Universities during lockdown

[Rollintodarkness]

I'm a teacher and I completely get that young children are better off at school, but universities surely should all go online, get any students that can and want to go home to go home and do a proper lockdown for students post 18. Is this overly simplistic? AIBU?

@Rollintodarkness thanks for clarifying that. I teach secondary myself. To be honest we’ll just go and get him if he starts to sound unhappy. F@@k lockdown. Most parents will be the same.

I’m in my first year and teaching has all been online.

We are going to have some lab sessions in the New Year in small groups as learning about anatomy in depth without a skeleton/cadaver is very challenging/impossible.

I think th

Not all courses can be completely delivered online. Either you're not actually a teacher or you're a bad one.

@Goingdooolally I hope your son continues to be well, both physically and mentally.
I hope you are right that many parents will go, in spite of the rules, to collect their children if they need to. I worry that some might fear legal and financial repercussions and therefore not feel able to.

Thanks @Rollintodarkness it’s stressful times. You want to encourage independence but on the other hand you do worry as they’re still so young. He actually cancelled a gap year to go a year early so it’s still probably better than being stuck at home with no job and no travel for a year! At least he’s meeting new people. My main worry is if all his flatmates go home.

@ChloeCrocodile

The problem is that many of the university cities have high numbers of cases, so you don’t want students return to (for example) Cornwall and spread it there where there are currently few cases. Of course, that is likely to happen when they all head home for Christmas anyway. If you could get the students to isolate properly and then go home, with only those who need to staying (eg lab based subjects, those without a parental home to go to) that would probably be better.

Indeed.

They should have been told all along not to go. I couldn't agree more

.......and I couldn't disagree more.

My dd - and ALL the other freshers I have either asked her about (her friends, from 2 schools, and 2 hobbies where she knows a LOT of people) , or that are the dc of my friends (weirdly, that includes 5 of my colleagues at work plus other friends from all sorts of areas) were 100% ready to go off to pastures new, after 6 months of being confined to home without school, sports, hobbies, 18th birthday parties, after A-level holidays, festivals, part time work,, and all the other things 18 yr old would usually have being doing.
I've yet to find a single person amongst the dozens i've asked about who regrets going or who wants to come home.

I'm not saying there aren't any - of course there are - but stop perpetuating the myth that 'it is terrible for all students. It really isn't. Every year, there are students who are homesick. Every year there are students who don't like their flatmates or don't like their course, or who drop out for one reason or another. Some of those wanting to be at home would be amongst those who always drop out or change courses. I expect there are probably more this year. But I am certain that the overwhelming majority of students would rather be living away from their parents with their new friends, than living with their parents at a time when they can't get out and meet friends at home.

I am 100% certain dd's flatmates (and they are in self isolatin at the moment) are a LOT more fun to be with than dh and I. Oh, and when one has been unwell, they have all looked after that person, just the same as they looked after dd when she became ill on her 2nd day at university - before anyone had had the chance to get to know her.

@BackforGood I agree although those who have been in Tier 3 a while and/or have had to self isolate and have not had the best of times.

Some are more resilient than others and we just need to be mindful (and sensitive) to that. My son seems fine and has certainly had an amazing time up until now, however this lockdown may change things especially if his more homesick flatmates head home. They’ve all had Covid so won’t be spreading it @TiersTiersTiers (you are delightful btw).

I think in a way it’s a touch simplistic. My daughter is doing a master in education - she has school placements so can’t do it all online. What about medics, nurses, social workers etc which all require some work experience? So undergraduate degrees may be able to be done online. Not all. And certainly not the majority of post graduate qualifications.

I'm a lecturer but currently on maternity leave. From what my colleagues have said, in person teaching at my university sounds fairly safe. Everyone is 2m apart, wearing masks, sanitising hands and desks, and desk numbers are recorded for the uni's own track and trace system. Although cases among students have been quite high, I'm not sure that moving teaching online would reduce them.

In the first lock down, nearly all of my students went home. Keeping some in person teaching encourages students to stay in their university cities rather than travelling home, where they're more likely to be with elderly or vulnerable people.

I’m a lecturer and find teaching on campus quite safe. The students don’t seem to feel safe, though - when I asked them only one third wanted a class on campus. The others wanted to stay online.