Spring 2022 -- Moving Online?

[pgher]

Kid #1's college: All faculty, staff, and students must be vaccinated AND have a booster before class starts. They all must also show a negative test to start the semester.

Kid #2's college: Staggered move-in. First two weeks are online. General lockdown rules similar to fall 2020. There is concern about a possible bait-and-switch because the drop deadline is before the end of the remote segment--students are worried that the whole semester will be like fall 2020.

My college: Pandemic? What pandemic?

[marshwiggle]

They just decided that we're online until the 24th, at which point further instructions will be  forthcoming.

It's just so stupid. This is exactly how you wind up with stressed and unprepared faculty, even though we all know how to do stuff online now.

Not only that, but classes are organized differently when you are online or in a classroom! You can't just switch back and forth!!

I'm starting everything like January 2021, when the whole term was online, and IF we get back in person in a few weeks (similar to Para's situation),  I'll work out some in-person parts (most of what I do is labs, and the courses I teach are heavily lab-based), but following a process that already worked until I have to change is the way to preserve my sanity.

Since omicron seems to have a lower hospitalization rate, BUT the cases counts are way higher, it's hard to predict the next few weeks. However, if I were betting I'd put my money on a return to in-person after the mid-term break in February rather than at the end of January, which is what the university is expecting.

What I really wish is that we'd be given a definitive plan at least a week in advance of returning to in-person so there's some time to prepare. With the first lockdown in 2020, the announcement came on Friday afternoon that Monday would be remote. If I'd even known ONE DAY earlier I could have at least prepped the students in Friday labs better. With a week's notice, every section could have a decent heads up.

[wellfleet]

My place gave notice this morning that we're moving the first two weeks online. Classes start Monday.

[Caracal]

We are going to be online for first two weeks, then back in person. To me, this seems really different from previous semesters. It's foolish to be too confident about anything, but there's at least a reasonable case to be made that this wave is going to peak in next couple of weeks. There were going to be so many students and instructors missing class that it would have been a mess.

Of course, the biggest difference is that I'm not personally worried about my health if I catch Covid. I'm certainly not planning for an all online semester. If it happens, I'll run classes through zoom in similar ways as I did before.

[Vkw10]

We've just been informed that students living on campus must present evidence of a negative test to move in for spring semester. Commuters and employees are also expected to test before returning to campus, but there's no requirement to submit results. I expect we'll get the same guidance as fall semester, that faculty may schedule up to 15% of classes for remote learning air appropriate to accomplish course objectives.

Today, we were notified that classes will be online for first two weeks, unless f2f is essential due to accreditation requirements or nature of course requiring f2f. Faculty are expected to communicate with registered students if course won't be going online. Students still can move into dorms the weekend before classes begin.

The department phone rang constantly this afternoon, with faculty and students asking a whether [course] required f2f time.

[downer]

Spring enrollment for face to face classes continues to decrease from what I can see, at the community college I teach at.

There's a booster mandate there now. I suspect some students don't want to get a booster. And probably others are tired of wearing masks and being in classes with masked people.

The issue will be whether once the online classes are full, students will sign up for the face to face ones, or just delay for a semester. These are students who have had online high school in their senior and even part of their junior years. Many of them are not prepared for college. I've been failing about 1/3 of my gen ed classes there in the past year.

Some schools have late-start 8-week classes, starting in March. I suspect they could be popular this year.

[Istiblennius]

Right now we are still sticking with the course modes that we planned in the schedule (we started Winter Quarter yesterday). I have one fully online and one hybrid class. Hybrid class meets in person on Mondays. 7 out of my 30 joined on Zoom due to close contacts, positive tests, or symptoms but not yet tested. For the last two years I've planned everything to work remotely, even when I'm scheduled to be teaching in person. We won't officially go fully online unless the larger flagship down the road does it first, but for all intents and purposes, I suspect we might as well be online within the week.

[ciao_yall]

Spring enrollment for face to face classes continues to decrease from what I can see, at the community college I teach at.

There's a booster mandate there now. I suspect some students don't want to get a booster. And probably others are tired of wearing masks and being in classes with masked people.

The issue will be whether once the online classes are full, students will sign up for the face to face ones, or just delay for a semester. These are students who have had online high school in their senior and even part of their junior years. Many of them are not prepared for college. I've been failing about 1/3 of my gen ed classes there in the past year.

Some schools have late-start 8-week classes, starting in March. I suspect they could be popular this year.

Enrollment is wayyyyy down at all CC's. Many don't like the online/virtual. I think that with the economy/job market roaring back, many students are working again instead of going back to school. Or, they are just out of the habit of coming to school and we need to start bringing them back.

[lightning]

Our admins have beaten us to death with flexible delivery formats, since the summer of 2020, so most of our courses are already configured and faculty are already as prepared as they can be to go synchronous fully remote, alternating face-to-face and synchronously remote, syncrhonous remote/asynchronous, alternating asychronous/face-to-face or some  other combination. This has placed a lot of undue hardship on faculty and has compromised the content. But, they are ready to be delivered, if there is movement to online delivery.

Of course, online asynchronous proceeds as normal, pandemic or not. Admins have already been beating us over the head for years to convert courses to online asynchronous format, so students have a lot of choices, and our regular online teachers are prepared for another pandemic semester.

The few face-to-face courses that have existed since the Fall of 2020, replete with mandatory masking, are there mainly to give students and the rest of the outside world the impression that things are "normal."

These face-to-face classes have not been popular with students, but they exist as a symbol of normalcy. And, the most sinister thing about these so-called face-to-face courses is that students will pull the COVID privilege card and request to Zoom in anyway, thereby turning the few remaining face-to-face courses into some kind of online course.

[Hegemony]

Our COVID numbers have skyrocketed, but our administration has insisted we are in-person for the duration. The classrooms are packed full of students, and the building allotted to my department has a number of classrooms with no windows. I'm sure someone thought that was a good idea once upon a time (why?). It's a game of chicken, really — how high can rates get before the administration thinks, "You know what, this is not working"? Maybe they'll never think that. Meanwhile the city hospital is so overwhelmed that they have brought in the National Guard.

[OneMoreYear]

Our university admins are also doubling down on "in-person" teaching and learning priorities.  Like fall semester, our department admins are strongly encouraging us to be "flexible," so essentially my "in-person" classes are hy-flex, and we'll see how many students actually show up in person. If last semester is any indication, I'm guessing less than 10%.

[aside]

We now have been informed that we will remain in-person despite an acknowledgement from administration that a surge is expected and absences among students, faculty, and staff will be high.

[artalot]

After being forced to go in person in fall 2021, admin has allowed us to go online for the first week of 2022. I don't expect that to do anything, since most people seem to be leaning towards teaching fully in person. We're all exhausted from zooming and the general consensus seems to be that our high vaccination rate will protect us. I doubt we will ever go fully online again; there's no money in it.

[the_geneticist]

We are remote for first 2 weeks, then back to in person.
I'm guessing that we'll get some sort of update at the end of week 2.  Cases are really high, but the university can't take another loss from students living off campus.  The admin would rather students pay for room & board, even if most of their classes have to be online.  We're going to have students that are upset if their class is in person since they don't feel safe in a big lecture.  And we'll have students upset if the class is NOT in person since they don't want to pay full price for online classes.  I think there will be a lot of pressure to offer an online/remote/asynchronous option.

[the_geneticist]

We are remote for first 2 weeks, then back to in person.
I'm guessing that we'll get some sort of update at the end of week 2.  Cases are really high, but the university can't take another loss from students living off campus.  The admin would rather students pay for room & board, even if most of their classes have to be online.  We're going to have students that are upset if their class is in person since they don't feel safe in a big lecture.  And we'll have students upset if the class is NOT in person since they don't want to pay full price for online classes.  I think there will be a lot of pressure to offer an online/remote/asynchronous option.

And we found out this morning (a week sooner than I expected!) that we'll be online for the 1st 4 weeks.