Chronicle article: The Attendance Conundrum

[Caracal]

Of course in the current context we have to make special accommodations (i.e. letting sick students Zoom in)

I'd do that if I had the technology or the bandwidth, but only a few classrooms are set up for that on my campus and even if I had one of them, I don't have a TA. I'm sure some people are good enough at multitasking to manage this kind of thing, but I'm definitely not.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Of course in the current context we have to make special accommodations (i.e. letting sick students Zoom in)

I'd do that if I had the technology or the bandwidth, but only a few classrooms are set up for that on my campus and even if I had one of them, I don't have a TA. I'm sure some people are good enough at multitasking to manage this kind of thing, but I'm definitely not.

My campus is well set up for this, but it is still a hassle for the professor.

Admin overlords have mandated a Zoom option for sick students for now (which is understandable, since students are getting sick left and right). We'll see what happens after Covid dies down - my preference would be no more Zooming, but it isn't up to me.

[Caracal]

Of course in the current context we have to make special accommodations (i.e. letting sick students Zoom in)

I'd do that if I had the technology or the bandwidth, but only a few classrooms are set up for that on my campus and even if I had one of them, I don't have a TA. I'm sure some people are good enough at multitasking to manage this kind of thing, but I'm definitely not.

My campus is well set up for this, but it is still a hassle for the professor.

Admin overlords have mandated a Zoom option for sick students for now (which is understandable, since students are getting sick left and right). We'll see what happens after Covid dies down - my preference would be no more Zooming, but it isn't up to me.

It seems like it would be better to just say that instructors need to accommodate student absences due to covid related issues and work with students who have to miss class rather than mandating zoom which may not always work very well for some courses.

[marshwiggle]

Of course in the current context we have to make special accommodations (i.e. letting sick students Zoom in)

I'd do that if I had the technology or the bandwidth, but only a few classrooms are set up for that on my campus and even if I had one of them, I don't have a TA. I'm sure some people are good enough at multitasking to manage this kind of thing, but I'm definitely not.

My campus is well set up for this, but it is still a hassle for the professor.

Admin overlords have mandated a Zoom option for sick students for now (which is understandable, since students are getting sick left and right). We'll see what happens after Covid dies down - my preference would be no more Zooming, but it isn't up to me.

It seems like it would be better to just say that instructors need to accommodate student absences due to covid related issues and work with students who have to miss class rather than mandating zoom which may not always work very well for some courses.

It certainly doesn't help for labs.

[bio-nonymous]

Most of them seem to want class both ways - in person and remote - on demand. And they don't realize how impractical that is and how it hurts everyone when 1/3 of the class is at home with the camera off.

precisely.

This is my experience. A percentage of students say they prefer to learn in person, but a similar number of students say they like the flexibility of not attending class and watching the recording, or accessing asynchronous instruction.

Hmm, I suspect this is the sort of thing where it really depends what question you ask and how you ask it. My students overwhelmingly say they want in person classes as opposed to on zoom. It isn't  surprising to me that lots of people would say they prefer a flexible option when presented with it. It seems to offer the best of both worlds. You can go to class most of the time, but if your car breaks down, or you have an appointment, or work calls you, there's a great option!  I suspect that if students got a sense of what a class like that would often look like, they would have different answers.

Sorry I wasn't clear. In our model that I am referring to "hi-flex" indicates that you don't have to come to class unless you want to, so you can watch the recorded lecture (or the asynchronous instruction) instead. BUT, if you want to come to class there is a live in -person class to go to. So this particular model does not include a synchronous online live instruction component ("zoom-in") at the same time as the class is live in-person--at least there is that! So far there is some push-back as many of our graduate level health profession programs require attendance for in-person lectures--but a vocal group of students don't like it. I prefer asynchronous virtual instruction to synchronous (which doesn't work that great for my content, IMHO), which is what I meant by "let's all stay home at 8am" and review the content at our leisure.

But this is now evolving into a consumer market driven higher ed corporate model, and you may remember the old mantra that "the customer is always right", so this may become a reality for some of us--Give the people what they want.

[Mobius]

Of course in the current context we have to make special accommodations (i.e. letting sick students Zoom in)

I'd do that if I had the technology or the bandwidth, but only a few classrooms are set up for that on my campus and even if I had one of them, I don't have a TA. I'm sure some people are good enough at multitasking to manage this kind of thing, but I'm definitely not.

I don't. Students have asked of it, and I've told them the modality is what it is.

[Wahoo Redux]

Of course in the current context we have to make special accommodations (i.e. letting sick students Zoom in)

I'd do that if I had the technology or the bandwidth, but only a few classrooms are set up for that on my campus and even if I had one of them, I don't have a TA. I'm sure some people are good enough at multitasking to manage this kind of thing, but I'm definitely not.

I don't. Students have asked of it, and I've told them the modality is what it is.

I have a student with a non-COVID health issue who is very enthusiastic.  I am going to try to open Zoom on my phone and actually have the device in my hand while I lecture, etc.  It will not be perfect, but he should be able to hear me and I can show him the screen / board etc. and bounce questions and answer to him.

We'll see if it works.

[the_geneticist]

Our university sunk LOTS of $$$$ into "upgrading" some of our teaching spaces to be "hy-flex capable".  The ones I've seen are terrible.
Retrofitting a room by putting a camera on the ceiling isn't enough.  The sound quality is poor, the image quality is low, and for some rooms you can't read what is written on the boards, even if the person has wonderful handwriting.
And it gets even worse if the instructor is wearing a light colored top since the camera keeps refocussing.

I've said my discussion classes are ONLY in person.  No remote/zoom/hybrid/hyflex/etc option.  The entire point of having discussion sections is to encourage student-student interactions while tackling questions about the course concepts & content.  I'm not having students in the room interacting with each other while other students are on Zoom either being ignored or ignoring them.
I know how to set up online discussions.  I know how to manage in person discussions.  They are so different that it would be two different jobs to do both and do them properly.  There is only one of me.  I'm not saying no, but I'm saying that money talks & it would take a rather large chunk to get me to say yes.