Fall 2021 Scheduling

[Biologist_]

We are planning our lineup of courses, capacities, days and times, etc. as if we will back in person for fall with normal class capacities. Our administration has made statements that this is all dependent on widespread vaccine availability and low case counts and that it will be easier to pivot from in-person to online if needed than to go the other way. I think it is more likely than not that we will be able to go ahead with a fairly normal fall schedule.

Within my department, we have planned our teaching schedules for all of next school year as though we will be back to normal. Potential budget-related adjustments to teaching workload have been a source of uncertainty, but we have gotten some reassurance that the budget is looking better than originally feared.

We have very limited classroom space and already have to schedule a lot of classes at unpopular times just to find the rooms. Combine that with heavy teaching loads and specialization of faculty (more of an issue in some departments than others based on the ratio of service to majors courses) and it gets really hard to adjust the schedule substantially once it's planned. There has been some talk that some of the large lectures might still run online next year, but if the idea is that there will be some kind of trickle-down effect and many classes can all shift into larger rooms, it turns into a very difficult puzzle in a hurry.

[the_geneticist]

We have been told that we are planning for a full face-to-face fall semester, because we all now know how to easily switch to remote if we need to last minute! Like it's no big deal and causes no confusion at all.

Oh indeed!  I got the chipper email from the Provost saying how we had "pivoted overnight" to all remote classes.
Overnight?!?  I spend two frantic weeks figuring out how to teach two different lab classes entirely online.  With zero support of any kind and no access to campus.  I better get my next merit increase just due to me not running screaming for the hills last Spring.

[EdnaMode]

It has been announced that our fall semester will be normal, with normal class sizes, in-person teaching, etc. My biggest concern is that just like last fall, my lab sections will be fully enrolled, but we'll still be at Covid numbers and implementing social distancing, and once again I'll have twice as many students in a lab section as can physically be in the room, and will have to cut lab time in half to accommodate all the students. I asked if lab sizes could be limited to Covid capacity until mid summer and then if things look good, make the enrollment limit higher but was turned down and told I was focusing on the negative.

Fear the possibility of "normal" classes, and then a few days before the beginning of class, you will get some email from some administrator with an impressive "Campus Health" title that says you have to teach half the students enrolled in the lab in-person and half the students enrolled in the lab via Zoom, at the same time, with some kind of alternating rotation schedule  that you have to concoct, manage, and enforce, on your own. --And you will get no help in providing IT support to students learning at home (you have to be your own help desk), and at the end of the semester, you will get a pat on the back for your efforts. But don't expect anything beyond a pat on the back like a COL raise, after all this, because, you know, ----COVID--you're lucky you have a university to teach at.

I'm lucky that our IT staff are beyond compare and they're the only reason I managed to get anything done when everything went to h*ll last spring. My biggest frustration is that the students are the ones not getting what they need out of lab (I teach a foundations course for majors). And, for purely selfish reasons, I hate it because I end up teaching everything twice so instead of 8 labs a week, I will have 16. It's exhausting and it's hard for me to fake enthusiasm but I feel obliged to try for the sake of the students.

And all we get is a "Yay team!" from the people up the food chain who haven't actually been in a classroom in years, if ever. No raises, not even COL. But who knows? I'm sure we'll all be vaccinated and everything will be normal and shiny and happy in the fall. Yep, that's it! I truly hope my cynicism is unfounded and I will be proved wrong.

[AmLitHist]

My CC is requiring every faculty member to teach one F2F section, and the rest of load synchronous Live Virtual Lecture (LVL) or fully online.

I checked, and I have my 2 online sections (as required by my ADA accommodation) of 25 students each, 1 F2F of just 15 students in a large double-sized room (TR), and 1 LVL of only 16 students (MWF). Considering I have 4 online sections of 25 each, plus a 7-student LVL, right now, I'm pleased.

(I also have a ton of summer online OL this fall, anticipating that there won't be any/much this fall, so I hope those will all fill as they usually do.  I'm looking forward to a lighter grading load come fall.)

[Vkw10]

My university is planning a fall schedule similar to Fall 2019. The summer schedule will have a high proportion of online asynchronous classes, as those were amazingly popular last summer. We're doubling the number of summer classes offered, which we should have done several years ago, since we typically have long waitlists for summer courses.

[the_geneticist]

My university is planning a fall schedule similar to Fall 2019. The summer schedule will have a high proportion of online asynchronous classes, as those were amazingly popular last summer. We're doubling the number of summer classes offered, which we should have done several years ago, since we typically have long waitlists for summer courses.

Our demand for online Summer classes is huge, but the department is having trouble finding folks willing to teach the the labs.  Part of the issue is that now that folks can be back in their research lab, no one wants the additional responsibility of teaching.  The other issue is that the summer pay is miserly.  Our graduate students are clever enough to turn down an offer of "Get paid LESS money for doing more work!". 

[Parasaurolophus]

We just got word that the university is making plans (details TBA) to return to in-person instruction in the fall.

I'm still skeptical. For one thing, students are in the last two vaccination categories, and so are a lot of instructors. And even if the rollout was proceeding without delays--which it isn't--that would mean August/September vaccinations (plus two weeks to wait it out). And if we need any kind of distanced classroom at all, it can't be done  because our rooms are tiny and courses are all capped at 35.

But I guess we'll see. I was/am hoping for an online fall, mostly for self-interested reasons.

[marshwiggle]

Our university is considering several scenarios, mostly involving restrictions. I've proposed doing everything online, asynchronous like last Fall, BUT adding some drop-in in-person sessions for people who need help. That makes it easy to limit people to distanced capacity (whatever that turns out to be) but means that people being on-campus can still interact face-to-face with another living, breathing human being.
(It also avoids me having to be as tied up with in-person lab sections all week long, which was the great things about asynchronous delivery.)

[downer]

Normally by this time of year I have a rough idea of what the fall assignments will be. This year I have very little idea, which isn't that surprising, but I don't like it.

Three weeks on, I have a better idea of my fall schedule, but one place still hasn't declared whether it will be teaching fully, mostly, or just regularly online vs in the classroom. I was talking to a friend at a similar local place and he is hoping that they will be online for the fall.

I'd also like the convenience of online teaching, especially instead of an evening class. I'm hoping that one effect of a year or more of online classes is that a greater proportion of students choose them over the classroom experience. 

I guess whatever plans schools make for the fall could well change as they look at patterns in student enrollment.

[Puget]

We've finally been told we'll be back fully in person (with a few exceptions for those with health conditions and any international students still having visa issues), but probably with reduced classroom capacities still, which means large classes effectively have to be hybrid in some way, or they have to add sections (unlikely given that would requiring hiring more people).

I already flipped my large class this fall, such that they do one day online asynchronous and one day in person discussion and in class assignments-- it was a TON of work to do, but now that it's done I'm sticking with it permanently since it worked pretty well and students mostly liked the more participatory structure.

[the_geneticist]

We've been told by upper administration that we must teach the majority of our classes in person.  It's unclear if this is meant at the department level or as a program or as a college.  It's unclear if lab sections linked to a lecture count as "classes" or not.  It's unclear if we even have enough lecture halls to bother with the effort of scheduling the medium sized lectures in person. 
The upper administration announced back in February(?) that we would be returning to "normal in-person teaching" for Fall.  My guess is to convince the incoming Freshmen to pay their deposits.  But Freshmen level courses are almost all too large to meet in person under optimistically less restrictions than we have now.  Talk about a "bait and switch"!  Unless students are desperate enough to get out of their childhood homes that living on campus and taking their classes online in their dorms sounds appealing, it's going to be a disaster.

[clean]

Im on the Calendar Committee. (There are 3 faculty, and 15 or so staff).  The committee is clearly NOT for academic issues!
Fall is now face to face.  Last year we started early so that classes were finished by Thanksgiving. That did not survive.

Worse, we use a local, off campus, site for graduations. Our schedules revolve around the date that we can schedule the graduation.  In the spring of 22, we start when the other universities in the state do (after MLK) but because graduation is a week later next year, they have added 2 additional TW classes AND padded the schedule with 3 extra reading days!  I pointed out that the Faculty end date matches graduation, but grades are due the Monday after!  I pointed this out to show that they are screwing faculty!  The provost didnt see it that way and said 'Oh, we can change the contract dates!"

OH, so to accommodate an off campus location, faculty are being held hostage with additional teaching days, and then held in limbo for 3 additional reading days, but you can just add some unpaid time to the contract???

IDIOTS! 

I have sent a suggestion to start the week following MLK to at least keep the number of teaching days consistent between Fall and Spring.  How do you keep your schedule straight if they keep changing the number of days you are in the classroom from one term to the next?


I have pointed this issue out to the Faculty Senate Speaker, but as his term expires in days, I doubt that there is much that can be corrected.

Just to continue the bitching...
Last Fall when we were discussing cancelling Spring Break (which we did), Fully HALF of the meeting was spent discussing the ONE day that STAFF had off in spring break and how they could adjust (to make sure they didnt lose it)!  Fine, but Faculty are being screwed by 5 days!! No real issue, it seems! 

[downer]

Seems like there will be a lot of domino effects and everything may be up in the air.

Normally in late April I like reflecting on what has worked and what has not and what changes I will make for my fall courses. But it does not seem like it will be worth it this year, because the fall set up is hard to predict. And then there's enrollment to worry about.

[saffie]

Plans for fall are still being discussed, though it doesn't look like we'll be back to regular in-person levels. Faculty have been asked for their modality preferences. 

Our students mainly commute via mass transit, so dorms aren't a big issue, but the expected level of vaccination of the general public may be.

[Vkw10]

Just to continue the bitching...
Last Fall when we were discussing cancelling Spring Break (which we did), Fully HALF of the meeting was spent discussing the ONE day that STAFF had off in spring break and how they could adjust (to make sure they didnt lose it)!  Fine, but Faculty are being screwed by 5 days!! No real issue, it seems!

Stretching the semester for faculty is inconsiderate and bad for morale, but faculty are salaried employees, exempt from many FLSA requirements. At least half the staff are hourly employees, subject to FLSA requirements. Adding a day's work means adding a day's pay. At my last university, Leap Day was a floating holiday for staff to avoid having to pay them. The legislator who's question about why Leap Day was a holiday declared the university administration to be a bunch of cheapskates.