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.

[worstofbothworlds]

I never ever go on the HE forum!

We also have had a parallel online seminar for those that can't attend. I've just told my on-campus third years to check they have no in person seminars for the last week of term and transfer if they need to depending on departure date. My module doesn't have any that week, but other ones they are taking might do.

[Poppingnostopping]

@Phphion we have had online seminars running parallel but it took a couple of weeks to formalize this on the timetable as there was a lot of shuffling around in those first couple of weeks. Our uni did try to protect us from the double workload problem, as you point out, it's not ideal. I have divided my usual number of seminars up into some Zoom and some online and it's only a little bigger than usual.

I can't take any criticism right now, I've been working so hard and it's been such a stressful term and I just don't want to know if people are slagging uni staff off! Having said that it's often slagging off uni or government policy and not us personally, I'm sure there's some bad lecturers out there but we've all had to step up this year.

In good news, it's only taken me two thirds of the term to feel like I'm cracking campus seminars in masks and get better at Zoom seminars. It's not all bad news...

[Chemenger]

Having broken myself following all the rules, recording lecture materials, breaking everything into short sections, introducing activities, captioning everything (so that a 10 minute video takes more than an hour) etc we are now told that one of our colleagues has rave reviews in his mid term feedback and we should sit at his feet and listen to his words of wisdom. Except that I've got access to his course. He has simply recorded himself in an empty lecture theatre in sessions that last up to 2 hours. His first lecture you can't hear a word of what he is saying. Usually you can't see him because he's out of the camera view. No captions at all (which we are told is illegal). I give up. The good thing is I can easily replicate what he's done, I suppose, if that's what they want.
I'm also dealing with a first year class going through the realisation that, having never had anything but A grades at school, sometimes they are going to get C's here. "It's so unfair".

[murmuration]

Thanks pota and popping. They set up an out-of-office for me, but it only went to those in the Uni so I’ve come back to a long series. of increasingly desperate messages from various groups and the place I external. I’m still wracked with guilt, but am clearly not up to as much as I want to be yet. I think I’ve at least informed everyone now. I feel like when this is all over (and COVID too) I will need to throw a massive party to thank everyone who stepped up for me.

Impressed you’re done, worst. Luckily I didn’t have many this semester and they were set up before the accident!

[MissMarplesGlove]

Except that I've got access to his course. He has simply recorded himself in an empty lecture theatre in sessions that last up to 2 hours. His first lecture you can't hear a word of what he is saying. Usually you can't see him because he's out of the camera view.

Operative word here is "him."

Students will rave about men's teaching and criticise women doing exactly the same things.

[IvySquirrel]

Haven't been on this thread yet mainly because I've just been trying to keep my head above water. I'm not doing ok, not at all. I have 2 DC in other unis and they are fine and making the most of the situation thankfully.
It is infuriating when you follow all the rules and other people get away with not doing so!

[worstofbothworlds]

My classes are almost all this term (one solitary lecture next term, actually that's not done yet) so I kind of had to.

[peppermintteadrinker]

@MissMarplesGlove

Except that I've got access to his course. He has simply recorded himself in an empty lecture theatre in sessions that last up to 2 hours. His first lecture you can't hear a word of what he is saying. Usually you can't see him because he's out of the camera view.

Operative word here is "him."

Students will rave about men's teaching and criticise women doing exactly the same things.

I suspect that's true but sometimes I just wonder if it's my paranoia or low self esteem. I notice not so much in evaluations but in students doing the work. My modules seem to be put to lower priority in balancing work loads by students than male predecessors or counterparts. Also I was particularly put out when one of my male grads got his first job and thanked all male staff but not me by email. Despite me being his personal tutor, listening to him cry in my office, and me being his course leader for 3 years. He had one tutor he thanked once for one module.

Is this just a shit job with low self-esteem if you are a woman?

[GCAcademic]

Also I was particularly put out when one of my male grads got his first job and thanked all male staff but not me by email. Despite me being his personal tutor, listening to him cry in my office, and me being his course leader for 3 years. He had one tutor he thanked once for one module.

This is a good example of the thankless pastoral shit that female academics invariably get burdened with and rarely thanked or rewarded for. I find it astonishing that (in normal times) I get through a box of tissues a term with crying students (and, no, it's not me that's made them cry!), and yet my male colleagues never or rarely experience crying students. I now send any distressed students to Wellbeing immediately. It's what they're paid (and, more importantly, qualified) for.

Is this just a shit job with low self-esteem if you are a woman?

You do need to develop a thick skin and learn to say no (or refer people elsewhere) and there are constant hits to one's self esteem. I've now got to a point in my career where I simply don't care any more, and I've lost a lot of respect for the profession in recent years too. That seems to help enormously in terms of getting through the day to day stuff (not so much when it comes to doing research, though).

[Pota2]

Yep, yep totally agree that female academics get so much more crap than male ones. My students will approach me for a reference when I’m not their PT because their male PT is so ‘busy’. Several of my male colleagues tell the students to write their own references and they just sign them. At least I actually write them.

It’s also thankless. I don’t really care about teaching awards or things like that but in my 10 years in academia, I have never been nominated, yet I have been told by individual students that they love my teaching etc. All my male colleagues have been nominated, many on an annual basis. Now it could be that my teaching is mediocre/shit but as I do get good feedback and have never had complaints, I think it’s more a case of students never feeling the need to publicly thank or congratulate me that they do for my male counterparts. Not that I need public approval, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I also found out that one male colleague who is absolutely hopeless at admin (and leaves a trail of chaos for female colleagues to pick up) but is a jovial dad-type guy that the students love, actually asks them to nominate him.

With my lectures, I decided at the outset that I was going to change or rewrite nothing. People are never happy whatever you do so I wasn’t prepared to put myself through hell to design a new course in my own time. I haven’t had glorious praise but no big complaints either. A colleague who did overhaul everything and incorporate interactive activities has had praise from some students but I’d rather have the free time tbh.

[worstofbothworlds]

I have always refused to be motherly (even now I am a mother!) and the only student in tears I can recall is the one trying to get out of a plagiarism charge... But I made a resolution a few years ago to care less. I started with article reviews but now I'm probably 10 years from retirement there are other things to not care about too.

[IvySquirrel]

I am also so fed up of ' characters' who everyone thinks are brilliant but leave a load of admin mess for those of us who are actually conscientious to clear up.
I think I've just decided to let it all out this weekend. Counting down to Christmas!

[MissMarplesGlove]

Go for it @IvySquirrel - a rant is good for you!

I work in a department with a number of colleagues who are "characters" - luckily, they all pull their weight as well.

But ... I like to get in to the lecture theatre, offer them lots of stuff, try to give them an overview so they ca see how my topic fits in to the bigger picture.

But I'm consistently criticised for being "too heavy" or "too serious" or self-indulgent. I think this is because they're not used to being pushed to think big, but also because I don't do all the performative fireworks, and so I get criticised for not being "entertaining" or being "boring."

They should see boring ... they have NO idea.

[IvySquirrel]

Thanks @MissMarplesGlove I think my DH is throughly sick of my moaning!
I have one colleague who is very 'down with the kids' in style and gets great evaluations. They don't do particularly well in assessments though as it's all very 'surface'.
Meanwhile the rest of us are plugging away and also mopping up all the admin this particular person doesn't do.

[IvySquirrel]

As one of my students once memorably said ' I don't like this hard thinking work'!

[murmuration]

Coincidentally, a friend just posted this:

The best teachers are the ones who get students to learn, not who get students to like them

I also get a bit sore about never being nominated for an award. I’ve had emails thanking me, and several times students saying one of my classes is the best they have ever had. But none seem to think to nominate for the awards.

[IvySquirrel]

I feel similarly on the awards @murmuration
That link is both timely and encouraging. Said annoying colleague has students more or less worshiping the ground they walk on. I'm just boring because I expect some independent study!

[GCAcademic]

The university is asking staff to volunteer to test students for the travel window scheme. You get PPE and everything! How inundated do you reckon they’re going to be?

[peppermintteadrinker]

Oh my god. I've heard it all now

[uggbooted]

WTAF @GCAcademic

I hope you were first in the queue to volunteer

[Pota2]

Ha! Do you get extra pay for this? What a joke this whole thing is.

I am reaching the end of my tether with online learning now. In a seminar with 25 students, maybe 2 have their cameras on. The rest are just black squares who don’t participate or interact in any way whatsoever. We can’t say anything because there may be good reasons why they have the camera off, although in a face to face seminar, students don’t have that choice to be invisible of course. It’s so depressing and I feel so demotivated.

[uggbooted]

We have that situation even in staff meetings @Pota2, hardly anyone with their cameras on. So virtually no human contact at all, despite being involved with (and somehow responsible for) 100s of people each week.
Think I'm going to start looking at what else I could be doing for a living.

[IvySquirrel]

On a lighthearted note - I teach a theatre/performing arts subject. Just editing a panopto recording and it has offered as a caption for a well known actress ' Malabsorption Staunton.'

[GCAcademic]

@uggbooted

WTAF *@GCAcademic*

I hope you were first in the queue to volunteer

Oh, yep, absolutely. It was the reassurance that the testing station would be "as Covid-secure as possible" that swung it. Plus I've been looking for something to do to fill all those empty hours in the week.

[GCAcademic]

Ha! Do you get extra pay for this? What a joke this whole thing is

No extra pay. They want volunteers. You get to work over the weekend too.