Preparing for Coronavirus?

[spork]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

[downer]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

Doesn't that mean that basically you teach the course online and meet during classtime with a few students for a tutorial. Indeed, you might just tell those students that they can do their onine work during class. If you do give a lecture of sorts in class, you record it and make it available to all students (after of course, the appropriate university service has done closed captioning of the video your lecture for the hearing impaired students who might be in your class).

If you don't want to massively increase your prep time, you will probably have to cut back some aspects of the course. Assigning papers to the students seems like a good thing to cut.

[Caracal]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

Ugh, this makes me feel a lot better about my own school. I have some reservations about our plans, but at least they aren't just putting all the onus on instructors. Our plan is that faculty who do not want/should not teach will teach online. They are trying to make sure there are enough fully online courses for students who also shouldn't be on campus. Other classes are going to be hybrid in some form mostly to allow for enough space in the rooms.

[marshwiggle]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

Is there stuff about labs that you didn't include, or have those been entirely overlooked in this. (For instance, as I've discussed elsewhere, the ludicrous idea of trying to "[teach all labs] on campus and online, simultaneously", as would be implied by the instructions above.)

[Bonnie]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

It's not often someone can write something that makes me grateful for the admin I have, but this almost has me sending them gift cards and flowers as thank you. Faculty cannot be made to do this alone, though plans particularly on #2 and #3 should not be made without faculty input. The first demand of faculty in your post is just silly. Am I supposed to develop a magic spell to make my classroom larger without making it larger?

[the_geneticist]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

Is there stuff about labs that you didn't include, or have those been entirely overlooked in this. (For instance, as I've discussed elsewhere, the ludicrous idea of trying to "[teach all labs] on campus and online, simultaneously", as would be implied by the instructions above.)

How will we do this?

Fantasy answer: "Magic!  Portable hole!  Teach in parallel universes!  Shrink my students so they are so tiny their sneezes only travel 6" instead of 6'!"
Real answer: I will be teaching online.  There is no safe way to do this.

I swear the realities of space and time don't even cross the minds of lots of administrators.  They probably think they can just assign you a bigger classroom (as if no one else is already using it) OR assign you to teach in 3-4 rooms all at the same time.

[spork]

[. . . ]

Doesn't that mean that basically you teach the course online and meet during classtime with a few students for a tutorial. Indeed, you might just tell those students that they can do their onine work during class. If you do give a lecture of sorts in class, you record it and make it available to all students (after of course, the appropriate university service has done closed captioning of the video your lecture for the hearing impaired students who might be in your class).

If you don't want to massively increase your prep time, you will probably have to cut back some aspects of the course. Assigning papers to the students seems like a good thing to cut.

[. . .]

Is there stuff about labs that you didn't include, or have those been entirely overlooked in this. (For instance, as I've discussed elsewhere, the ludicrous idea of trying to "[teach all labs] on campus and online, simultaneously", as would be implied by the instructions above.)

Yes, it's ludicrous. Yes, it means online instruction. In reality the "plan" is just a facade. Returning and new students will be told "Back to normal, campus is open!" so that they show up and pay room and board. They'll be living on campus while taking courses online. Otherwise the university suffers a major financial hit from no housing and meal plan revenue.

[rac]

New here, though I was a frequent reader of the chronicle fora in the past. It appears that my university is moving ahead with simultaneous face to face and online teaching for small and medium sized classes, with different accommodations for large lecture classes, combined with a change in the academic calendar (things are still very fuzzy and ill-defined - there has been just one presentation by the higher admin to the faculty).
Are there faculty here that simply do not feel comfortable doing f2f teaching in the fall? From the little of what I can tell, the admin will likely allow faculty over (a so far undefined) age cutoff and faculty with health issues to teach online. I may (or may not!) qualify for accommodations (it's less simple than just stating that I have high blood pressure, say), but my spouse won't. What options should we ask for? Online teaching? Unpaid leave while keeping benefits (health insurance!)? Simply meet with students in individually or in small groups outside early in the semester and then move online and hope for the best (we are tenured)?
The reasons I feel currently uncomfortable are 3 concerns: 1) Apart from mortality, we do not currently have many statistics on medium or long term health issues, but a lot of reports about strokes, damage to different organs like the lungs, heart, kidneys, very long recoveries on a (large or small?) subset of patients. 2) I think it is a pipe-dream to rely on the low-risk young student population to social distance and wear masks when not under supervision (I have seen many reports, including in my university town, of large student parties violating the governor's restrictions). Our admin during the meeting said we'd simply have to trust the students to do the right thing. 3) We are middle-aged (mid-to late forties), and if something happened to one of us (say, a stroke, or a condition that alters our life expectancy or ability to produce income), it would be devastating to our still young kids. With no family in the US, even a prolonged serious illness/hospitalization of both of us at the same time (not that unlikely with covid) could have a serious impact.
The admin thinks all will be safe and well with testing and tracing, keeping a 6 foot distance and masks. We have our doubts.

[Hegemony]

Rac, welcome. I think what you can ask for depends on what you're prepared to do. I am in a medium-high-risk group and I have a lot of savings, so I will be going to the wall in refusing to teach in person. Through some adroit strategizing, I've managed to make it so that I have only one in-person class scheduled next year, and I'm petitioning to take that online too. At our place, they let people teach online who have a fairly narrow set of characteristics (e..g active cases of cancer), and anyone else who wants to has to make a request. I think they thought few people would request to teach online, but in fact I know a lot of people who have. The word is not yet in on who gets permission. If they refuse me permission, I am going to simply refuse to teach the class, and propose that I be furloughed. I have tenure and I am approaching retirement age — if they fired me, I'd be able to get by, though I'd prefer to keep teaching for a while if possible. I know refusing is a luxury that many don't have. I think that if many people are refused permission, the union will probably take up the matter. At the moment we are waiting to see whether permission to teach online is granted to many or only to a few.

In your case, I'd try all positive strategies to stay out of the classroom — horsetrade with others, or offer to teach courses others avoid as long as you can teach them online, or whatever strategies you can think up. If none of that works, and you can afford it, you could offer to be furloughed. If they absolutely make you teach in-person, you could try your own strategies to keep safe. I know in California, some are insisting on teaching outdoors. You could teach in a large room with many windows, and leave all the windows open. Or whatever.

I do notice that in the flurry of trying to make everything else happen, keeping professors safe is way down on administrators' priority lists. So as in so much else, it's up to us.

[AmLitHist]

I went to my doctor on Friday for a meds check, and without me bringing it up, he said, "You will NOT be going back on campus this fall." Well, we'll see.  I know Admin is going to push me to either teach on campus (if we in fact are back F2F in fall) OR they'll force me to take FMLA time and burn my semester's worth of sick leave pay and miss a semester's worth of teaching.  I don't want to take the semester off, and there's no good reason for me to do so, presuming I stay well.

There are three large rooms in my building; each can comfortably hold 25 students (our class caps).  One is designated for ASL, the other for Communications, and the third--a computer lab--for English.  I could space 10 students in our computer lab.  However, I wasn't assigned to it for fall; a senior colleague usually gets dibs for his dev ed classes in there.  Other than that, we teach in oversized (but not by much) janitorial closets.  In the best of times, winter means very close quarters in those rooms, between the small space, the 25 students, and the added bulk of backpacks, coats, etc.  (I couldn't do it, if I were a student:  I get claustrophobic as it is when I teach in those rooms and frequently step out in the hall while they're writing, in discussion groups, etc.)

There rooms in other buildings on campus are similarly sized, with the exception of a couple of lecture halls here and there.  However, those are already taken as "dedicated" to other disciplines.  Realistically, with my existing ADA accommodation for ortho problems, they know they can't require me to hike 1/4 mile between buildings in the 15 minutes between classes with my walker and supplies--let alone do in August and September heat, and later rain/cold/snow.  I'd throw a fit, and they know it.

I hope they let me teach my 2 F2F classes online, which would give me a full online schedule (verboten by both policy and the union contract). I'll get the ADA accommodation, if necessary, because I'm at risk.  Push come to shove, if they insist I be on campus, I want that computer lab for both my classes, and I'll include it in my accommodation order.    It makes sense for my Comp II, which works fabulously well in that room, but less so for my lit class.  We'll see.

I just want things SETTLED, sooner rather than waiting until August 1 or later, which is what I suspect will happen. 

[Caracal]

I went to my doctor on Friday for a meds check, and without me bringing it up, he said, "You will NOT be going back on campus this fall." Well, we'll see.  I know Admin is going to push me to either teach on campus (if we in fact are back F2F in fall) OR they'll force me to take FMLA time and burn my semester's worth of sick leave pay and miss a semester's worth of teaching.  I don't want to take the semester off, and there's no good reason for me to do so, presuming I stay well.

There are three large rooms in my building; each can comfortably hold 25 students (our class caps).  One is designated for ASL, the other for Communications, and the third--a computer lab--for English.  I could space 10 students in our computer lab.  However, I wasn't assigned to it for fall; a senior colleague usually gets dibs for his dev ed classes in there.  Other than that, we teach in oversized (but not by much) janitorial closets.  In the best of times, winter means very close quarters in those rooms, between the small space, the 25 students, and the added bulk of backpacks, coats, etc.  (I couldn't do it, if I were a student:  I get claustrophobic as it is when I teach in those rooms and frequently step out in the hall while they're writing, in discussion groups, etc.)

There rooms in other buildings on campus are similarly sized, with the exception of a couple of lecture halls here and there.  However, those are already taken as "dedicated" to other disciplines.  Realistically, with my existing ADA accommodation for ortho problems, they know they can't require me to hike 1/4 mile between buildings in the 15 minutes between classes with my walker and supplies--let alone do in August and September heat, and later rain/cold/snow.  I'd throw a fit, and they know it.

I hope they let me teach my 2 F2F classes online, which would give me a full online schedule (verboten by both policy and the union contract). I'll get the ADA accommodation, if necessary, because I'm at risk.  Push come to shove, if they insist I be on campus, I want that computer lab for both my classes, and I'll include it in my accommodation order.    It makes sense for my Comp II, which works fabulously well in that room, but less so for my lit class.  We'll see.

I just want things SETTLED, sooner rather than waiting until August 1 or later, which is what I suspect will happen.

It is really disheartening to hear that faculty are being pressured at some places to teach in person. I was very pleased to see that our admin has at least said that nobody is going to be forced to teach in person who doesn't want to. Thus far, you can just opt out, no need for explanations or medical notes or any of that.

[polly_mer]

I was very pleased to see that our admin has at least said that nobody is going to be forced to teach in person who doesn't want to. Thus far, you can just opt out, no need for explanations or medical notes or any of that.

That sounds like an administration that wants easy faculty volunteer in before officially announcing a term that is mostly online.


Anyone else read https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/18/its-not-so-much-when-colleges-reopen-its-also-how and/or the associated 20-page document?

Say, AmLitHist gets those heavily in-demand rooms she wants and the schedule is rejiggered so that everyone who wants those rooms gets those rooms.

Who is doing all the between-class cleanings?  Part of our recent training was how to host an on-site meeting including all the pre-meeting and post-meeting cleaning with video.  The strong message was don't have a meeting unless there's no other way to advance a mission-critical project.  That mindset doesn't work for classes.

How are they paying for all the extra work and supplies associated with cleaning etc.?  Supplies around here are still in very short supply with online suppliers having messages like "out of stock.  no estimated date for back in stock".

Can everyone really be trusted to follow all the new rules?  I'm watching newscasts this morning and the answer for the general public is clearly no.

Are institutions going to have fast enough turnaround to matter for testing and will they do the crucial third step of isolation of everyone found positive and all their contacts?

[Cheerful]

I do notice that in the flurry of trying to make everything else happen, keeping professors safe is way down on administrators' priority lists. So as in so much else, it's up to us.

+1

Even IF a college could do "frequent testing" of all -- daily, weekly, monthly, twice a semester -- what if people don't want to be tested?

There are various tests and their accuracy is not assured at this time.  NY's governor had the more invasive nasal swab test live during his daily presser over the weekend. I wouldn't want to have to do that one frequently.

[Morden]

Our uni has announced we're going "alternate delivery" for fall (although they also announced that the final decision will be made June 30--I don't know what changes they expect between now and then). For most disciplines, that means online delivery for fall. I don't know how they are going to manage labs or practicum placement.

[writingprof]

All faculty here have been directed to submit, through their departments, a plan for the fall semester that includes explanations of how we are going to:

• Maintain 6' separation between all students and the instructor in classrooms with a seating capacity of, for example, 35 students, in courses that already have 35 students registered.
• Teach all courses on campus and online, simultaneously, to accommodate students who become ill or who have pre-existing health conditions.
• Run all courses 100% online if the campus needs to be emptied out after the semester begins.

All full- and part-time faculty members have been given three days to submit this information.

See, I actually prefer this. The preposterous turnaround time indicates that no one expects good work. "Faculty members have been given two months to submit this information" would be far more burdensome, as it would suggest that one is to spend one's whole summer doing this bull&%$# for real.