When the internet goes down?

[AvidReader]

Hegemony, how is your class going so far?!

clean's brainstorming made me think of one other thing. When I teach online, I usually have a mental list of nearby places that have free wifi and an easy (now safe) place to sit in case the internet goes down permanently. (This might not work so well for you if Comcast is the only provider in your area.) Most McDonalds have free wifi that will reach the parking lot (though with varying strengths). Starbucks' signals often reach the parking lot. Lowes depends on the store and on which side of the building gets the signal. Some public libraries are beaming wifi outside at the moment. Before I teach online classes, I usually scope out the nearby free wifi spots and test them on all my devices. I rarely need to use one, but knowing that there are options gives me a better sense of how long I might be gone if my home internet collapses and I panic drive somewhere else.

AR.

[Hegemony]

So far the internet has not actually gone down in class. It would take me long enough to drive to a new location that I think the class would justifiably stray away, even if I enjoined them to wait. If it goes down during class, I'll just post a lecture later or something. We've now had enough technical problems of other kinds that I think everyone just rolls their eyes knowingly when the next one happens.

[AvidReader]

I figured the driving would be a long shot. Ah well.

I hope the class continues to go smoothly!

AR.

[Mobius]

The bandwidth was REALLY bad in the Spring. Turns out we had damaged wiring. Once that was replaced ($) it was much better, though still not on-campus great. I also had a one week internet outage in the Fall. I sat in my car in a parking lot where I could get an open wifi signal to do some grading. I also had small assignments and let that be sufficient.

This is something that's been on my mind. If your damaged wiring wasn't interfering with your normal internet requirements, but it was interfering with your higher usage requirements for online teaching, then shouldn't the university fund the repairs?

I've been really interested in the discourse about how work-from-home does/does not help employees. Pros: better flexibility, easier to handle things like childcare, etc. Cons: offloading infrastructure costs (e.g., internet bandwidth) on workers.

A university shouldn't be expected to pay for home repairs, even if the repairs would help with work.

[the_geneticist]

The bandwidth was REALLY bad in the Spring. Turns out we had damaged wiring. Once that was replaced ($) it was much better, though still not on-campus great. I also had a one week internet outage in the Fall. I sat in my car in a parking lot where I could get an open wifi signal to do some grading. I also had small assignments and let that be sufficient.

This is something that's been on my mind. If your damaged wiring wasn't interfering with your normal internet requirements, but it was interfering with your higher usage requirements for online teaching, then shouldn't the university fund the repairs?

I've been really interested in the discourse about how work-from-home does/does not help employees. Pros: better flexibility, easier to handle things like childcare, etc. Cons: offloading infrastructure costs (e.g., internet bandwidth) on workers.

A university shouldn't be expected to pay for home repairs, even if the repairs would help with work.

Depending on your state, you might be able to claim that expense on your taxes.  Read the fine print carefully though, it's pretty challenging to claim expenses for a home office if you are not required to work from home.