Preparing for Coronavirus?

[nescafe]

I came home with a slight fever last night, and have decided to self-quarantine until further notice. It's probably nothing more than a typical cold... but it's got me nervous.

[nebo113]

Stats software company should just give the product to students!!
And grocery stores should just give food to people!
And Winnebego should give campers to homeless people so at least they can travel and not burden any particular city

And the government should just print money so that there would be no poor people!

Not comparable.  Cheap academic licenses are often available for specialized technical software.  It's an investment so that students get used to the software and want it once they graduate and are working at companies.  The regular software price for companies is usually very expensive.

It absolutely is!  "cheap" is NOT Free! 
For this emergency, why dont you donate your salary back to the university to help the students that may be suffering because of campus closures?  Students who purchased a food package and lived in a dorm now have to pay for food that they technically already bought.  Why dont you donate your wages to support them? HOW is that different from being in the position of the software company?

Did you have to study to be an assh*le or were you just born that way?

[spork]

He raises the same questions that Peter Singer does about affluence and morality.

[apl68]

I have now solved the problems created by my administration in response to Covid-19 five times.  But when we pivot to solve their latest scenario, they change the scenario.

Can you provide details? Similar situation here. For example, administration has directed faculty to prepare for 100% online instruction after spring break. Yet no one has surveyed undergraduates to find out whether they will have enough bandwidth off campus to receive the 50- to 75-minute live-stream video of lectures that many faculty assume equates to "online instruction." No one has considered where or what the students with campus meal plans will eat if they can't return to parental households.

Our local college announced yesterday that it was closing down face-to-face classes.  We're likely going to have a lot of local students in here trying to use library computers and bandwidth for their classes.  Which we're glad to provide--but our resources are limited.  We'll see whether they prove adequate.

[FishProf]

Conversation we WILL have today:  How to efficiently and effectively move your class to online.

Conversation we will NOT have today (but someone will try):  How online courses are crap and we should never EVER allow them HERE.

Do you see that bag over there?  In the open barn doorway?  You are waaaay too late.

[clean]

Yet no one has surveyed undergraduates to find out whether they will have enough bandwidth off campus to receive the 50- to 75-minute live-stream video of lectures that many faculty assume equates to "online instruction."

IF your faculty think that switching to online means live streaming their lectures, does your UNIVERSITY have the bandwidth to support 50 or 100 classes trying to broadcast at the same time?  Could you do it from your campus, or would FACULTY be expected to do it from home and do THEY have the bandwidth to live stream from home, much less the equipment?

Captasia (I dont know how to spell it) is not all that easy to use, in my opinion, and to do it better (edit out the 'ums' and other pauses) it can take quite some time to produce a submission. 

[Caracal]

Yet no one has surveyed undergraduates to find out whether they will have enough bandwidth off campus to receive the 50- to 75-minute live-stream video of lectures that many faculty assume equates to "online instruction."

IF your faculty think that switching to online means live streaming their lectures, does your UNIVERSITY have the bandwidth to support 50 or 100 classes trying to broadcast at the same time?  Could you do it from your campus, or would FACULTY be expected to do it from home and do THEY have the bandwidth to live stream from home, much less the equipment?

Captasia (I dont know how to spell it) is not all that easy to use, in my opinion, and to do it better (edit out the 'ums' and other pauses) it can take quite some time to produce a submission.

This really isn't the time to strive for perfection. Everyone can deal with some ums and pauses.

[mamselle]

Has this been cited already?

   https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/03/11/practical-advice-instructors-faced-abrupt-move-online-teaching-opinion

M.

[backatit]

Has this been cited already?

   https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/03/11/practical-advice-instructors-faced-abrupt-move-online-teaching-opinion

M.

I don't know - I've used it in a couple of guides I put together. This is certainly a busy week for those of us who normally teach fully online, but it's interesting!

[spork]

Conversation we WILL have today:  How to efficiently and effectively move your class to online.

Conversation we will NOT have today (but someone will try):  How online courses are crap and we should never EVER allow them HERE.

Do you see that bag over there?  In the open barn doorway?  You are waaaay too late.

Got official notification here: spring break extended by one week, dorms, dining halls, etc. closed and students not returning to campus until after Easter at the earliest, transition to 100% online instruction in the interim. Spring semester is extended one week later to compensate for the longer spring break.

Some advice that might prove useful: http://activelearningps.com/2020/03/12/tips-for-moving-instruction-online/.

[apl68]

Just learned that somebody locally posted on Facebook that toilet paper is in short supply because it is made in China.  This in a town where a toilet paper mill is the leading employer!  Whatever else we may run out of locally, we should be the last place with a shortage of that particular commodity.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Welp. We are now closed for two weeks. Spring Break starts next week, so we have a week of 'online teaching.' I suppose they'll reassess the situation after the second week.

[clean]

Add my employer to the list of 'extended spring break'.  We are currently scheduled to resume classes on the 23rd, unless something else changes! 
The message was somewhat conflicting stating that online classes continue as usual, face to face classes are extending the spring break, but faculty are to continue the continuity plan (which is to go online).  So I am not sure IF I am to be online next week or not give assignments.  My chair has yet to answer my questions.

[Diogenes]

I cancelled a trip to a big city during our spring break because of risks and closures. I'm substituting it with a shorter trip to a sleepy resort town. Neither my state nor the other state have active community transmission.

But, I saw another academic on a twitter thread calling people that are doing this kind of thing- renting cabins, going camping, etc. as 'privileged' and 'irresponsible.'

My first thought is they don't get mountain culture when is comes to camping- it's a pretty normative activity. And that they are over reacting- I am not leaving nor going into risky areas.

But I'm curious if anyone wants to check me on that. Am I being naive? Is leaving my city for an isolated place a bad idea?

[dismalist]

You are doing yourself and others a favor: If others are infected, but not you, the chance that you get infected is bigger in a big city. If you are infected, the chance that you infect others is smaller in the wilderness.

More power to 'ya.