How are we all managing?

[ItalianHat]

It's the end of a 2nd week of teaching for me. Online is working OK - the students are saying they're already very tired though! I think it's about switching from the complete lack of structure of lockdown (for them - I was pretty busy!) back to timetables and starting seminars at 9am and so on.

And today's hollow laugh was an email from our IT managers which included the statement that: "IT staff are working into the evenings and at weekends to overcome the backlog of requests"

Tiny violins, please ...

It's of a level of clodhoppery that rivals an email sent to us from the teaching administrative staff manager in the June exams period, which told us that academic staff would have to do some time-consuming admin task, because professional staff "did not have space in their workloads."

I mean, I know everyone's working over & above, but why is it the academic staff who have to applaud everybody else (and do parts of their work for them), when we routinely work evenings & weekends.

Grrrrr.

But other than that - it's nice working with the students again, although online can be frustrating at times. However, I don't think it'd be any more frustrating than masked & at 2m distance, trying to run a seminar with desks & seats set out in socially-distanced rows.

We haven't had such an email yet but I only have one F2F class left this term and my main issue is the tech (the module coordinator is clueless and has given us impossible combinations) really rather than the risk of infection for me, but it might be higher for the other students.
I may say that I'm not comfortable teaching that class due to the group size. I have a good excuse (I'm moderately vulnerable, and I'm safe in my office as I just go straight in and take my lunch, but the class is 20 despite the huge room size).

Interesting that the official gov line says you may leave house to access education where there is no online alternative. That's not what some VC's are pushing.

I'm hoping we don't change our face to face sessions, we only have a handful left and I don't think I can go through redesigning the content for online at this point. I also like seeing the students. It doesn't feel the same online.

My one remaining F2F is so late in term and the coordinator so vague I've not been able to plan anything yet anyway, except that I knew I had to record part of it anyway. I just feel it's wrong if I can't go and buy the DCs clothes, in and out in 5 mins, yet I can spend an hour in a poorly ventilated room with some 20-somethings.
And I bet teachers feel the same.

Well I've just applied for a new job - that's how it's going 😉

And I bet teachers feel the same.

School teachers are being hung out to dry at the moment.

Not well. I've gone from absolutely loving my job to wishing I didn't have to go in. I'm an assistant, not a teacher and only work part time but the whole time I'm there I'm on duty. No breaks as it's only 4.5 hours. The problem is I only get to talk to the children I'm supporting now. No interacting with the teacher as she's teaching the whole lesson time and I cover break duty and lunch. I don't see other staff any more to chat to as we only supervise our own bubbles. I don't get to sit in the staff room and chat or enjoy goodies. The children are great but all the adult interaction has gone and I'm not enjoying it any more. Which is sad. I'm just holding on in the hope things will be a little better sometime in the not too distant future.

Sorry, is this for HE/FE? I clearly needed to vent and jumped on this post thinking it was all schools.

Yes HE, but sympathies and solidarity anyway.

@MissMarplesGlove

And I bet teachers feel the same.

School teachers are being hung out to dry at the moment.

Completely.

I have no idea what kind of twisted logic will apply to ensure everyone continues F2F teaching.

Another impressive headline:

www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/opinion/election-day-biden-trump.html

'It Was Election Day Eve and All Through the House …
Everyone was pretty much freaking out.'

Sorry wrong thread for that.

I am concerned about students who have already had isolation, going into a lockdown which may or may not end in a month.

I think a lot of them will read the signs and leave now.

The first thing our university did this morning was to flag up the restriction the government has imposed saying that students must not leave their accommodation.

Obviously the first priority is making sure that they don't have to issue accommodation refunds like they did last summer.

Oh, and f2f is continuing (interestingly, they didn't take much notice of the other bit of government guidance which said universities should consider moving more teaching online), but I didn't expect any different.

Sorry, that's a bit unclear. I meant move out of their accommodation, rather than leave as in "set foot outside of the front door".

I think a lot of them will read the signs and leave now I've had a couple of emails stating as much already, though the email has gone out from the university telling them not to. Ugh this term has to be the worst ever. I'm still going to teach those that remain face to face for a couple of sessions though, I think they benefit in different ways from face to face, even in masks, like Zoom as well now, so happy to offer the different formats because they seem to suit different students. I'm not being pressured to teach face to face, our dept is relaxed about lecturers who don't want to or can't.

Only a handful are coming for f2f at my institution. Really feel for colleagues who have to come via public transport to teach when most students aren't crossing campus to attend.

I have several colleagues who travel to campus from over a hundred miles away, using multiple forms of public transport and often staying overnight in bed and breakfast accommodation. It seems so irresponsible to continue that in order to avoid moving a module online during a national lockdown, and when the government has asked universities to consider moving more teaching online.

Really feel for colleagues who have to come via public transport to teach when most students aren't crossing campus to attend.

We have had our parking charges increased yet again as an incentive to use public transport. £7 a day now.

Making people travel long distance on public transport isn’t on. I reckon my tiny number of f2f students will dwindle even further this week. If I were a student, I’d be going straight home.

This lockdown isn’t going to solve the problem anyway. The solution is not to restrict everyone but to be super effective at targeting those who have become exposed. We know that the majority of people who need to self-isolate don’t do so, even ones who have had a positive test. That’s how it’s spreading. They need to crack down on that, not split hairs over whether you can meet one person for your walk or two people or whatever. If you’ve tested positive, you and your household must be quarantined and there must be serious consequences for breaching that. There needs to be proper provision for food deliveries for those quarantined so that there is no need to go outside (not just reliance on friends). They need to be financially supported too. Anyone flying in to the country needs to be put in a hotel for a fortnight before being let in. That will help get a grip on the infection - this current stuff really won’t do much except destroying the economy.

I completely agree with you Pota2 there doesn't seem to be any analysis of the weak spots in the existing system- just shut it all down (except schools and unis and work so basically shut down shops and hairdressers where I'm not sure there was much spread). Shutting down movement between households will work to some extent. I don't see it as a sustainable answer whatsoever.

I am in a research role, not teaching, and it can be done from home. So I can't really complain.

BUT my concentration is still shot to pieces. 7 months in and the kids are back at school. So I really can't complain.

Arghhh. All OK for this year - it's just the next grant when I haven't got the outputs from this one.

ALSO I hate responding to reviewer comments. My paper was fine in the first place.

Although I liked this from twitter on the Trump approach to reviewer 2.

[Reviewer 2]: This analysis is flawed.

[Me]: This is a very good analysis. The best. I've worked with the best people - and by the way, better than yours - who are very smart. And actually I invented data analysis.

KCL have gone all online, apart from clinical courses.

It seems that my institution won't let us move to online only, due to a letter sent from Westminster government to Vice Chancellors saying that it should be a local decision about moving more teaching online (supposedly the uni has suppressed the virus below the local community level...). I'm having a hard time this week.

My enthusiasm for research has gone out of the window. There was a CFP for a large conference in my subject area that came out the other day. Ordinarily, I’d be excited about it but I just feel flat. I don’t relish the thought of a huge online thing and I don’t feel inclined to write at all. As I am an ECR, I’m slightly worried that this will have long-term repercussions.
Have also been told that I need to move my zoom recordings to panopto. What the fuuuck. All these new online platforms and the expectation that we all know how to use them. Not used Panopto yet but seems like I have no choice now.

I genuinely hate online teaching. It’s shit. I know it’s the only option but the stress it’s caused me is immense. I was listening to one of my YouTube lectures the other day and my voice dips in and out and is sometimes inaudible on certain words. The quality is shit but I can only use the equipment I have. God, this is a nightmare isn’t it?