Cambridge: No F2F lectures until Oct 2021

[CamDram]

A senior tutor at Cambridge has apparently leaked the university's plans to deliver all lectures online for the whole of the 2020/21 academic year.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/19/cambridge-university-moves-all-lectures-online-until-summer-2021

To say my DC is unhappy about this is an understatement. It also means that the drama and sports scene she loves almost certainly won't be happening at all.
She now wants to take a year out and return in 2021 when she can actually have a decent uni experience. So far, she has only had one decent term at uni as her second term was disrupted by the constant lecturers strikes.

Apparently other unis will be 'broadly in line' with this.

Will your DC who have already started still go back next year?

[Sunndowne]

Agree about being positive, finding silver linings

[Boredbumhead]

This would mean paying more academics for more teaching hours and I don’t think most universities can afford that especially with the looming decline in international students

Lol, we are not paid by the hour generally. We are on a fixed salary... We will just be asked to do more hours. The job will be more exhausting than it already is. We will be flogged even harder to get bums on seats and create high quality online content. The staff will be suffering more than the students.

[Sunndowne]

Thank you boredburnhead for all you and your colleagues do

[Pegase]

Am confused about this- lectures are hardly contact time?! You just sit en masse in silence and take notes. May as well use a computer instead. As an Oxbridge hums grad, as long as tutorials and seminars/classes run as normal, it would have made no difference to me if I watched lectures via a screen.

I'd be more concerned about the social side not existing. How do you socially distance formal dinners, bars, clubs, balls?!

[Sunndowne]

Totally agree pegase

[PhoneLock]

Am confused about this- lectures are hardly contact time?! You just sit en masse in silence and take notes

My lectures involve interaction between me and my students during and directly after the lecture. I'm sure they aren't unique.

[Boredbumhead]

Aw thank you @sunndowne.... It's a pleasure

[cinammonbuns]

@Boredbumhead Maybe at your university but at my DD’s they are paid fixed teaching hours and fixed research hours.

[cinammonbuns]

@Pegase maybe that was your experience. In some universities there is interaction between lecturers and students during lectures

[ITonyah]

My lectures involve interaction between me and my students during and directly after the lecture. I'm sure they aren't unique

This is what dd likes. Cue disingenuous comments about how if you are an independent learner its actually much better to have them online

[PhoneLock]

This is what dd likes. Cue disingenuous comments about how if you are an independent learner its actually much better to have them online

Lectures are recorded so independent learners are catered for too.

[ErrolTheDragon]

The type of lecture where there's interaction - maybe verging towards seminar? - may well benefit some more creative solutions. Exactly what's possible would depend on the numbers I guess - presumably these tend to be smaller groups.

[PhoneLock]

Maybe at your university but at my DD’s they are paid fixed teaching hours and fixed research hours

I think that there are all sorts of different contracts in place. In my experience, Boredbumhead's is fairly typical though. No fixed hours but a fixed salary.

[AgileLass]

Are your DD’s lecturers sharing the details of their employment contracts with her, cinnamonbuns? That’s highly unusual, not to mention being hourly paid for research.

[PhoneLock]

Exactly what's possible would depend on the numbers I guess - presumably these tend to be smaller groups

My largest regular lectures are for well over a 100. However, I only expect to get near full attendance for the first lecture or two.

Lecture attendance has dropped dramatically since recording was introduced. It does have it's benefits, because you get smaller groups made up of the keenest students and, as you say, that lends itself to more interaction. Not just droning away while scratching on a blackboard.

[PhoneLock]

its, not it's

[LillianGish]

If there is indeed a risk I would have thought lectures are only the half of it. I agree with Errol that at many universities lectures are routinely put online anyway so you can catch up or watch again. I don't see this as a massive problem per se. What I don't understand is why it is lectures that are a particular problem - I would have thought students could wear masks, use hand gel on entering and perhaps wipe down seats themselves with anti-bac wipes. In a way they are among the most easily "policed" events. In theory students should go in, sit down, face forward and sit still. About the same level of risk as sitting on a bus. How is that more risky than living in halls with others or attending any kind of social or sports events which would be much harder to regulate (especially when drinking is involved as it almost invariably is)?

[Sunndowne]

'Cue disingenuous comments about how if you are an independent learner its actually much better to have them online'

I'm thinking we're in a pandemic! There need to be solutions for going forward. Small group. 1 to 1 will still happen ( hopefully a bit more).
Both my DC, highly sociable and interactive have found online lectures useful. Actually, my DD would have loved some last year but they were not allowed.

Seriously, the issue is, will they even be able to return in the Autumn?

[Boredbumhead]

@cinammonbuns only a few casual teaching staff will be paid by the hour. All other core staff will be on a salary unless it is a very odd university.

[Boredbumhead]

lectures are routinely put online anyway so you can catch up or watch again. I don't see this as a massive problem per se. What I don't understand is why it is lectures that are a particular problem - I would have thought students could wear masks, use hand gel on entering and perhaps wipe down seats themselves with anti-bac wipes. In a way they are among the most easily "policed" events

Because 100 students in a sweaty lecture hall is the opposite of social distancing. That's why.

[PhoneLock]

What I don't understand is why it is lectures that are a particular problem - I would have thought students could wear masks, use hand gel on entering and perhaps wipe down seats themselves with anti-bac wipes

Lectures are a problem because we would have to maintain social distancing. That effectively reduces the capacity of a lecture theatre to 16% of normal.

Somebody else posted this link up on another thread...

educationspaceconsultancy.com/the-impact-of-social-distancing-on-teaching-delivery/

[LillianGish]

I can see that, but why is cramming students into halls of residence any less of a risk when they are sharing kitchens, bathrooms etc? I know that in theory they should all stay in their own rooms, but does anyone actually believe that will happen?

[Kittywampus]

Lectures are a problem because of the number of students in the room and they can't sit 2 metres apart due to lack of space. They will also be milling around before and after the lecture in corridors, buying drinks and using the toilets at the same time.

Also, if lectures are not happening then those large rooms can be used for smaller group sessions so that 15 people can be spread out rather than crammed into a room meant to hold 10.

[PhoneLock]

I know that in theory they should all stay in their own rooms, but does anyone actually believe that will happen?

But it could happen if they act responsibly. It definitely could not happen if we crammed them into a lecture theatre.

I must admit I don't know what arrangements are being made for halls of residence though. I know that quite a few of my students have chosen to remain together in private off-campus accommodations.

[LillianGish]

They will also be milling around before and after the lecture in corridors, buying drinks and using the toilets at the same time I think the milling around is going to happen whether lectures take place or not - in halls of residence, in the students union, in all the communal areas. The milling around is the university experience for most students.