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.

[Poppingnostopping]

I have a friend whose child is at an offshoot London uni and their wi-fi in halls is too bad for them to download stuff, let alone join into online teaching sessions.

Universities aren't prepared for fully online teaching, ours was slow to invest in online marking for example, and it just wasn't quite equipped for the sudden move online last spring.

[GCAcademic]

I have a friend whose child is at an offshoot London uni and their wi-fi in halls is too bad for them to download stuff, let alone join into online teaching sessions.

There was someone on the Higher Education board on here whose offspring was being offered better speed broadband in their university halls for extra £££. I couldn’t believe it!

[Poppingnostopping]

That's outrageous! Broadband speed really is an issue teaching on Zoom though, my own isn't great and sometimes there's outages and I dread that happening when I'm teaching online- but I've paid for the top of the range fibre optic, it's still crap.

Basically, neither ftf or online is really ideal, I am offering both in one course as a way of trying to off-set the drawbacks.

[Mumteedum]

We're lucky to be a computer lab based subject so students can come in for sessions and benefit from using uni hardware . However we've decided to basically run online because we have to use online tools as a replacement for going over and physically sitting with a student. We tried running them in the same room but students couldn't hear us when spaced out and because the chairs all swivel, they were moving closer and turning round which they shouldn't been as it meant the social distancing went out of the window. It was impossible with traffic noise outside with windows open but then because its online as well as being f2f, trying to explain the uni policy that they should be coming in for sessions is nigh on impossible.

From tomorrow, they'll see me waft though the lab and have a quick chat at the start, followed by us all logging in and me running the season from my office next door. I am calling this blended learning although God knows what I really want to call it.

[Rumblebuffin]

@Poppingnostopping I'm offering both too. But I'm genuinely concerned about safety. We've had major Covid outbreaks in halls. And I can't insist on students wearing masks. Windows only open a crack. I have vulnerable family. I'm scared.

[Mumteedum]

@Rumblebuffin sorry if I missed this and you said already, but what has your line manager and union said? I would put it in writing that you feel unsafe and you have vulnerable family members.

[Rumblebuffin]

Thanks @Mumteedum. Line manager says it's a requirement to do f2f unless shielding and that govt regs have been followed so it's safe. Waiting on a statement from the union

[Mumteedum]

@Rumblebuffin have you seen copy of risk assessment? Perhaps you can ask for this?
You could perhaps push back and say while you are happy to do face to face you can only do this with adequate ventilation and social distancing. We can't do 2m so we have 1m plus. The plus refers to the ventilation and the masks

[Catabogus]

How is anyone doing F2F in masks/with distancing? I am teaching F2F tomorrow and Thursday and have no idea how I’m going to make this work. I’d normally do quite structured stuff like putting students into small groups to discuss key passages, setting up a class debate, getting students to present, write on the board etc - but these all require that we can move chairs, can share pen/paper and can hear each other!

Has anyone done F2F activities successfully this week? Any tips?

[ghislaine]

I have done one F2F session with postgrads. It was ok, although we had to be timetabled into a much larger room than we normally would be in. We all wore masks in the building which could be removed once they sat at their individual socially-distanced tables in rows. They were supplied with wipes for their tables after we finished.

I stood at the front, using a lectern, probably 1.5m away from the nearest student. It was ok, but the session mostly consisted of me giving introductory information about the programme and them asking questions. I'm not sure how we're going to proceed, especially as typically this is a very interactive programme with lots of small group work and discussion. I am going to put the tables into a horseshoe formation for the next class so at least there is more of a semblance of being together.

[SueEllenMishke]

@Catabogus

How is anyone doing F2F in masks/with distancing? I am teaching F2F tomorrow and Thursday and have no idea how I’m going to make this work. I’d normally do quite structured stuff like putting students into small groups to discuss key passages, setting up a class debate, getting students to present, write on the board etc - but these all require that we can move chairs, can share pen/paper and can hear each other!

Has anyone done F2F activities successfully this week? Any tips?

Have you tried Menti?

You can set questions and students can submit answers via an app on their phone. They show on the screen in real time. You can set it so they can type long answers or answer multiple choice questions....

The basic version is free but we're hoping the uni will pay for a subscription as it's an excellent tool.

The answers are all anonymous too so it encourages even the quiet ones to join in!

[lionheart]

I've done the F2F with masks now.

First class in small seminar room--I don't think I remembered to social distance enough because I was moving and responding to students in different parts of the room. It is quite difficult to keep a distance when you want to listen to people and engage them. I did tell students at the start to speak up but it takes practise, especially in a room full of strangers.

Online students could not hear properly.

Not sure about the measurements for social distancing in this particular room--I reckon students were a meter apart if you measured them shoulder to shoulder.

Only remembered to open the windows at the end (assumed open windows would be the default).

For the second class the room was bigger so I could reposition myself without invading anyone's space. The size of the room made voice projection through the mask more difficult and because these were back to back classes with a sprint in between I was struggling a bit with breathing and speaking with the mask. Has to keep lifting it to take a breath.

For both classes there was a faff at the beginning to log on and make sure off-campus students were invited etc. Packet of wipes on the table but I did not use them.

Was rather stressful.

I basically babbled for two hours and the babbling was recorded.

First week of teaching and first covid cases among students are already reported.

[lionheart]

To add to what ghislaine said, the fact that you can't divide the groups for smaller discussions makes it much harder.

[Poppingnostopping]

I think I'm going back to over-structuring my seminars, lots of questions and answer type stuff to prepare then bring along, otherwise there's nothing to do!

We have a substantial outbreak in our uni, several of my students are shielding/being tested/have positive housemates (so in self-isolation). The testing service is completely on it, but it is worrying.

[HigherFurtherFasterBaby]

I'm here as a 30 something Undergrad student, hope you don't mind me popping in. STEM based.

We are using Teams for lectures. We are being asked to wear masks in labs, but not seminars or during tutor groups (both of which are being done in person).

I have 3DC at home, I'm a lone parent and I feel like I'm watching a car crash in slow motion. I've already had all 3 off for a full 2 weeks due to having fevers and coughs and no tests available.

I'm terrified of going in.

[Poppingnostopping]

HigherFurtherFasterBaby I totally understand this, part of the drive online is driven by students who don't want to come onto campus, for shielding, other reasons, or they just don't fancy getting corona, I've had a couple and write and say they've decided not to. It's so hard with multiple sources of bugs, I have two in two schools too and it's like a petri dish in our house.

[HigherFurtherFasterBaby]

@Poppingnostopping My eldest is in secondary and they are now wearing masks when moving in corridors but not when in classrooms. My youngest is 4, so you can imagine what that's like, she just wants to hug and touch everyone and everything all the time. If I had the ability to homeschool them I would, and friends would cover watching them when I'm in for the very few labs we have this semester. But deregging them would be a killer for me trying to get them back in at some point...

[Deianira]

HigherFurtherFasterBaby Do you have an option for being online only? At my institution this is possible for students to request, although it took a while for the institution to actually communicate this with the students... I am honestly not sure how well the hybrid model will work, but it is worth a shot, particularly given that you have a family etc. and so you are under some rather different pressures to the 18-22 students in Halls!

[GCAcademic]

I’m not back in the classroom until next week, but I’m told that it’s still possible for students to discuss in pairs. You can perhaps set a task where you get each pair to work together on an individual slide in a collaborative PowerPoint, and then you can go through the entire PPT in plenary. Everyone would need to have a laptop though.

But, yes, I feel I am planning my seminars to within an inch of their lives now and there is little room for the more organic discussion and flow of ideas that normally makes them so rewarding for everyone.

[lionheart]

Trying to teach f2f and online at the same time turns out to be just as much of a debacle and one would expect.

[Mumteedum]

@lionheart yes indeed. I have now retreated to my office for in person face to fa e online blended debacle sessions. 100 percent better all round.

[moimichme]

Wish I could just do online teaching. But I'm ever so grateful they've found me a seminar room with a window that actually opens, at least...dreading the coming week. Students are not socially distancing outside and some not wearing masks over their noses in class. But none of them have tested positive yet apparently, so on we go for now.

[lionheart]

Wish I could too.

It's just not possible to 'blend.'

Apparently, repeating a f2fclass just for online students is a problem of 'logistics'.

This way, the lecturers and both sets of students get a raw deal.

Most of my students just had phones to use when I asked them to get on to the VLE GC. Strange, because usually you just get a whole bank of laptops in a seminar or lecture.