UCU and F2F teaching

[Pota2]

I haven't seen a thread on this so I thought I would start one. What do people feel about this? I have a very low opinion of UCU so maybe my judgement is clouded by this but does anyone else feel that this sudden objection to F2F teaching which starts in 2 weeks is way too late and is being presented in a ridiculous way?

Instead of protecting its members, UCU have been busy sniping and infighting between their factions over the past few months and haven't really done much about the hundreds that have already lost their jobs. Now comes this announcement, months after they knew that most places were considering some degree of F2F and Jo Grady goes on TV saying that this will be like the care homes (err, despite the 0.0016 death rate for under 25s) and that it will cause 50,000 deaths (when one person died of covid yesterday and few people still obey lockdown rules). I just think it's for show and it paints our entire profession in a bad light by using unscientific nonsense.

I think that online teaching inevitably has issues. I don't feel that it's as good for the students as F2F and I think the fee issue is very real. Is it really fair to charge over £9,000 and then deliver some half-baked online stuff (I know lots of academics are boasting about how great their online teaching and how it's good value is but I've been in webinars with some of them and, um, it's not as great as they think)? And surely these issues will still be here in January (which is when UCU propose we go back? Closing campuses indefinitely is surely not an option if we still want jobs? I think UCU believes that the students are always on our side (like they did during the strike) but I think there will be real anger from students if institutions backtrack after they have already paid their rent deposits.

As I said, maybe my view is clouded by my feelings about the UCU and especially the members of the odious Grady4GS faction, so it would be interesting to hear other views. My institution is doing online lectures and the option for students between socially distanced F2F seminars and online ones. They are risk assessing staff for return to campus. Maybe I am wrong but this seems quite reasonable.

Err, if you're willing to DM anyone in that situation, that is. It's not me on the other thread

I notice those who signed a letter to The Times a couple of weeks ago and were very vocal about it on social media, insisting that we should all go back to in-person teaching and slagging the UCU position,l as alarmist, have gone very quiet on the matter.

Well I did f2f teaching for x2 2 hour sessions today.

First session was OK but impossible to hear students at the bcak of the room with masks. Second session in workshop space much more difficult. They were all going right up to each other and wandering around. Seemed annoyed that I reminded them they must not come up to me or each other. They're now questioning what f2f teaching is right now. I feel staff are being put in an impossible position by senior leadership

We should stop calling it f2f teaching. It's mask-to-mask teaching without the possibility of discussion. If I'd known what was involved in this earlier in the summer, I'd have opted to teach online. The whole thing is a ridiculous and dishonest charade that we're being expected to perform so that universities can get accommodation fees. I'd wondered how long it would take before students start questioning the desirability of in-person teaching.

My university just circulated a list of ideas for activities that can be done in a F2F seminar, given all the restrictions on masks, distance etc. The list suggests we could ask students in class to discuss with their classmates 2m away via MS Teams or work on a shared Googledoc!!

What on earth is the point of their coming on to campus for that?

We're being told similar Cat. All sorts of facile apps are being suggested. If I go along with this, the content is going to be totally dumbed down. I need my students to have extended discussions, not vote on Vevox or enter some bullet points on a Google Doc.

And using MS Teams video conferencing for in-class group work is a no go. Apparently there are issues with feedback that render it unusable when several people are trying to use it in the same room.

What on earth is the point of their coming on to campus for that?

Accomodation fees. Pure and simple. We have the deliver the undeliverable, and provide an inferior pedagogy, for the sake of rental income.

And using MS Teams video conferencing for in-class group work is a no go. Apparently there are issues with feedback that render it unusable when several people are trying to use it in the same room.

I did not know this. So it’s unworkable as well as totally pointless!

Ah, at my Uni, "face-to-face" MEANS Teams. People in a room together are "in person". It actually makes some sense, but everyone keeps getting it wrong, so I often have no idea how something is really happening until I see if there is a room booked or a Teams meeting invite...

I don't use Teams, it's crap and freezes all the time and the breakout rooms don't work. I use Zoom, it's not perfect, I finally found out how to do captions but you can't seem to download that, only give a link. The IT challenges are quite considerable.

I'm not finding face to face seminars so bad but my students never were the best at discussing things. I structure everything in seminars quite heavily for this reason and so turn-taking to answer questions or make points seems to work reasonably well. That's for a very specific type of seminar though (reading and discussing journal articles).

I'm feeling pretty sick as my university is not asking students to wear masks in seminars, just in the halls on the way to seminar rooms. This makes no sense to me. I have a vulnerable partner and the idea of teaching in a badly ventilated room with lots of unmasked students (and myself unmasked) makes me very worried. With the time and capacity constraints we will get nothing useful done either.

Rumblebum can you request a different room? Or at least wear a mask yourself?

I discovered yesterday that some colleagues in another department have either just refused to come in or demanded a different room, and their requests have been accommodated - rooms have been shuffled and some courses have been moved online. These are all colleague who got the “green light” in the back-to-campus assessment - but who just didn’t feel comfortable with the arrangements, I should add...

Sorry, Rumblebuffin !

@Catabogus ha, well I do have a bit of a rumble bum about this so it's apt!

I am going to insist on students wearing masks as part of my returning to campus deal I think, exactly as you suggest.

Rumblebuffin I agree that students need to be wearing masks, they are at our institution in all buildings, no mask, no entry, and this is (politely and nicely) policed by the marshals. Because it's a very clear rule, everyone is following it which I find really reassuring.

I also agree with making a fuss if your rooms are not ok/safety isn't prioritized. I'm happy to teach face to face as although I know there are covid cases amongst the students, the safety measures are all in place, spaced out desks, minimal number on campus at any one time, masks, cleaning products freely available. I would not teach on campus if I felt unsafe, and none of my higher risk colleagues are and many either planned for online or have gone online this week. Your 'sacrifice' won't be appreciated by those higher up so definitely insist.

And, if they said I had to go in to a very unsafe environment, I would mysteriously have to self-isolate, bang everything online and by the time I came out it would all be online anyway...

I have been very careful about my language. We have shifted position on mask wearing and uni now asks students to wear them in class. However, they're a bit wishy washy and say "where possible". I have rephrased it for my classes to "unless you have exemption". This saw the difference between 1 students wearing a mask in the first class to all but 1 in the next class.

Mumteedum How are you doing the cleaning of desks after each class? I keep hearing different things. My first in person teaching starts tomorrow...in the room with no windows.

@moimichme we have alcohol wipes on each bank of computers and every students has to clean their own work area before and after use.

Shared lectures the same though I prefer using my laptop.

@moimichme with no windows I would be very upset. I would want to know how often the air con is refreshing the air. If there's no air con I think you would have every right to refuse to teach in that room

We've been given no guidance on how and when the rooms will be cleaned. It looks like it's up to lecturers. They'll provide wipes in each room. I don't know if I trust students to maintain a safe distance either. I have a couple of over enthusiastic students who I can imagine coming up to speak to me etc As I said before, the policy at our place is no masks so I'll have to request this myself and hope that I'm not told that I can't do so

There aren’t even wipes in the rooms where I work. Lecturers are having to carry these around with us. We haven’t even been told where we are supposed to get these wipes from. Oh, and there are no windows in the classroom I teach in. Air conditioning is no reassurance as it normally breaks down at least once a week.

It's bloody awful. I'm not entirely happy at my place but sorry reading these accounts to realise I'm doing better than many of you. It really is awful the stress of being put in this farcical position. I've found the students wandering up to desks a pain.

I am realising that I need to go through 'housekeeping' at the start of every session. I feel like their mum telling them to clean hands and workstations. And then getting them on board for some learning and teaching is made harder by this shift in relationship.

This is what I am dreading (term not started here yet). There’s been a lot of emphasis on “community building” in online teaching, but what sort of relationship are we fostering with our students when we’re having to constantly issue orders and when they’re not able to come near us at the beginning and end of sessions? My online-teaching colleagues are going to arrive at sessions early and stick around afterwards to chat to students. Those teaching f2f are being told to get students out of the room as quickly as possible, and two meters apart.

@GCAcademic I completely agree, the experience online will be much better. They're not getting normal when they request f2f. I also think it's gross that we are being held to a promise (ie to deliver blended / f2f) made before the situation changed

I disagree the online experience will be much better. Online depends to much on dodgy technologies, and that's just at the uni end! We've had to abandon Teams breakout rooms for starters. Many students have slow broadband, and there are issues such as cameras on/off (I have on but some colleagues are getting all het up about this).

Neither is great, frankly, and conversational flow on online is often stilted through no-one's fault. That's why, if you are in a lower risk area, I think ftof and online together is the best option. If you are in a lockdown area of greater restriction, I don't really see what can be offered except online.

I'm at a uni which attracts relatively wealthy students and 25% reported online/internet access issues last term. Online works for some but as usual, many are left behind.