What happens is
It’s ok though, it’s going to go away. That’s all – just go away. Don’t worry.
Alotta progress has been made on a vaccine – but I think what happens is it’s gunna go away – this is gunna go away – and uh whether it comes back in a modified form in the fall, wull be able to handle it, wull be able to put out spurts [two “put out spurts” gestures to illustrate what he means] and uh wurr very prepared to hannle it – we’ve learned a lot, we’ve learned a lot about it, The Invisible Enemy [getting excited] it’s a bad enemy very tough enemy but we’ve learned a lot…[closes eyes for a brief nap]…it’s in a hunred n eighty four countries
…and on we proceed to a rant about China but never mind all that, it’s going to just go away. He said so. Everything’s fine. Have a scoop of ice cream.
Meanwhile, in our faculty meeting this afternoon, we were having a (more realistic) discussion about the parameters for teaching by remote if we have to extend that into the fall semester…a very real possibility….and it looks like the administration may try to use this crisis to push us toward teaching through gaming. Because students like gaming. Because they already game all the time. Because they retain more through gaming, or so I’m told, but so far I haven’t seen any solid rigorous studies that back that up, not if you look at them closely and see how they are done and what they actually show. So…
But the thing is, we are definitely already in the conversation about what we do when this doesn’t just go away, it’s a miracle, all gone, down to zero. Why? Because we are not giant baby men, we are intelligent educated professionals who listen to the people who actually know something, rather than trusting our gut. My gut usually just rumbles and doesn’t say anything meaningful, anyway.
@iknklast Yeah, I’ve heard a few whispers on the grapevine at my institution too. Cool, cool. If they can tell me how to teach statistical methods through World of Warcraft, I’m up for it. If I am supposed to figure it out by myself, then they can fuck off. I’m way too busy doing my actual job to spend hours trying to turn generalized linear modeling into a game.
Moving to online teaching seems to be the Cool New Thing (TM) that is clearly thought up by people who have never taught. Prerecorded lectures are static and boring as all get out. Live lectures expect me to use my personal internet connection if I’m working from home. And again, they’re not as good, at least at the graduate level where the classes are very small and the teacher can interact with the students. Yes, students can ask questions through video conferencing software but in my experience, a lot of students are quite shy about it. I can see the lack of comprehension when teaching in person – it does not work well over Zoom.
Sorry, something of a sidebar I know but the whole online teaching migration idea is making me crazy.
Nah, it’s an informative sidebar and not all that side anyway.
Claire, I agree with you 100%. I do prefer the teaching over our Zoom-like system (we are not allowed to use Zoom) to teaching over the remote system using television where we all sit in a classroom, and I do a live lecture to whoever shows up, because the pictures I see in the classroom are too small to identify students, the students WILL NOT speak up in front of the other students at their location, so all I get is what I get from students in the classroom where I am sitting, and so forth, but there is nothing like a live lecture. I do use pre-recorded lectures, and try to pep them up by adding humor and personal stories, but it still doesn’t match the face-to-face.
I suspect a lot of the push toward online is to get rid of highly paid faculty, and use standardized lectures/readings, coupled with multiple choice tests that don’t need grading. Save tons of money, so they can hire more even higher paid administration, and enjoy being on an empty campus with no messy students and faculty to deal with.
Our current dean is resisting pushes to put science labs online, but this lockdown has seen him having to back down (though they kept the labs as face-to-face until last week, they allowed associate deans to give permission for totally remote teaching, we all applied for it, and my associate dean approved it, because he takes the coronavirus seriously and doesn’t relish losing teachers to it). The possibility of a longer spell of lockdown is leading them to look at new technology for remote labs and once they get it, they will want to use it. Goodbye expensive and messy hands on labs which have to be cleaned up and parts replaced regularly; hello online labs. I dread that.
I will resist. Environmental Science lab especially; there is no substitute for going to the river and getting wet while determining discharge and measuring ecological health in an actual living system.