Covid-19 Response: Evidence of How Higher Ed Can Be Completely Restructured?

[apl68]

"The only thing worse than sitting in a seminar room listening to three papers you actually don't want to hear is listening to three papers you don't want to hear over Zoom"

Sigh.  Our annual state professional conference is going to be digital-only this year.  Not looking forward to it--but I suppose I'll dutifully attend a slate of virtual meetings that look interesting.  I'm going to miss the chance to talk shop face-to-face.

[sprout]

"The only thing worse than sitting in a seminar room listening to three papers you actually don't want to hear is listening to three papers you don't want to hear over Zoom"

Sigh.  Our annual state professional conference is going to be digital-only this year.  Not looking forward to it--but I suppose I'll dutifully attend a slate of virtual meetings that look interesting.  I'm going to miss the chance to talk shop face-to-face.

At least on Zoom it's easier to start checking your e-mail or other favorite website without anyone noticing. 
I've also been on a couple of Zoom meetings where the side chat was much more interesting and informative than what the speaker was doing.

[spork]

The Chronicle: "Will College Athletics Survive? Should They?"

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Will-College-Athletics/248956

Paywalled.

Note the expenditures vs. revenue data.

Two NCAA Division III conferences and one NCAA Division II conference in my region have cancelled all fall sports. If all athletic department employees get furloughed for three months, that could result in a substantial savings. The savings would be even greater if the athletic department was eliminated entirely.

[spork]

A minor change to the fall-spring academic calendar would simplify life for many, why hasn't it become the norm already?

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/29/pandemic-offers-opportunities-rethink-old-traditions-favor-smarter-alternatives

[downer]

A minor change to the fall-spring academic calendar would simplify life for many, why hasn't it become the norm already?

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/29/pandemic-offers-opportunities-rethink-old-traditions-favor-smarter-alternatives

I welcome the change, especially since it would allow me to do some traveling in December.

One place I teach was planning to do that when they thought that the hybrid model would work. Their idea was to put all the final exams online after Thanksgiving. But that seemed to me exactly wrong: the one thing you want to do if you can is have exams in a well proctored space, such as a classroom. And you definitely don't want to be having a different proctored situation for each student, since that is organizational chaos. So ideally you have all exams before Thanksgiving, and then have other assignments, such as final projects or papers, due in December, and they can easily be done online. But that requires a fair amount of course rethinking.

[dr_codex]

A minor change to the fall-spring academic calendar would simplify life for many, why hasn't it become the norm already?

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/29/pandemic-offers-opportunities-rethink-old-traditions-favor-smarter-alternatives

I welcome the change, especially since it would allow me to do some traveling in December.

One place I teach was planning to do that when they thought that the hybrid model would work. Their idea was to put all the final exams online after Thanksgiving. But that seemed to me exactly wrong: the one thing you want to do if you can is have exams in a well proctored space, such as a classroom. And you definitely don't want to be having a different proctored situation for each student, since that is organizational chaos. So ideally you have all exams before Thanksgiving, and then have other assignments, such as final projects or papers, due in December, and they can easily be done online. But that requires a fair amount of course rethinking.

We have been asked to have all major assessments, including exams, finished before Thanksgiving. Technically, we will be coming back, but you can see where this is going.

[Puget]

A minor change to the fall-spring academic calendar would simplify life for many, why hasn't it become the norm already?

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/29/pandemic-offers-opportunities-rethink-old-traditions-favor-smarter-alternatives

I welcome the change, especially since it would allow me to do some traveling in December.

One place I teach was planning to do that when they thought that the hybrid model would work. Their idea was to put all the final exams online after Thanksgiving. But that seemed to me exactly wrong: the one thing you want to do if you can is have exams in a well proctored space, such as a classroom. And you definitely don't want to be having a different proctored situation for each student, since that is organizational chaos. So ideally you have all exams before Thanksgiving, and then have other assignments, such as final projects or papers, due in December, and they can easily be done online. But that requires a fair amount of course rethinking.

We have been asked to have all major assessments, including exams, finished before Thanksgiving. Technically, we will be coming back, but you can see where this is going.

We've changed our schedule to start a week earlier than normal, and then students will get an extended 1 week Thanksgiving break and not come back-- the final week of instruction and final exams will all be online. I think this is wise-- our state is doing pretty well right now, and we'll have lots of testing and tracing on campus, but our students are from all over the country and world, so we really don't want them traveling and then coming back to campus potentially infected.

[marshwiggle]

We have been asked to have all major assessments, including exams, finished before Thanksgiving. Technically, we will be coming back, but you can see where this is going.

We've changed our schedule to start a week earlier than normal, and then students will get an extended 1 week Thanksgiving break and not come back-- the final week of instruction and final exams will all be online. I think this is wise-- our state is doing pretty well right now, and we'll have lots of testing and tracing on campus, but our students are from all over the country and world, so we really don't want them traveling and then coming back to campus potentially infected.

Are there so few relatively local students that you won't have a fair number going home for weekends during the term? And is there very little interaction with the community off campus? I'd assume both of those would provide a similar level of risk, just more spread out in time.

[Puget]

We have been asked to have all major assessments, including exams, finished before Thanksgiving. Technically, we will be coming back, but you can see where this is going.

We've changed our schedule to start a week earlier than normal, and then students will get an extended 1 week Thanksgiving break and not come back-- the final week of instruction and final exams will all be online. I think this is wise-- our state is doing pretty well right now, and we'll have lots of testing and tracing on campus, but our students are from all over the country and world, so we really don't want them traveling and then coming back to campus potentially infected.

Are there so few relatively local students that you won't have a fair number going home for weekends during the term? And is there very little interaction with the community off campus? I'd assume both of those would provide a similar level of risk, just more spread out in time.

Like I said, rates are quite low here currently (after a bad spring) and so risk within weekend distance is relatively low. Of course that could change, but people here are taking it seriously, masks are required, etc.. Students are being encouraged, but not required, to stay on campus as much as possible and not travel on the weekends. Everyone on campus is also being tested twice a week. So no, I don't think that is at all the same level of risk.

One of the things I think has been really problematic is that a lot of people aren't distinguishing levels of risk at all, which leads to either ignoring serious risks, or treating everything as so risky we can't make prudent decisions about what activities to resume. Most people outside the sciences are bad with probability in general (see also: misunderstanding election forecast models) and the amount of misinformation circulating makes things much worse.

[sprout]

A minor change to the fall-spring academic calendar would simplify life for many, why hasn't it become the norm already?

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/29/pandemic-offers-opportunities-rethink-old-traditions-favor-smarter-alternatives

This is how my undergrad did it, and still does.  It was great for getting seasonal jobs.

[spork]

New York Times columnist discovers Minerva:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/opinion/sunday/minerva-college-coronavirus.html.

[Wahoo Redux]

https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/corona-virus

CNN podcast on reopening college

[spork]

The Big Ten conference has "postponed" the fall football season. Does this mean massive furloughs to temporarily reduce athletic operations costs?

[mamselle]

Columbus, OH, without football!!

Wish I were there to see it.

They'll probably keep over and die.*

(Not really. There was actually a very strong, good cultural life there, and I'm hearing that people are being creative--as you might expect, as they are everywhere--and making things work in good ways as well.)

M.

-=-=-=-
*for them as doesn't know, I was raised there and I hate football...no causality at all, none, nada, rien...

[bio-nonymous]

A minor change to the fall-spring academic calendar would simplify life for many, why hasn't it become the norm already?

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/29/pandemic-offers-opportunities-rethink-old-traditions-favor-smarter-alternatives

I welcome the change, especially since it would allow me to do some traveling in December.

One place I teach was planning to do that when they thought that the hybrid model would work. Their idea was to put all the final exams online after Thanksgiving. But that seemed to me exactly wrong: the one thing you want to do if you can is have exams in a well proctored space, such as a classroom. And you definitely don't want to be having a different proctored situation for each student, since that is organizational chaos. So ideally you have all exams before Thanksgiving, and then have other assignments, such as final projects or papers, due in December, and they can easily be done online. But that requires a fair amount of course rethinking.

We have been asked to have all major assessments, including exams, finished before Thanksgiving. Technically, we will be coming back, but you can see where this is going.

We started yesterday for "Fall" and are done at Thanksgiving--seems like a good idea to me. No traveling back and forth and then we start back up after MLK Day. Of course it means more "quiet" time for us lab rats, which is always a plus...