It's time to end the consensual hallucination of fall in-person classes

[mamselle]

I don't want to create a new thread with "spring" instead of "fall" in the title. . .

Parsing a few emails, looks like we might have a Covid-19 outbreak on campus. Rumor is circulating that in-person instruction will be suspended. Don't know for how long the suspension might last. But it's certain that the dorms will continue to house students because the university desperately needs the money.

In other words, stop doing what doesn't contribute to transmission and continue doing what does contribute to transmission.

Very sorry to hear that.

M.

[pgher]

My campus is still under a mask order with a mix of learning modes. We're doing pretty well overall. The surrounding city and county just let their mask orders expire. I figure all heck will break loose in about a month, settle down slightly when students go away for spring break, then go crazy again in April.

[Diogenes]

Well it's official, the the title of this thread is now applicable again. My school will officially be continuing mostly online instruction in the Fall 2021. But they hope to bump up in-person classes a bit.

[Aster]

I just received notification that we're extending nearly all of our remote classes through summer 2021. So much Covid, so many deaths.

[spork]

Rumors proved correct. Minimum two-week suspension of in-person instruction; all courses now have to be taught online.

[spork]

Latest schools to shift to online-only instruction/issue shelter-in-place directives:

• UMass-Amherst
• Clarkson University
• University of New Hampshire
• Franklin Pierce University

[dr_codex]

Dire threats issued to students and to staff. We've successfully contained, for the most part, but are not doing a very good job right now.

But if we are not able to continue in-person classes, we are in real trouble.

[spork]

Dire threats issued to students and to staff. We've successfully contained, for the most part, but are not doing a very good job right now.

But if we are not able to continue in-person classes, we are in real trouble.

Is there fear that the state government will order the closure of campus, necessitating dorm and meal plan refunds?

[Aster]

I'm more inclined to think that government responses will lean more towards proper adherence and enforcement to PPE, social distancing, and disinfection guidelines.

Mask Wearing. Minimum Personal Spacings. Regular Disinfections of Spaces. Appropriate Ventilation.

There's a growing push by the federal government right now to set down specific standards for effective masks. I would not be surprised if we start seeing press releases this month on that. It's already been on the national news this week a couple of times.

[mythbuster]

    Well, we just got the email from the Provost. Fall will be back to normal in person attendance with masks. If you have concerns, you should plan to covert your course to distance learning.  No more remote instruction, and back to the normal capacity for classrooms. This in state that is having a huge fight right now about how far down the list K-12 teachers are for the vaccine.
    Our Uni has been pushing for more DL courses for years, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that push. But I've never been happier to be on sabbatical next Fall, so I can personally avoid this for one more semester.

[apl68]

    Well, we just got the email from the Provost. Fall will be back to normal in person attendance with masks. If you have concerns, you should plan to covert your course to distance learning. 

If you have permission to do it, you shouldn't have to worry about switching to distance learning covertly.

[FishProf]

As we are careering toward a full f2f fall, there has been a hue and cry that we can CHOOSE whether to teach remotely or not.  This has never been the case previously, but some of my colleagues have decided that they've always had that authority.  It is turning into quite the fight.

[Aster]

Much depends on the federal government's responses in the near term. What we are now calling a "remote" course (one that has not been properly configured and authorized for fully online) operates under a temporary waiver granted via the U.S. Department of Education. That type of course is only as viable so long as the DOE allows it to be. The regional accreditors are only temporarily allowing those formats of courses to operate right now.

A lot of professors who have never taught proper online courses before may not understand this. And many in Higher Education are not clear as to how long the DOE will maintain its emergency policies. It will... probably extend through Fall 2021, but that's not a certainty as more and more people are vaccinated every day.

Most universities maintain much of their financial viability through dormitory, cafeteria, and other "on campus" services. Economically, those universities cannot maintain purely remote/online courses in the long-term through tuition alone. For those institutions (basically all R1's, R2's, and SLAC's), students will need to take some/all of their courses on campus.

[dr_codex]

Dire threats issued to students and to staff. We've successfully contained, for the most part, but are not doing a very good job right now.

But if we are not able to continue in-person classes, we are in real trouble.

Is there fear that the state government will order the closure of campus, necessitating dorm and meal plan refunds?

Yes.

But that's minor, and baked into our budgets.

The existential threat is that if we cannot teach most of our courses in person, we will close.

That's not (only) a budget concern; it's a requirement from a professional licensure body that cannot we waive.

[Mobius]

As we are careering toward a full f2f fall, there has been a hue and cry that we can CHOOSE whether to teach remotely or not.  This has never been the case previously, but some of my colleagues have decided that they've always had that authority.  It is turning into quite the fight.

If you look at cases and hospitalizations, there will be a dramatic drop. All adults will likely be able to vaccinated if they choose to by the summer. I don't see vaccines being mandated, though, since the FDA has only given emergency authorization for the vaccines.