I have colleagues who have not been on campus for the entire academic year, and they have been loving it, even though they won't admit that the pandemic has been the best thing that has ever happened to them. They are dreading back-to-normal. I have one colleague, with EU citizenship, who has been roaming the EU, while teaching remotely. His research is not dependent on a physical space. Most of us were not that extreme, but all of us enjoyed some variation of location flexibility, and I was no exception. The location flexibility has allowed me to take care of important personal and family things away from home, that I normally could not have done, if there was no pandemic.
Although there is a dearth of campus amenities, the few of us that use the campus facilities have free reign over a large kingdom. I used to complain about the lonely, abandoned spaceship sci-fi vibe, but now I'm enjoying the extra space.
All the admin vanity events & pet projects were nuked off the calendar. For any remaining pointless large meetings/convocations, it was easy to zone out. For any of the meetings that actually mattered (usually involving small groups of faculty and select students), we were happy that we didn't have to leave our homes and exert any commuting energy. Meetings seemed to be more efficient, probably because no one was expending commuting energy. Without the commute to campus, I gained an hour in my day. I've used the extra time away from commuting and pointless meetings, ceremonies and pet project events, to rest, do some personal things, go deep on a class prep, or for research—I have some really great projects that are seeing fruition this year, due to the pandemic killing off stupid stuff for 2020–2021. And I've done all of this without the usual stress.
I admit it. If the admins said we are doing virtual university for 2021–2022, I would only pretend to be disappointed.
I hear you. And I do labs.
Much as I can't do exactly the same things with remote labs, it's really great to do everything asynchronously. Spending hours each week wandering around labs waiting to answer questions is tedious; being able to just look at email and discussion boards periodically to see if there are questions is much less intense. And, not having to squeeze in grading between lab times is also vastly superior.
I'm going to be able to stick with remote labs in the fall, but will be back to in-person in the winter.
Agreed! My teaching evals went up when I went to 100% online during the pandemic--what does that say about me! But seriously, I am making an effort to do hybrid courses since the asynchronous instruction was a big hit--the students liked having the flexibility (and I am sure appreciated 125-150% playback speed...). Plus, I also get more work done on some things in my home office than I ever could at my campus office (grant proposals, manuscript writing, etc.) And while I agree that for some things remote meetings are more efficient, the ability to develop camaraderie with colleagues via side conversations and interactions during breaks made our recent return to some in person meetings welcome...
I might agree with you, but my place has had hybrid teaching with faculty in the classroom and most students at home. It has been the worst of both the online and in-person teaching combined. I can't wait to get back to normal, which the university claims is coming in fall 2021.
Same. Online teaching of discussion-based courses is awful, but it's worth it to me to avoid the commute and spend more time with the hatchling while he needs constant attention.
But also, we're slated to return in-person in the fall, and I seriously doubt I'll have had both doses of the vaccine by then, and my students may not have even had one yet. And with a hatchling at home and a partner with an auto-immune disease, I don't much like the sound of that.
I agree with the OP to a large degree -- I've had my office to myself for 20-21, and I'll have to share again in the fall. I never had to search for a parking spot. As tedious as Zoom meetings were, they often cut down on the most annoying and obnoxious personalities. I never had to wait in line at lunch. A few times I was able to use a spare classroom for makeup exams or extracurricular workshops. Fall 2020 I had to offer an online component, and I had more misconduct cases in that semester than I've had in the previous six years. My evals were the worst I've ever had (misconduct + "this class is so much harder than any of my other online classes why didn't the bastard just give me an A?"). But Spring 2021 I was able to teach fully in person while most of my cohort was remoting. Highest evals ever. Lowest stress ever. It's been wonderful.
While acknowledging that I didn't mind some of the solitude, online really is a crappy way to teach, in my view. I am sure some of you do it quite well, and have somehow figured it out, but I'd rather be in person and am going to be. However, I think most committee meetings and talks with the Dean, etc. can probably remain Zoomified even if everyone is vaccinated. If I were a committee Chair, I'd say we will probably default to in person, but if anyone has issues with childcare or making it to class after the meeting, etc., we can talk about either sometimes or all the time Zooming.I can probably meet that way with advisees as well. If there is a flu outbreak, I'm probably going to mask up, teach in person, but only do Zoom meetings.
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 11, 2021, 08:36:45 AM
But also, we're slated to return in-person in the fall, and I seriously doubt I'll have had both doses of the vaccine by then, and my students may not have even had one yet. And with a hatchling at home and a partner with an auto-immune disease, I don't much like the sound of that.
I assume you aren't in the US?
Quote from: Ruralguy on May 11, 2021, 08:55:33 AM
While acknowledging that I didn't mind some of the solitude, online really is a crappy way to teach, in my view. I am sure some of you do it quite well, and have somehow figured it out, but I'd rather be in person and am going to be.
Agree. Obviously there are advantages at times, but I don't like it. Going in to work is a pain, of course, but it also is good for me. Teaching online is a weird and isolating experience and it messes with my sense of context.
I have very mixed feelings.
Don't miss the commute. Don't miss the hassle of scheduling and attending meetings. Don't miss the students constantly missing class.
But I do miss have at least a little separation of home and work, and I miss my students.
Zoom was better than online, and way better than teaching live in a mask to an audience far away.
I'd love to experiment with some hybrid courses, but it's been made pretty clear to us that the expectation is that we will all be in the same room.
I like that I can spend more time with my cats and my gardens. I like that meetings seem to run more efficiently. But that's about it.
All of my classes are lab classes. I had 0 money, 0 help, and 0 time to create online labs for 4 different courses. I think I've done a great job, the students have said that they actually like the labs and some of the labs are actually a bit better with online resources. But the molecular labs are just not anywhere near the same. Our students are upset that they can't be in a lab using the equipment. They aren't interested in analyzing data, they don't view any online tasks like using BLAST or designing primers as part of science. They would be happy to squish up strawberries for DNA all day, even though it's not a research project.
I am also so done dealing with all of the cheating. It was bad last year when we first switched to remote classes. Now that I'm getting the freshmen who finished out high school all online, the cheating is off the charts common. I am so tired of filing misconduct reports. I want to go back to the labs so I can return to being grouchy about constantly telling students that goggles go on their face, not on top of their head.
Remote teaching has made me extremely lazy. It has made 8/10 of my colleagues even lazier, so much so that if I'm not doing most of our collaborative service work all by myself now, the work has been cancelled or deferred because nobody feels inclined to do anything except slap their dumb remote courses into a can and call it a week.
Our "remote" STEM laboratories are basically a write off to our students, since we cannot actually train them with actual working environments, actual equipment, actual facilities, actual anything. "Virtual labs" are not labs within my discipline, just a pretend version of a lab for a pretend world that doesn't exist. And no, I do not enjoy the mass marketing by the edu-business sector emailing me sales pitches about "online labs" each and every day that prey upon the more naive or lazy professors. About half of our adjuncts and our more deplorable TT professors (the mostly retirement-aged and nontraditional ones) think that remote laboratories are lovely since everything is so much less work for them to do. Boohoo, do your jobs.
I will be glad to "professional up" back again when Big Urban College mostly returns to normal in the Fall. I'll have to find some new adjunct professors to replace those who got too hooked on the remote teaching cocaine, but it will be worth it to have folks that I can depend on.
But yes, I've spent the last year playing a lot more video games, not wearing pants, not going to meetings, goofing around the house, and enjoying more diverse cooking and dining options. I will definitely miss being able to get the deluxe pretzel cheeseburger at Wendy's every week.
I'm not one of these SLAC folks who lives to teach, but I definitely think that when I am teaching, I am going to do it well, and will try to only take short cuts when necessary.
Not me! We will be back to almost all in person next fall and I'm very eager for it. I've been teaching at least partly in person, but the other pieces have been missing. I miss chatting and talking science with my colleagues. I really miss interacting in person with my mentees in the lab-- that will start again in June, as well some in person human subjects research (suspension of which seriously set back our research program). I can't wait!
A lot of complaints here are about commutes. I learned my lesson after doing a long commute as a postdoc for 4 years, and vowed to live in walking distance of work since. I have a 1.5 mile walking commute which builds exercise and thinking time into my day. I know relocating closer to work isn't an option for lots of folks for various reasons, but it is worth considering ways to make this happen if you can.
I want it all to go away--Zoom, half of students in class at a time, remote exams, and the paperless classroom.
Granted, I only live 10 minutes from campus, so a commute is not an issue. I am also fine with my completely online classes.
This half-and-half model, though, has made the simplest in-class activities incredibly complicated or undoable.
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2021, 09:30:30 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 11, 2021, 08:36:45 AM
Right, Canada. The Conservatives sold off our domestic vaccine maker decades ago, and our primary supplier at the moment is thec US, which has restricted exports.
But also, we're slated to return in-person in the fall, and I seriously doubt I'll have had both doses of the vaccine by then, and my students may not have even had one yet. And with a hatchling at home and a partner with an auto-immune disease, I don't much like the sound of that.
I assume you aren't in the US?
I like the ability to prerecord my lectures, but the cheating that comes with administering exams remotely is a real issue. Trying to accommodate a hybrid class would definitely be the worst of both worlds, so at least in the Fall, I will probably continue to teach remotely.
Quote from: lightning on May 11, 2021, 07:22:36 AM
[. . .]
I admit it. If the admins said we are doing virtual university for 2021–2022, I would only pretend to be disappointed.
My wife and I were completely online for 2020-21 because of an immune system disorder that theoretically put me at high risk. I loved it. No commute. No expectation that I attend stupid campus events. Meetings at convenient times and far more efficient. Meanwhile faculty still teaching on campus were required to use the terrible "dual modality" system that produced an inferior environment for both in-person and remote students, with dwindling rates of attendance in physical classrooms as semesters progressed.
Faculty have been told that instruction will revert to "normal" for the fall semester, but I am building asynchronous online and field observation components into my undergraduate courses as substitutes for meeting in the classroom. Over the previous year, I have demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the total time students spend in the classroom doesn't correlate closely to learning in my courses, given how they perform on assessments. And since there is a good chance of quarantines, lockdowns, and suspensions of classes in the fall, it's smart to plan accordingly. I have been telling colleagues to do the same, but I'm mostly being ignored, just like I was mostly ignored in the summer of 2020.
I'm of two minds on this. I'm comfortable with teaching both on ground and online and get solid evaluations in both modalities. I love not having a commute, not sharing a public bathroom, not being subjected to lousy institutional food at meetings, wearing sweatpants and slippers, and being able to step out into my patio for breaks. But I also miss the hallway conversations with colleagues, seeing students, and having access to the library. I'm hoping that my school will be less demanding about people being on site a lot of the time since we've shown how well some meetings can be carried out remotely.
Quote from: spork on May 11, 2021, 12:37:55 PM
And given that there is a good chance of quarantines, lockdowns, and suspensions of classes in the fall, it's smart to plan accordingly.
Probably a bad idea to try to make predictions. I'd say that's possible, but probably relatively unlikely, at least on a widespread scale. Covid isn't likely to go away, but it is likely to become a lot more manageable without resorting to the extreme measures we've gotten used to over the last year.
The good news is I don't really have to do any additional planning for courses switching online. Already have done all of that...
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2021, 12:51:29 PM
Quote from: spork on May 11, 2021, 12:37:55 PM
And given that there is a good chance of quarantines, lockdowns, and suspensions of classes in the fall, it's smart to plan accordingly.
Probably a bad idea to try to make predictions. I'd say that's possible, but probably relatively unlikely, at least on a widespread scale. Covid isn't likely to go away, but it is likely to become a lot more manageable without resorting to the extreme measures we've gotten used to over the last year.
But for
labs, it's totally unrealistic to plan for in-person with some sort of contingency plan. Logistically, you have to pick one and stick with it. I'm glad my institution is allowing remote labs for the fall.
Quote from: marshwiggle on May 11, 2021, 12:56:35 PM
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2021, 12:51:29 PM
Quote from: spork on May 11, 2021, 12:37:55 PM
And given that there is a good chance of quarantines, lockdowns, and suspensions of classes in the fall, it's smart to plan accordingly.
Probably a bad idea to try to make predictions. I'd say that's possible, but probably relatively unlikely, at least on a widespread scale. Covid isn't likely to go away, but it is likely to become a lot more manageable without resorting to the extreme measures we've gotten used to over the last year.
But for labs, it's totally unrealistic to plan for in-person with some sort of contingency plan. Logistically, you have to pick one and stick with it. I'm glad my institution is allowing remote labs for the fall.
Sure, that seems reasonable.
Something seems to have changed in my job after this last year.
Next semester I have 3 online classes and 2 in-person classes. This is a bit amazing. I will still have contact with other humans, be able to hide out in my office and sip espresso, but avoid the long days and constant commuting back and forth to let the dogs out or retrieve that whatever I left at home. If I get everything online before the semester my prep time will be cut by a third, and I am adding considerable online teaching to the CV.
Virus variants still make me nervous, however...my wife and I each have an elder with health problems who depends on us. We gotta stay healthy.
For spring 2020, I found the break from routine nice. I did all my teaching asynchronously, given the fact that all of my students' lives were disrupted in a number of ways. I live about 45 minutes away from work, and I certainly did not miss not having to commute. I took long walks for several hours each morning, read a bunch of books, watched several Netflix series, and wrote two articles. I don't think I would want to go back to that time since there was a sense of impending doom. The fact that it was impossible to go ten minutes without hearing an ambulance, that all the nearby hospitals had COVID tents in front of them, and the disease was raging did not help my mental state, and to be honest, the lack of a routine probably did not help either.
For fall 2020, all my classes were synchronous, but the students seemed to make the most of it. My young daughter liked to have me teaching in the living room, and told me that she wanted to be a college teacher. She also enjoyed making cameo appearances in my evening classes. I wrote another article.
This semester, spring 2021, seems to be like walking though mud. I am sick of Zoom, my students are sick of Zoom, my daughter is sick of Zoom. Personal life is weighing heavier at the same time the actual danger of getting ill seems to have become more remote. I miss going to campus (I have been going to my office about once a week just to grade papers and work.) I miss my commuting routine, including stopping at a cafe and reading. I miss my colleagues, even the annoying ones. And I have run out of research materials at hand, so the article I am working on requires resources--some of them at a library 20 minutes from my house that is closed. I am actually sort of dreading summer vacation (and not just because I won't be getting paid). I must admit that it was nice flying to visit relatives across the country in the middle of the semester and being able to continue my teaching without missing a beat. (Since they live three time zones away, it was nice to be able to finish all my classes by 9am).
I am looking forward to forgetting my Zoom password and going back to the classroom in September.
If you've got one of the real jobs (full time and benefitted) you shouldn't be complaining about going back on campus.
Quote from: jerseyjay on May 11, 2021, 05:02:33 PM
This semester, spring 2021, seems to be like walking though mud. I am sick of Zoom, my students are sick of Zoom, my daughter is sick of Zoom. Personal life is weighing heavier at the same time the actual danger of getting ill seems to have become more remote.
This. I mean, I will be happy to keep doing worthless meetings on Zoom if I can. But I am tired of teaching on Zoom and my students really need some personal contact in their lives. The amount of students with mental health challenges has been more than I've ever seen.
Quote from: Golazo on May 11, 2021, 07:46:31 PM
Quote from: jerseyjay on May 11, 2021, 05:02:33 PM
This semester, spring 2021, seems to be like walking though mud. I am sick of Zoom, my students are sick of Zoom, my daughter is sick of Zoom. Personal life is weighing heavier at the same time the actual danger of getting ill seems to have become more remote.
This. I mean, I will be happy to keep doing worthless meetings on Zoom if I can. But I am tired of teaching on Zoom and my students really need some personal contact in their lives. The amount of students with mental health challenges has been more than I've ever seen.
I have never, ever had success rates this low, or cheating rates this high. I think that the lack of connection is exacerbating both. And people who were doing WELL just fricking disappeared.
Quote from: kiana on May 11, 2021, 09:28:03 PM
Quote from: Golazo on May 11, 2021, 07:46:31 PM
Quote from: jerseyjay on May 11, 2021, 05:02:33 PM
This semester, spring 2021, seems to be like walking though mud. I am sick of Zoom, my students are sick of Zoom, my daughter is sick of Zoom. Personal life is weighing heavier at the same time the actual danger of getting ill seems to have become more remote.
This. I mean, I will be happy to keep doing worthless meetings on Zoom if I can. But I am tired of teaching on Zoom and my students really need some personal contact in their lives. The amount of students with mental health challenges has been more than I've ever seen.
I have never, ever had success rates this low, or cheating rates this high. I think that the lack of connection is exacerbating both. And people who were doing WELL just fricking disappeared.
Ditto.
Our data shows that students who would do well anyway seem fine. But all the others are struggling and dropping their classes. It's ghastly.
Several years ago on the old forum the switch to remote classes was usually considered the death knell of legitimated higher ed. The slippery slope to MOOCS etc.
We had remote classes for quite some time pre-pandemic, but they weren't for everyone -- no developmental classes (was tried but the success rates were too dreadful), students always had a f2f option, and students with GPA under a certain point weren't allowed to enroll in online courses without a petition. Success rates were still lower but were generally ok. Testing (at least in math) was done in a f2f proctored setting.
I'm with the OP and those who have been more successful this past year-and-a-half, but I can see where it totally sucked in other areas.
If we do go back in the fall, I'm definitely going to have to figure out how I'm going to continue to engage in my afternoon nap. And I guess I'll have to relearn how to wear long pants.
Quote from: fishbrains on May 12, 2021, 09:38:14 AM
I'm definitely going to have to figure out how I'm going to continue to engage in my afternoon nap. And I guess I'll have to relearn how to wear long pants.
For me, it's as easy as just going back to campus where the building temperatures are too cool to go pants-less for long periods of time. Four+ hours in shorts will freeze me out of most state-operated public buildings.
I want to go back to (well, in my case, stay) f2f. I disliked my courses in thy hybrid modality.
But I'll keep Zoom meeting, thanks.
I like Zoom advising, too.
Yeah, I'm definitely keeping virtual office hours. And honestly, THOSE I'm perfectly fine taking hyflex because they're not a class and I feel perfectly able to work with a single digit number of students, all of whom chose to come and either have specific questions they want answered or are just chilling while they work on homework.
Quote from: kiana on May 12, 2021, 12:00:06 PM
Yeah, I'm definitely keeping virtual office hours. And honestly, THOSE I'm perfectly fine taking hyflex because they're not a class and I feel perfectly able to work with a single digit number of students, all of whom chose to come and either have specific questions they want answered or are just chilling while they work on homework.
I don't see myself eliminating my normal office hours, mostly because I can usually schedule them in at times I'd be in my office anyway. But, I will definitely be making more use of Zoom meetings. I always try to make sure that I'm never scheduling meetings at times when I wouldn't be on campus anyway since I don't want to care if students fail to show up. Zoom lets me avoid that problem and be more available to students. It also means I won't have the same punishing volume of meetings on my class days at some points in the semester.
Quote from: Aster on May 12, 2021, 11:22:03 AM
Quote from: fishbrains on May 12, 2021, 09:38:14 AM
I'm definitely going to have to figure out how I'm going to continue to engage in my afternoon nap. And I guess I'll have to relearn how to wear long pants.
For me, it's as easy as just going back to campus where the building temperatures are too cool to go pants-less for long periods of time. Four+ hours in shorts will freeze me out of most state-operated public buildings.
I really, really miss wearing my school clothes. I like the feeling of having a teaching uniform. I haven't worn a tie in 14 months and it makes me sad.
Pretending students are learning a lot is much better in person than it is online.
Quote from: Caracal on May 12, 2021, 02:03:23 PM
Quote from: Aster on May 12, 2021, 11:22:03 AM
Quote from: fishbrains on May 12, 2021, 09:38:14 AM
I'm definitely going to have to figure out how I'm going to continue to engage in my afternoon nap. And I guess I'll have to relearn how to wear long pants.
For me, it's as easy as just going back to campus where the building temperatures are too cool to go pants-less for long periods of time. Four+ hours in shorts will freeze me out of most state-operated public buildings.
I really, really miss wearing my school clothes. I like the feeling of having a teaching uniform. I haven't worn a tie in 14 months and it makes me sad.
I wear my "work clothes" when I'm working at home. I also drink my tea from my "work mug". It helps keep my work time and just being home time a bit more distinct.
But I am normally barefoot since we don't wear shoes in the house. It's going to feel odd to have to wear shoes all day.
Quote from: the_geneticist on May 12, 2021, 02:22:29 PM
It's going to feel odd to have to wear shoes all day.
Now
THIS, I have actual concerns about. Will my shoes fit? Will my feet get hot? Will my feet hurt? Did my feet change shape over the last year because I stopped wearing shoes? Did the COVID vaccine change my feet shape?