Trying to prep for 20/21

[AlwaysColdHands]

Arghhhh!!
We seem to be gearing up for two scenarios:

1. Blended, with reduced f2f, prioritised for year 1, but expectation that all students will come onto campus at some point (staggered times, small groups etc etc). Logistical nightmare to say the least, all delegated down to academics to propose solutions.

1. Wholly online in case of further lockdown

So I may need to transform an undergrad module into an online version with bells and whistles AND got to take on a new postgrad course. How to do this with no school and nursery ???? Dreading the summer and feeling so stressed about September..........who’s in the same boat? 😥
Misery loves company and all that.....

UK universities putting finances before the safety of students, staff and communities:

amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/01/uk-universities-putting-finances-above-student-safety-expert-warns

Worth following Mike Otsuka on twitter for links to the latest research and comment on implications for Universities mobile.twitter.com/mikeotsuka?lang=en

It’s not pretty.

Yup. Ive been recommending Mike Otsuka's Twitter feed forever - good on the UCU mishandling of USS, the UniversitiesUK mishandling of USS, and everyone's mishandling of C-19 risks. All evidence based. The man is a marvel.

I don't want to, but for my own safety I'm teaching online in 1st semester. I'll see how it goes for January.

Every time I start feeling OK about going back to f2f teaching, I see stuff that makes me feel worried and it doesn't seem to be a riddle with an answer. We don't get to choose if we're f2f or even how much f2f.. I'm not sure. Very little guidance from above apart from our vc who likes to talk to the press before the staff and has loudly stated as much f2f as possible for months now.

I think I'm just in the roll the dice and hope I'm OK camp now. I've had zero prep time and more modules to teach (x1 entirely new) and will be doing online/f2f concurrently. I wonder how many of us will end up sick from stress if not covid.

Well, we're all going to have to do some online teaching for students who are shielding or otherwise vulnerable. And any university that doesn't do individual risk assessments for individual staff is a negligent employer as far as I'm concerned.

Apparently you can't legally compel students to wear a mask.

Just 'recommend' or 'encourage'.

I'm only worried about masks from a teaching perspective. I use a lot of sarcasm which will be taken as fact without the ability to see a wry smile. But it seems like we are going 95% online.

Portland:

time.com/5876596/portland-federal-agents-shooting/

'Our president wants you to believe I am a terrorist, a professional agitator stalking the Pacific Northwest.

Four days before federal agents shoot me in Portland, Ore., I riffle through the garage, shooing spiders from my son’s snowboarding helmet. Will it buckle beneath a steel baton? I press my daughter’s swim goggles to my face, testing the fit. Can they repel tear gas? I run my hands over my husband’s life jacket. Can it stop a bullet?'

Sorry. Wrong thread.

95% sounds good.

We're more like 95% f2f

@Mumteedum

We're more like 95% f2f

Same. I wonder, though, once the students have experienced a seminar in which we supposedly conduct discussion sitting two meters apart and wearing masks (which it seems my university has now suddenly decided everyone must wear, despite saying previously that would not allow be the case) whether seminars on Teams, where we can at least see and hear each other, might seem more attractive that the face to face teaching that it was thought so desirable to provide.

We aren’t getting the timetable until one week before term starts. I can’t imagine that anything can go wrong with that.

I have a background in learning technology so I have been doing lots of extra stuff with no childcare. I am losing the plot a bit now. I have made a lot of courses on articulate and training for blackboard. At least nursery opens next week. I don’t want to send him back but I can’t do it on my own as I am a single mum.

@Bellesavage

I'm only worried about masks from a teaching perspective. I use a lot of sarcasm which will be taken as fact without the ability to see a wry smile. But it seems like we are going 95% online.

I learnt my lesson on this some years ago when I made a very silly, flippant comment about something in a seminar, thinking everyone would know it was a joke, only to read it repeated back to me as a fact in an exam by a student who had autism. So that’s one less thing I’ll need to adapt to in this brave new world!

I think shields would be better than mask to wear while teaching. Then the students would be able to see your face. I think the are better from a protection point of view than some masks.

I don’t think the shields offer as much protection as masks, actually. There’s been cases in workplaces where people wearing shields have caught the virus, while colleagues wearing masks didn’t. Otherwise, I agree, they would be preferable.

at getting the timetable a week before. We’ve been told a month before, and that’s stressful enough. We’re supposed to be doing face to face, but if it turns out they couldn’t find us enough suitable teaching space and we have to reconfigure our teaching, it’s going to be hell in the run-up.

I've had this week off on leave (bliss). There had better be a timetable waiting for me on Monday!

@GCAcademic

I don’t think the shields offer as much protection as masks, actually. There’s been cases in workplaces where people wearing shields have caught the virus, while colleagues wearing masks didn’t. Otherwise, I agree, they would be preferable.

at getting the timetable a week before. We’ve been told a month before, and that’s stressful enough. We’re supposed to be doing face to face, but if it turns out they couldn’t find us enough suitable teaching space and we have to reconfigure our teaching, it’s going to be hell in the run-up.

Oh that’s interesting. I will probably wear both anyway. We are doing mostly online and we may not be on campus until January but some subjects are going to be having face to face.

I do think live online is preferable but it is going to have lots of issues for students who don’t have the right tech.

I'm having to get involved with the social media our admissions people set up for the new year 1 undergrads to do some Q&A around my programme

In general they're quite miffed about the heavily weighted online teaching plans we have ( no room for much else according to timetabling ) and are not entirely unreasonably asking for free tech to access online stuff. I keep banging on about how we're making sure they're safe and everything's Covid secure - but they really don't recognise themselves as at risk so think we're being ridiculously risk averse.

Autumn term is going to be fun

A week before term for the timetable is standard here. It's a nightmare for childcare arrangements every year.

My department has decided to do large lectures in person (about 250 students at a time) and small group teaching online, mostly because they can't timetable it the other way around. I'm scheduled for some large lectures. I think it is taking a huge risk with questionable (if any) gain versus doing lectures online. Should I refuse to do it?

What does your union say?

I find it difficult to see how most universities are going to magic up the space to do small group teaching, let alone timetable it all.

What??
We have a small subset of tutorials in person. I think I'll have 10/group in a lecture theatre for 50+.
Been doing some lecture recording. Not doing more than one take for a section. But the technical issues seem to be all sorted (famous last words).

I need to get on with recording but I have to wait until all DC are safely tucked up in bed otherwise I risk "daaaaaaad, why isn't mummy here? Where's mum? Where's mum???? I'll just go and see her she won't mind if I just knock..." In the background.

This is an interesting article that relates to my earlier point that students will not be so keen on face to face teaching once they experience what it actually involves now:

insidehighered.com/views/2020/08/12/students-colleges-face-face-courses-will-be-disappointed-and-skip-class-opinion

My university has not yet told students that everyone will be wearing masks. I imagine they’re leaving it until the last possible moment. Having just been to the hairdressers and struggled to have a conversation with the woman cutting my hair standing a foot away from me, I can’t imagine how it will work with twelve people wearing masks spaced across a large lecture theatre.