OK, so here’s how things stand. I’ve put off writing this post for a couple of days because things keep changing. I finally said the heck with it, things are gonna change constantly. If I wait, the post will never get written.
The university announced last week that spring break, which is this week, would be extended through next week. Faculty and staff would report for duty. Classes would be online when we came back, with that decision being revisited in the middle of April. This evening that decision was extended to the end of the semester.
The online classes thing creates problems for me. First, switching labs for approximately 2500 students, give or take a couple of hundred, isn’t going to be trivial. Several of the lecture instructors and I argued t hat we should just cancel labs for the rest of the semester since we had already done them and if we came back, pick up where we left off. We were overruled. After the decision that came down today, I’m going to remake that argument.
The two classes I’m teaching are taught interactive engagement, not lecture and lab. The students buy a manual but not a textbook or lab manual. The course is somewhat self-paced. I’m still trying to figure this one out. None of the ideas I have are without problems.
To complicate things, we have been told by the administration that because none of the students had originally signed up for an online course, we couldn’t require them to have any particular technology. We are explicitly prohibited from even asking students if they have computers. In other words, students have been put in online courses by university fiat, and our hands have been tied by the university as far as how we teach these classes.
The tentative plan was to have the TA’s do the data gathering for the remaining labs. We’d film them and post the video online. The students would then complete the lab using the data gathered by the TA’s and email the completed labs to their TA’s.
Today the university went to stage 3 in its emergency plan, meaning everyone who could work from home needs to do so. (I’m not in that group, at least not yet.) This includes the TA’s from 
what I can tell, so I’m back to square one on how to do labs.
This evening the city and one of the hospitals announced two cases of the Wuhan virus had confirmed. The university has since announced that instruction will be online for the remainder of the semester.
The local school district is also extending spring break another week before resuming classes, if they aren’t entirely online.
We have enough food to get us to the end of the week, and other than perishables, enough to get through at least the end of next week. Toilet paper sometime into next week. I went to the store yesterday morning, and other than hand sanitizer, I was able to buy anything I needed, including a small package of cheap toilet paper. I bought two roasts (on sale two for one) two cases of beer, two large jars of peanut butter, eggs, milk, butter, a gallon jug of water, etc. The stores are limiting how many of some items you can buy, which is a good thing, and most stores are starting to have seniors-only hours when they first open.
Howard Days has been canceled for this year, along with some plans for a trip related to Howard Days I was going to take with a couple of friends later this week to lay the groundwork for something we were planning. The last I heard about the Williamson Lectureship is that is has been postponed to a date in the fall yet to be determined.
So while I agree with these decisions, but I am extremely disappointed. I really need the get-away. I’ve served on an ad-hoc search committee for one of our international campuses, which involved Skype interviews, and I am on the planning committee for the new science building. Shoot me now. Pray for me. Please. I’ve been on one of these at another institution. It will be a mjor source of stress and a huge time sink.
I have a few errands I have to do this week: vet visit, car inspection and tag renewal, etc. Other than that, I’m not getting out much if I don[‘t have to. I did make a stop for emergency supplies while picking up my wife’s car from the shop this afternoon. Ya know, in case I run out of stuff to read. (Like that’s ever gonna happen.)
So things here are about as good as can be expected. I’m hoping I can get some reading, blogging (including posting some guest blogs), and fiction writing done over the next month or so.
Take care of yourselves and take care of each other.
Nice selection of reading material! They could come in handy when you run out of toilet paper, but only after you’ve read that page!
I don’t think such drastic measures will be necessary. We do have some trees here, you know. And in a true emergency, I do have some John Scalzi books.
Good idea, but when those run out, I hear declawed cats are great–fluffy soft and they’re self-cleaning!
Uff da!
On a lighter note, your haul is impressive and gives some emotional comfort, like something you can look forward to after juggling the craziness of a modern-day plague.
Exactly.
It sounds like my institution is being a little more sensible about making the shift online. Good luck.
Thanks. I’ll figure something out. Good luck to you, as well.
I feel very bad for teachers of any ilk that are required to create this major shift from thin air in short time.
I feel a bit relieved that my kids are still in elementary school. While there have been suggested educational things to keep the kids busy (and my wife has done a great job laying out a daily schedule,) nothing is required. I don’t know what is happening at the high school level, but I really feel for kids (and their parents) who have graduation and college enrollment on the line this year.
We’re doing all right. At first, my company setup a plan for 1/3 of the workforce to telecommute. I had volunteered to remain an “in office” person, but yesterday the VP overruled, stating anyone who wants to can work from home. So, I’m WFH this week, probably next week. Kids are out of school for three weeks.
And all of that could change.
Stores are a little better stocked, though it sounds hit-or-miss. Poultry was wiped out last week at our main store, but stocked again yesterday. But yesterday the frozen veggies were picked clean but fresh produce was available — and still no toilet paper.
It’s a weird feeling time. Unprecedented. It’s like hunkering down for a blizzard or hurricane but the duration is almost incomprehensible.
I suspect next year (or, hopefully, later this year) will be a huge year of conventions & conferences making up for this year’s losses.
Stay well.
Stay well, yourself.
You’re right. All of this could change. And I certainly hope next year is a banner year for conventions.
We are one of the families with a graduating senior, so that is an issue that hits home. My son’s band trip to Chicago has been canceled, as has his trumpet audition at the school he will probably attend in the fall. I’m not sure what my institution is going to do about graduation. I know UT is going to have a ceremony for spring graduates in the fall. As for me, I’m trying to think outside the box as much as possible.
Good luck with all the online teaching. I work for the media services unit at the city colllege here on SI, and it looks like it’s going to be done with less quality than hoped for.
Since, I think I won’t be working much here from home, I might finally get some reading done – mostly Russian and Golden Age mysteries. With a dunderhead for a mayor and an slightly sensible (in this time only) autocrat for governor I’m just waiting and watching to see what happens next.
Thanks. Good luck to you, too. Our mayor has been doing an outstanding job of being proactive and the governor as well. Hopefully yours will improve.