Maybe it has just been a buildup, but my institution started a week late and cancelled Spring Break. Technically, we are off on Wednesday 3/18 IF you have a MW or MWF class! The TTh folk are screwed I suppose.
My state had a major weather event a few weeks ago, and while I suffered no damage, though many did, it took a lot of time to deal with personally and then it took a lot of extra effort to accommodate the students.
I took my second COVID Shot on Saturday, and then we had the Spring Forward event of Saturday night. I had a final scheduled for the 7 week online class that is part of our online BBA completion program, so there was a lot of grading and I am still dealing with the problems that students created by waiting until the last minute to schedule or take the exam, and then encountered assorted problems. OF course, had they scheduled their exam in the first of the 48 hours, then most likely they could have fixed the problems themselves, but by waiting they were unable to fix the problems before other problems (like the exam ending and not letting them in) added to their problems. When they have issues, it usually requires several hours of MY time to address with Examity and Blackboard to ensure that the problem children can be accommodated. Add to that the deadlines that I am now under as I can not complete the final grade submissions with these outstanding, OR have the added issues of grade change paperwork!!
Maybe the combination of those events has me tired out. Whatever the cause, I have come to enjoy the week after the Spring Back to get adjusted to the time changes. Though, thinking back on it, I dont know that I am actually recovered from the 2020 spring break fiasco. AS I think back, we went online exclusively after Spring Break, so the 2020 Spring Break was lost to the COVID shutdown issues (no TP in the Stores, no cleaning supplies, no groceries on the shelves even if you did go to the stores...). Then we were online in the Summer and fall.
Anyway, it has been a LOT of work since last year, and I guess that my tanks are running dry. I could use a week to get caught up on all sorts of things. I could catch up on class work, the repairs/clean up that i need to complete from the February Weather Event (that made national news), yard work, ...
So WHAT HOW ARE YOU HANDLING THE CANCELATION OF SPRING BREAK?
(and for me, I dont feel like it is time as I just finished lunch, but my online show starts in 20 minutes ... an hour before my body clock thinks I am supposed to!!)
You academics and Spring Break!
Yeah, it's tough all around. My next day off is Memorial Day.
We had no spring break here. I gave all of my classes the week off last week. After I spent the beginning of the week grading, I took the rest of the week off. I drove to a nearby city and went shopping. I had a picnic in my car with good take out. I did not rush or check my emails. It was amazing. Because nothing was due last week, I had nothing to grade today and did not set an alarm. I actually had a really stressful day yesterday that was work-related (a few unexpected crises) but I really needed the reset last week.
I'm just stumbling forward one day at at time and looking forward to an upcoming house sitting gig, which will at least get me out of my place for a few weeks. I reflected yesterday that my house seems to feel smaller every day... And from time to time I block out chunks of time on my calendar as "busy" so I have some me time. I'm definitely looking forward to mid-June when I go off contract for a bit!
Quote from: darkstarrynight on March 15, 2021, 07:59:20 PM
We had no spring break here. I gave all of my classes the week off last week.
How does that work with federal financial aid requirements for work required for a course to be worth 3 college credits?
Is the semester/quarter significantly longer than the expected time?
Would your dean be pleased if students casually mention their week off?
Rumblings at Artem U are that some students are planning on creating their own Spring Break, university schedules be damned. We have had a very manageable number of students with Covid, but if do it yourself Spring Break is actually a thing, we're headed for trouble.
By speaking my mind on this forum about what is getting rotten in our culture and needs attention.
No spring break since we're not an academic institution, but I got a break of sorts by having to come in half days and (and stay locked in my office when I was here) while waiting for results of last week's COVID test. Not really a fun experience. I did get caught up on some reading.
Quote from: polly_mer on March 16, 2021, 06:58:39 AM
Quote from: darkstarrynight on March 15, 2021, 07:59:20 PM
We had no spring break here. I gave all of my classes the week off last week.
How does that work with federal financial aid requirements for work required for a course to be worth 3 college credits?
Is the semester/quarter significantly longer than the expected time?
Would your dean be pleased if students casually mention their week off?
These are fair questions. My courses this semester are 100% asynchronous online, and there is plenty to do for students to learn and earn three credits. There were no course content/materials or assignments removed from the courses in this case. I just shifted things around so in a previous course iteration, one module used to be two weeks long but this time they had one week to read and complete the work for that one module, for example.