Faculty Pushing Back on Mandatory On-Campus Rules

[Hibush]

Also, you need to take into account differences is pedagogy and fields in general, because something like chemistry probably just requires more of a physical presence, at least for certain tasks, then some other fields.

Somewhat tangential, but I've thought for years (i.e. long before COVID) about having courses with an in-person lab component delivered remotely, but with a "residential" requirement that would cram all of the labs into a couple of days. This would allow people who lived far away to do the course and only need to come to campus for a few days. Not good for international students, but workable for people who live up to a few hours' drive away from campus.

I forsee more ideas like this in the future.

We've been pitching this model for professional development certificates. Remote one or two evenings a week for a couple months, then a one-week residential practicum where they get their hands into stuff and have f2f talks with all the instructors and fellow students. These would be adults paying significant money and having a current need for the skills, so disinterest doesn't play a big role.

[Mobius]

I could get on board with a week or two of intensive practicums in return for a trade-off of not doing much the rest of a term. I used to have a an intensive project where I worked 60-70 hours weeks for two weeks during each academic year, without time off to compensate.

[Caracal]

Somewhat tangential, but I've thought for years (i.e. long before COVID) about having courses with an in-person lab component delivered remotely, but with a "residential" requirement that would cram all of the labs into a couple of days.

I've done this before for a field course taught at night in the Spring semester.  Can't be in the field 6-9pm in February.

So, we did some online simulations, and the last 4 Saturdays (2 in April, 2 in May) were all day in-the-field labs.  It worked.  But it also kinda sucked.

Its effectiveness would definitely differ by subject. But in some cases, the longer continuous time period would allow for something more like a project than isolated labs, and could be good for some things. (Obviously, in a case where students need to write reports after each lab, it's not a good fit, but on the other hand, where tasks are intended to follow a sequence, doing them without breaks in-between could be a bonus.)

That's a model that could sometimes work beyond the sciences, as well. I've been experimenting with classes where the whole class jointly creates a project, but it can be tricky to make that work in 50 minute chunks. By the time everyone gets situated and starts figuring out what they are doing, class is over.

[Ruralguy]

I've thought of the class project idea as well (by which I mean everyone working on the exact same final product which they then have to put together somehow), but it does mean sacrificing quite  a bit.

[AmLitHist]

We are starting Week 12.  So far, I have had exactly ZERO student visitors to my office.  (I've happily met with quite a few of them via Teams/Zoom, though, at their requests.)

[research_prof]

Same here. Neither physical nor virtual visits from students. Simply 0.

Why should I even hold regular office hours?

[FishProf]

I am halfway through the two-week advising period, and I have had 18 advisees choose to visit in person, while only 4 chose to attend via Zoom (there were 4 others via Zoom but that was the only option at that time slot. 

On the other hand, I've had 1 student visit office hours (4 times, but just "to chat").

[Ruralguy]

I've had a few, particularly in bigger intro classes, but more or less to make up work, or beg to make up work, etc.
I rarely get anyone who just comes in and says "halfway through your lecture, you said __, can you explain that?"
I used to get that more, but never these days.  I get upper level students early in the semester, but if they are hurting in another upper level and doing OK in mine, then they just skip asking me as many questions. But considering I just agree to see any students so long as I am here and free, I don't see the need for copious listed hours. Still, I could see why going to having none posted could be a serious problem, especially at a residential college.