking about 20 minutes per script. The second exam might be easier, more calculations. It’s the usual, academic time being infinitely elastic and short staff being well managed from the point of view of protecting their wellbeing (and not paying overtime).

Chemenger we're having similar issues with support staff. Unreasonable turnaround ties because "they are busy" and "can't handle more workload" - so academics are having to do a lot of admin work to do with assessment that usually admin staff do. Because of course, we have all the time in the world.

Our problem is relatively localised - we have an administrator in the faculty who heads up the undergrad education team who has little respect for academics. She once pretty well told me off in an Exam Board for speaking. I'm a professor & was making a relevant point about an issue in response to an External's comment. I might be reasonably considered to be an expert on the topic at hand. Her tone & attitude were unacceptable. But of course, one can't say anything.

I was roundly scolded by an administrator for not ensuring that 20 exam papers were not amended for online open book delivery, checked at two levels, all changes made and submitted in three working days because it would take a week to send the link to access them to the external examiner. They just have no concept of academic work.

I find it's the administrators who head up teams in admin centres, rather than the admins who work with us day to day.

I've just seen an ad for an Asst. Dean role that would be right up my street in terms of speciality. I'm so tempted to apply; thing is, it's 30% FTE and I'm part time already, having reduced my hours for stress-related/family related reasons and my HoD has taken me off some roles with the subtext that I'm not pulling my weight (I don't mind the HoD doing that, though it was a role I felt I was good at that was pulled and one that I thought was pointless that was left).
I asked DH if he thought we'd cope if I increased my hours again (probably not) and if he could decrease his (maybe, he is already part time but his work has been manic recently so he might not be too unhappy with a more relaxed role).

worst - can you maybe get the pointless one pulled too if you get the position? I know someone doing a 0.5 central role on a 0.6 contract, and basically all she does in her dept in her 0.1 time is supervise some masters and final year projects.

Although saying that, I just struggled to get my time freed up in a similar situation, except I'm full time already so no option to just 'add time". But my disability means I really can't overwork much - I can do an occasional 60 hr week, but can only really sustain ~45 hr/week on a regular basis. So my time will be freed up by the simple expedient of some things getting done more scarcely/not getting done as I can't possibly manage anything else.

I would imagine I can get most of my admin roles pulled (possibly not my teaching-related one, which is time consuming but at least has some point, and it's not like Exams Tutor or anything too huge).

It's most likely that refreshing teaching, and writing papers/putting in for grants would fall by the wayside.

Yeah, I've accepted that I won't be putting in any new grants while in my role. But I also stumbled on the PhD funding jackpot, so hopefully my 3 new students will push the paper side of things along. Probably will slow my plans for promotion (I was going to go to for Prof again next year, but now thinking I may not have the research output I'd hoped by then). Good luck with whatever you decide!

I actually think this might be easier than being a Prof; the role is more up my street and may mean I don't have to do committees on "how to restructure faculties" and other tedious stuff, it does involve a slight pay increase which if it goes well is permanent, and frankly it's potentially an 8 year role and I'm the wrong side of 50 so how much more would I be wanting to do anyway?

Only thing is I DO want to do one more big research project before I retire!
But I was planning to up my hours at some point anyway; just not yet.

Well, I applied, just waiting to hear!

Good luck, worst!

Interview this week!

Oo! Congrats on getting to the interview. Good luck!

I've come on here as I'm a programme director and I don't know what to tell my staff. We are being gaslighted by our SMT I feel. One minute they want 40% f2f contact, then they want excellent online delivery, then they want blended and synchronous teaching. Argh!!!!! How are others planning their teaching?

Didn't get it, didn't cover myself in glory at the interview. Part of the role was bang slap in the middle of my experience and part was rather outside my experience and though I did read up on it, I froze in the interview and couldn't remember most of what I'd read (and TBF I probably could have read more).

Aw, sorry to hear that worst. But at least you went for it! I also interview terribly - I don't know what it is, I can talk all calm when I'm finding information out from people, but as soon as it's an "interview" I suddenly go weird.

I'm not sure I was even weird - just came across as ill-informed. Oddly when I was going for lecturer jobs, I went through a spell of getting every job I interviewed for. Then a spell of getting an interview for everything but never getting the job (though a close colleague was kind enough to say she fought for me at one of them and the panel was split!). More recently I have not even had interviews so may well be out of practice. But little comes up in my field anyway.

Something else interesting has come up - an editorship at a fairly prestigious journal (which I have never written anything good enough for!).
I think they want to diversify their editorship (apparently they got 2 applications from women among about 20) but I'm not sure if they will be OK with my request to do this more part time (as their suggested article load is for a full time academic). I know they also want fresh ideas and I suspect my sub-discipline is under-represented anyway (I'm in STEM but in a less male dominated sub-field, than the main base of this journal so far).

phoenician68 I just wanted to say I had a real wobble too a few weeks ago, the pressure of all new teaching (as our institution have decided it's definitely the right time to change absolutely everything about our delivery, even the website through which it is delivered), stress in other areas of life, it was all coming together and I felt anxious every time another email from the VC came through (or indeed any SM as they email all the time endlessly about covid, about teaching, about how we should take holidays, how everything has to be done differently).

I have just taken 10 days off and it took me til about day 7 to decompress. I am going to take another week off at the end of August and work hard inbetween then, but if I don't have this time off, I will explode. I am not the only staff member who is feeling worse and worse about teaching and the continuous and contradictory messages (lots of face to face, no face to face, lectures are out, lectures are the only things timetabled).

I don't have the answers, just wanted to sympathise.

I also accessed the online counselling just for one session which helped me a bit as well.