Fall classroom policy on social distancing

[downer]

This fall I will be in classrooms with a good number of students. In one room, there are no windows to open.

I'm COVID vaccinated, and the students are meant to be vaccinated, though I guess there may be exemptions and I'm not entirely confident about the process for enforcing that. The chances of catching COVID from them are very low, even if close up.

Still, I don't want to catch any diseases from students, including colds and flu. So I'm thinking of having a 6' distance rule and not allowing students to sit in the first two rows of chairs. And I won't be exchanging any paper with them either. All work to be submitted online.

I guess I won't be assigning any discussion group work in the classroom where I mingle with the students as they do the work.

Anyone else planning on requiring social distancing.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

With our current enrollment, this won't be a problem. Yes, I plan to keep students 6' away from me and hopefully each other (we do not have a vaccine requirement). I've also toyed with the idea of doing online testing in our computer labs during class time.

[Parasaurolophus]

Our classrooms are too small for any kind of distancing--they sit 25-30 but each one is enrolled at 35+. So that won't be happening.

I'll just have to open what windows can be opened and mask up, and think about my activities.

[clean]

My state's governor is one of the extreme ones.  I think that he has threatened to fine any state agency a bunch of money per day if they implement mandates.  So... I m not even sure that I can require students to wear a mask in MY office! 

I will wear a mask, certainly through December - and play it by ear after that, but I dont plan to keep students at a greater distance.... They seem to have a self sorting criteria that fills the back of the class first Anyway!  So should not be too much of a problem.  (Also, my schedule for both the fall and next Spring will be one face to face class and 2 online classes.  I dont expect that the face to face classes will have more than 25 people, but Im not sure what the room size is (as I havent really checked, but there should be sufficient space). 

[sinenomine]

My school has mandated vaccinations; tomorrow is the deadline for requesting exemptions, and last I heard, no requests had been filed. The expectation is normal density in classrooms. My classes are full, but the classrooms I've been assigned are fairly spacious and — yay! have windows that open. I plan to open them there and in my office and tell those who get chilly to dress warmly. We've shifted to having all papers and homework submitted through the LMS, so no germs there.

[downer]

The open windows are great in September, more difficult in November or during a rainstorm.

I wonder how students will feel about being in packed classrooms in their uncomfortable chair/desks. It was fairly unpleasant before the pandemic. Quite a few of them have anxiety issues.

If their choice is between that and an online course, maybe they feel like their choices are the frying pan or the fire.

[rxprof]

I teach a course that requires close contact (e.g., practicing physical assessment skills). In addition, there is not enough space for social distancing. Most students are vaccinated, but it is not required. Masks are currently required in classrooms, but I wouldn't be surprised if that requirement is dropped by the beginning of fall semester.

[Caracal]

This fall I will be in classrooms with a good number of students. In one room, there are no windows to open.

I'm COVID vaccinated, and the students are meant to be vaccinated, though I guess there may be exemptions and I'm not entirely confident about the process for enforcing that. The chances of catching COVID from them are very low, even if close up.

Still, I don't want to catch any diseases from students, including colds and flu. So I'm thinking of having a 6' distance rule and not allowing students to sit in the first two rows of chairs. And I won't be exchanging any paper with them either. All work to be submitted online.

I guess I won't be assigning any discussion group work in the classroom where I mingle with the students as they do the work.

Anyone else planning on requiring social distancing.

I don't want to get into judging your tolerance for risk.

That said, I guess I'm a little confused by you saying you believe the risk of getting Covid from students is pretty low but that you also want to enforce these rules because of the worry of other germs. There are real costs to distancing rules to students and so it isn't something you want to enforce if you think the risks are low...

You really shouldn't worry about students giving you papers. Lots of studies have shown its really hard to get Covid from surfaces. If you've found its easier to have students submit stuff online, then do that, but diseases shouldn't really be a concern.

For the rest...I guess it depends how important group work is for your classes. Its important to realize that there isn't anything magical about the six foot distance. People sharing air for prolonged periods of time can spread covid. In a highly vaccinated student population, there shouldn't really be much spread and the risk for most people of getting seriously ill is quite low if they are vaccinated. I can certainly understand why people might have concerns based on the local situation and their particular circumstances, but I think its worth assessing your concerns systematically.

[downer]

There are questions about how social distancing and mask wearing will factor into people's attitudes to all sorts of interactions. Before the pandemic, for example, only a few people refused to shake hands for health reasons, but I suspect that many more people will refuse now. We will see how many people continue to wear masks on buses and subway trains, as well as commuter trains. I expect that some students, even those with no special vulnerabilities, will continue to wear masks for a while.

It is true that there are pedagogical costs when social distancing from students and maybe from interacting less with students on a one-one basis, in offices or classrooms. And students may be more anxious about disease now than before having been sensitized to those worries. A big question is whether my classroom policies should balance student concerns with my own, or whether I can just prioritize my own ones without considering theirs. I'm not yet settled on where I stand on that, but I'd be pretty comfortable with stating my policies at the start of the semester and letting them decide if they want to stay in the class or switch to a different section.

Right now I'm thinking for maybe one or two classes to devote the first class session to discussing these issues so I can get a better sense of how the students are feeling about it all. I could include some anonymous survey questions in the class. "What is your anxiety level about catching COVID?" "Would you be comfortable forming small discussion sections during class where you are closer to other students?"

In addition to keeping windows open, I may also keep the doors open to help get a flow of air.

In the past I have encouraged students to stand up and stretch during class -- sitting down for long periods isn't necessarily good for them or their concentration. But they never did it. There are social pressures not to stand out from the crowd.

If I were a student I'd want to sit by an open window. But not all of them can do that.

[Caracal]

There are questions about how social distancing and mask wearing will factor into people's attitudes to all sorts of interactions. Before the pandemic, for example, only a few people refused to shake hands for health reasons, but I suspect that many more people will refuse now. We will see how many people continue to wear masks on buses and subway trains, as well as commuter trains. I expect that some students, even those with no special vulnerabilities, will continue to wear masks for a while.

It is true that there are pedagogical costs when social distancing from students and maybe from interacting less with students on a one-one basis, in offices or classrooms. And students may be more anxious about disease now than before having been sensitized to those worries. A big question is whether my classroom policies should balance student concerns with my own, or whether I can just prioritize my own ones without considering theirs. I'm not yet settled on where I stand on that, but I'd be pretty comfortable with stating my policies at the start of the semester and letting them decide if they want to stay in the class or switch to a different section.

Right now I'm thinking for maybe one or two classes to devote the first class session to discussing these issues so I can get a better sense of how the students are feeling about it all. I could include some anonymous survey questions in the class. "What is your anxiety level about catching COVID?" "Would you be comfortable forming small discussion sections during class where you are closer to other students?"

In addition to keeping windows open, I may also keep the doors open to help get a flow of air.

In the past I have encouraged students to stand up and stretch during class -- sitting down for long periods isn't necessarily good for them or their concentration. But they never did it. There are social pressures not to stand out from the crowd.

If I were a student I'd want to sit by an open window. But not all of them can do that.

Yeah, these things are tricky. My school doesn't have a vaccination mandate, although students who get vaccinated are exempt from testing. I'm hopeful that will move the needle to the point where a lot of them get vaccinated. There is a mask requirement in classrooms.

I'm glad about the masking, and I think that's a sensible policy for the moment. However, I feel like it would be difficult for me to back in the classroom and spend a lot of time worrying about distance from students, and I really want to be back in the classroom. Obviously, I'll be clear to students that they should not come to class if they're sick and try to make my absence policies a little more generous, but I don't think I can teach effectively while worrying all the time about my distance from students and their distance from each other.

I'm vaccinated, its unlikely I'll get covid, if I do, its very unlikely to be serious. But, I can certainly understand having a different perspective and I get where you're coming from.

[fishbrains]

I'm doing dual enrollment in the high schools. Masks are optional, according to the school system (and our idiot governor). The vaccination rate for the entire county is about 47%. I'm borrowing the high school teachers' classrooms, which I'm sure will be full before and after my class. It's pretty much, "Tell the kids I love them, and, f*ck-it-all, I'm going in!" [sigh]

Like the OP, since we've been isolated for over a year, I'm expecting other little buggies to be running through the school. I'm feeling for the adjuncts teaching dual enrollment and who don't have sick leave or insurance.

[the_geneticist]

We are officially having classes at "fire code capacity".  That means there is no way to socially/physically distance in any of the rooms.  If the labs have to go to "reduced capacity" that means I'm putting my labs all online.  We don't have enough teaching labs, times in the day, or faculty/TAs to all-of-a-sudden only let some of the students in the rooms.

[rac]

We have a vaccination mandate. Nevertheless, given what we now know about delta, including from the Provincetown cluster (in a community that was almost entirely vaccinated and with an average of 0 cases/100k for several weeks prior to the outbreak), I expect that covid will run through our packed dorms and classrooms. I am not sure how the university or faculty will deal with frequent absences, or if sick students will start coming to class as they did prior to covid. I expect the fall to be a huuuge mess for all involved. Will we go back to masking and testing multiple times a week on top of vaccinations? Will that be sufficient on a college campus without any social distancing?

[mamselle]

Slight correction on one aspect of the above: the timing of the Provincetown issues has to also be included in the assessment.

Winter and early spring are mostly inhabitants. Late spring and summer are vacationers, visitors, and 'outlanders.'

Inhabitants being wise and taking good care of each other and themselves would have a better result than the arriving hordes setting out to celebrate their freedom to be irresponsibly stupid.

As I've noted in a similar situation, the "Don't mask, don't tell" folks are the really dangerous vectors running around like wild nutrinos setting off reactions in a nuclear pile.

In that case they probably bumped up the numbers quite a bit: Covid-D's potency might be a little less strongly considered, but not by much.

Otherwise, I agree with the concerns overall. In fact, the issues are exacerbated, especially if students behave like irresponsible tourists.

As perhaps, they are.

M.

[Caracal]

Slight correction on one aspect of the above: the timing of the Provincetown issues has to also be included in the assessment.

Winter and early spring are mostly inhabitants. Late spring and summer are vacationers, visitors, and 'outlanders.'

Inhabitants being wise and taking good care of each other and themselves would have a better result than the arriving hordes setting out to celebrate their freedom to be irresponsibly stupid.

As I've noted in a similar situation, the "Don't mask, don't tell" folks are the really dangerous vectors running around like wild nutrinos setting off reactions in a nuclear pile.

In that case they probably bumped up the numbers quite a bit: Covid-D's potency might be a little less strongly considered, but not by much.

Otherwise, I agree with the concerns overall. In fact, the issues are exacerbated, especially if students behave like irresponsible tourists.

As perhaps, they are.

M.

The P-town cluster also took place during "Bear week," which involves packed bars and lots of people making out, along with tons of visitors, as Mamselle points out.

But the other thing is that the vaccines worked fine. There were only four hospitalizations out of all of those cases and no deaths. The outbreak seems to have basically died down in the area. You have to remember that without vaccines far more people would have gotten infected.

Cases in vaccinated people aren't the same as cases in unvaccinated people. I'm well aware that some people remain at higher risk, but we still are going to have to manage things better. It's easy to complain about irresponsible students, but we can't expect vaccinated young adults to have incredibly limited social contacts.