University life for 'freshers' (2019/20) - first year campus life suspended, sitting out/surviving the pandemic and staying on top of studying [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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Not despite, dealing !

@Benjispruce DS hasn't heard anything back either (re jobs) BUT I am trying to encourage him to apply for a fruit farm job. So far he's not been keen.

@New I was in Aldi this week and asked on her behalf. She had applied in response to an advert and not heard. The manager said to drop her cv in as they’re needing temporary workers when staff self isolate so she’ll do that this week m.

Thanks for the tip @Benjispruce. I did try to tell DS that going in in person might be more fruitful at the moment!

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 is good to know our 14 year olds think the same. I didn't cope very well the first 2 weeks of lockdown and struggled a bit to manage my expectations of my DS. Now I'm going with enjoying the benefits of this lockdown and the family time we are getting.

@Benjispruce my DD applied to Tesco so she is an order picker (starts at 4am!) and has also done the training as a van driver for home deliveries. She applied online and was contacted 2 weeks ago.

Work is OK. I'm in general practice so a lot are working from home. We are in the north so I don't think it has hit us as much ...yet. I have huge admiration for my colleagues working in hospital.

One of my friends works in a country GP practice (she's not a doctor though) and said they've got very little to do. She's wondered why they've not been redeployed somewhere where they're really needed.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I am a GP and a partner so have spent a lot of time working out how to deliver a safe, non contact service (hence my absence from here for several weeks). It's true that demand for appointments has tailed off a lot but there's lots of managerial work behand the scenes. Interestingly we are not seeing many of the usual infections probably due to social distancing and kids not at school and better handwashing.

But GPs are open and working and functioning (albeit in a different way) so if you do need to speak to GP get in touch. we haven't gone away!!

@Benjispruce @mum2eim

I've got one back from Durham and one now not doing GCSEs and a very happy year 8 who thinks this is the best time he's ever had.

Dd1 did get a bit weepy at one point, when she suddenly realised they weren't going to get back this year. I think she was quite surprised how upset she was. I've managed to get her in a role at the Support Hub (which has taken over my normal place of work) which she is doing 2-3 days a week, which has made quite a difference to her mentally.

DS has been furloughed. We are all cock a hoop, he has worked in a pub restaurant for two years. They worked it out on what he earned last year 80%. He has worked weekends and school holidays since his 16th birthday. He even had his schedule for this easter before they closed. Some employers are lovely. Because he was on zero hour contract we expected nothing, thinking he was just casual labour.

Just popping back to see how everyone is gettung on

DC1 is working 4am supermarket shifts, writing essays, and keeping in touch with friends via Discord. They all seem pretty calm & together about the whole thing.

Summer term stuff has just been cancelled, sadly after the deadline that would have waived the term's accommodation fees. We'll have to travel to clear their room at some point as they cam home by train. They did clear the fridge & empty the bin though!

Sending suitably distanced Stay Well vibes.

What are our students thinking about moving in to their 2nd year off campus houses? My DD and friends all v keen to move in even if teaching remains online and I can’t say I blame them. They were all so excited to move in to a proper house and for a couple of them their home environments aren’t ideal so for them it really will make a difference.

@VanCleefArpels, I’m not sure - haven’t asked DS, but he is talking about missing his mates and what he’ll be cheffing up next year

DD is dying to get back to her house/move into her new one, but she has been living independently for 3 years already so it’s a big retrograde step to come home

Glad some of your DC have found work. DD has the cushion of 3rd maintenance loan and no accommodation fees but wants to work for extra and also just to keep busy. However, she’s worried about getting work and having to take 2 weeks off for her exams which have not been cancelled. I think after that, she’ll chase up her applications and give her cv out with a bit more gusto.
DD2 is actually quite happy as her mock performance was good and she’s a hard worker so she’s hoping her grades will be at least that of her mocks. She’s quite happy to wave goodbye to some of the bitchiness at her girls’ school though. I’m keeping her reading to prepare for her A levels.
@BringOnTheScience which uni is that?

Also DD1 will definitely want to move into her 2nd year house. They’re talking about August circumstances allow by then. I doubt we’ll get out of the contract if she doesn’t go back!

Two of DD's fellow 'upcoming second year' housemates are currently abroad, so I suppose there is the possibility that she and the other UK resident may be rattling around the house on their own for a while, whenever they move in. She says she misses Birmingham, so will at least go back at the beginning of term (assuming that internal travel will be okay by then - hope so, since she still has stuff in her flat). I'm not sure that she is so keen to spend the summer there, though, although DS1 lives close by.

As a fellow mature student, I don't mind if they go online fully, though currently seminars which normally have 25 in them now only have 5. Who are the same 5 who would actually open their mouth's in the physical classrooms.
Last few weeks we have had some modules where they did the lecture online (and we could ask questions via typing) some pre recorded it. And others just showed last years lectures. Now that was a last minute scramble so I'd hope they all were done properly if it's all online next year.

@Benjispruce DC1 is at MMU. Their third term programme is usually short projects & work placements, a bit like internships. They're optional. DC1 had gone for museum-based ones, so online / remote working isn't possible for them.

Last few weeks we have had some modules where they did the lecture online (and we could ask questions via typing) some pre recorded it. And others just showed last years lectures. Now that was a last minute scramble so I'd hope they all were done properly if it's all online next year.

We had similar - although our course content was pretty much finished so it was generally exam related Q+A sessions. We had one guy who insisted on doing the entire thing via him typing questions and us typing replies - but with his webcam and mic on the entire time which was totally cringetacular - bless him he even got dressed in a suit and tie for the whole thing! Most of ours seemed to record a video and powerpoint feed of the lecture in advance - release it online on the set day with a discussion board set up for general queries - but like I say we were mainly into exam Q+A and briefings for the revised exam structure since everything's changed.

We also have about 5 people who will do the bulk of the work in seminars - and about 10 people who'll chat at the back throughout and are funnily the ones who are the first to try to leech everyone else's understanding on our course chat group. Like "does anyone know what page the answer for the task is on in the textbook" level stuff. They're being significantly less supported by fellow students as the year goes on as we're all pissed off with them. I was doing condensed notes linked into the assessment structure for one module where the lecturer gets really rambly - just hooking in the facts to the things we need to know for the exam and sharing them around - I've stopped doing that (used the strikes as a break for it and never got back to it) and it's funny as hell watching the leeches freak out!

I am shocked how much sone people won't even try to find answers for themselves. There is a difference between debating whether someone could be charged with say different types of manslaughter(we do law) or just asking what are the requirements for manslaughter as that is RIGHT THERE IN OUR SLIDES!
Or asking what happened in a case when ever the most casual google will generally tell you that (if you can't be bothered to read the textbook)
This term I think they are not checking any attendance to tutorials (as people can claim no wifi, different time zone) it will have to change if we carry on like that next year.

I have just read through this thread with interest. DS1 would have started university in 2019, but did not get any offers for medicine. He got offers this year and is supposed to be starting in September.

I am trying to work out whether it is harder for the ones who started in 2019 or the ones who start in 2020 - if they are allowed to start on time it will be a very odd start missing a lot of the usual fresher experience and making it harder to settle in, but your lot have been doubly hit by strikes and covid-19 and face a second year of uncertainty.

Some of the new universities (Sheffield Hallam and another) were saying they would prefer to defer the start to January than start the year on line, but nobody knows whether anything will be different in January.

We are in our little bubbles around the country, I feel guilty about how much I am enjoying it with my Y11 getting on better than ever with his brother and DS1 emerging from teenager-hood to become a nice and helpful adult. Such strange times.

Oh dear! My DS is at Sheffield Hallam. I haven't heard anything about this but am not sure if he has been checking his email.

I have NO idea at all what DS is doing. Re uni work that is. I know WHERE he is - in the front room watching 'Bad Education'...

No surprises there.

My two are doing uni online and studying hard for exams in May and September. They seem fine but are missing human contact with their friends. The future is as yet unclear but they will carry on like this as long as necessary.....

@simbobs it may only be something they are considering for first years because they don't think starting students on line will work. Looks like older students might be expected to keep going on line until campuses can open.

From a Guardian article:

*

Many institutions are proposing to start first-year degrees online and move to face-to-face lectures and teaching in the second term, or as soon as campuses are able to open. But some say this is not a good option for school-leavers who haven’t yet learned to study independently, and they would push the start of the year back to January.

Colin McCaig, professor of higher education policy at Sheffield Hallam University, says: “I have real doubts about young people’s willingness or preparedness to start an online degree this autumn.”

Existing students who are used to studying at university are more able to cope with the disruption of teaching shifting online for a term or two, he says. “But it’s another thing entirely for young people who have been looking forward to starting the more usual higher education experience.”

What I want to know now is what the situation is with accommodation booked for September if the campus is not open.