Interesting faculty meeting. They are indeed offering primarily online classes this summer with the possibility of select on-campus lab classes.

I teach web development, so it's very easy for me to teach it online. They have texts, video demos to watch, homework, and develop a project website. I miss teaching in the classroom, but the local CC dropped my area some years ago. I'm not willing to drive further than that to teach in the classroom, so I remain online.

They have moved most of their classes online, but are offering that as an option. I polled my two college kids, and they said NO! They are not fond of online learning and say that some professors are not-so-great so far, but they'd rather stay away from the virus concerns. I'm guessing that many students and parents will feel the same. Out of an abundance of caution, I would pull a big "MOM SAYS NO" here if one of mine wanted to do that. Thankfully their college is being wiser about it.

The V.P. over my dean is holding an "all hands" meeting tomorrow. There are over 500 professors involved. One of the agenda items is the viability of doing all of our summer classes online. My area includes some engineering classes that require lab time, so I'm not sure that they can do that 100%. I already teach all of my classes online, so it isn't a big deal, thankfully.

DS says that he is going to be due a refund for the block of meals he bought in early March. DD had just a few meals left in her block, so we'll see if they refund hers. Both were riding the bus to the campus, so no parking passes. My college is refunding a percentage of the parking passes.

My older one is graduating in December. His summer job has been cancelled, and we're not optimistic that he will find anything for summer. He may go ahead and plan to graduate and do a heavy job hunt. His GPA and overall background is very strong. He has a security clearance through the Army. Then if he graduates and has nothing, there is a graduate certificate in an area of interest that he can do. Thankfully he's a commuter student at a state college, and I can help with tuition. My younger one has another two years, and I expect she may have a harder time overall. It's all a bit maddening. I looked for two years for full-time work myself, and thankfully ended up with a good set of contract projects in addition to my part-time professor work. Thankfully all of my work is in-demand and pays well, but no benefits. I wonder if that's where my kids will end up in this economy -- contract work with no benefits. At least it's something.

Yes, consistency. They are frustrated that some professors are doing a good job of figuring out how to keep the instruction going, and in some cases, there is almost nothing for them to do. Mine are a junior and a senior graduating in December, and they are pretty frustrated. My older one is writing a paper for a class that was largely discussion-based, and then they are going to share and respond to each other's papers in a discussion board. That's a good approach IMHO. The faculty senate at their college is supposedly discussing going to pass/fail for semester grades today. I've taught online for over a decade and teach as an online-only 3/4-time professor at a large community college. They give us standardized course shells, and then we customize, answer questions, and grade. I was really hoping that engagement wouldn't go down even though they are used to how I do things by now. And nothing really has changed. In my class that ends this week, everyone turned in their homework from last week. In my other two sections, I would say that 90% of the homework came in, which is normal for my classes. Most of the people who didn't turn in their work have been "gone" since February anyway. It will be interesting to see what they do with the summer. IMHO this isn't going to end quickly.

I teach online for a school where the shells and exams are all standardized. Respondus is not an option for the reasons given. ProctorU is out because they are overwhelmed, and it would bring in financial issues. So their answer? Use the existing exams, and then rewrite all of the exams this summer. Given that most full-time professors are on a 9-month schedule, guess who will do that. I'm already scheduled for two of the main classes in my area, so I'm guessing that they'll contract with me to do that. More income! Whoo-hoo...but writing tests isn't much fun.

We're hoping! Mine are commuter students. One had just a few meals left, and the other had just bought another block of meals. The one who had bought a block paid for it out of his own money, so he's concerned.

UVA is of course a better-known school than Mary Washington. Ultimately graduate schools are going to look at grades and where you got the degree from, not whether you started at a branch and ended up at the main campus. But Mary Washington is also an excellent school. One check you can do is to look at what schools those admitted came from. When I had my grad school interview a million years ago, the chairman of the graduate school commented that they accepted 100% of the graduates from my school if they had a 3.0 or better and a "good" grade history (i.e. consistency). Of course they also wanted good references, etc., but basically they wanted you to come from a good school. Friends from my undergraduate (a nationally-ranked state school) ended up at Cal Tech, MIT, Berkely, Purdue, etc., all top schools in my field.

I teach web development, and Adobe is also providing free software. It's late in the semester for that, but it will help some.

Yes, that article very much reflects how my college is approaching it. Do what you can, show some mercy. My college is closed today and tomorrow (March 16-17) so that they can begin online instruction on Wednesday. They started preparing several weeks ago for the possibility. They have set up faculty discussion boards by course so that sharing can occur and have made the online shells available to the face-to-face professors with the warning that not all of the online material is necessarily appropriate. Online courses at my college are standardized, and the material is put together for online-only learning. In many cases we also use different textbooks. But it's hopefully a help. My online classes are marching on as if nothing happened, but they are quiet. I got very few questions over the weekend. My kids are commute to a school that decided to extend spring break by a week. Both have peeked in Blackboard and said that nothing is going on yet.

It helps that it is a community college. So all of our students are commuters and/or online students. Just got an email that a professor from my college is now sick who visited relatives in early March who now have the coronavirus. We are still on spring break, but some shorter classes are in session. They closed the campus for deep cleaning.

I don't know. There's been a flurry of emails from various administrators saying to be calm and encouraging, but that the details are still being worked out. There are campus meetings and training sessions all day Monday and Tuesday, and the V.P. of Online Learning is working on what we are going to do about testing. I have a section that ends in 2 1/2 weeks, so they will be affected. Being a community college, it's a little easier to handle than some. But of course ProctorU won't be to keep up. There's widespread internet in the metropolitan area, but of course that's not a guarantee for some students. Thankfully many of us just gave our midterms. I have been taking an online Shakespeare class from them for fun and went to the Testing Center on Saturday. They were having each student get a Clorox wipe to clean the sign-in keyboard and their area before taking an exam.

I'm an online-only professor, and my classes take their exams at college testing centers or with ProctorU, which costs them $8/exam and requires a high-speed, always on connection and webcam and online monitoring. My college's president just emailed the faculty and staff that all face-to-face classes are cancelled after spring break (this week). All faculty and staff are expected to come to work until further notice as they work out the details. She said that they are evaluating how online exams will be given and may keep certain college functions open including the testing centers.

I am an online-only 3/4 time professor, so it doesn't affect me as much, but the president just announced this to the faculty and is having a press conference this afternoon.

I am a 3/4 time professor for a large school in a large state system. I also live in a sue-happy area of the country where people sue professors. #1 -- It wouldn't happen because it singles out a student, putting additional requirements on the individual. In my world, that would result in a potential disciplinary hearing for the professor if there was a complaint about it. My dean is always, always telling us not to make special arrangements for students outside of the syllabus and only if such arrangements are made for the entire class. As an example, some years back the flu was really going through the college. I had no way of knowing who was sick and who was not because I teach online. Some emailed me doctor excuses, and there were some local elementary schools who took Spring Break early. So I just gave everyone an extra week on a midterm project. That's OK. #2 -- It wouldn't happen because the form for incompletes is very specific. I can only give an incomplete if they miss the final and/or final project for a documented reason. Each of my syllabi says that because that's college policy. If I turn in an incomplete form (an online form), I have to attach the excuse. In over twenty years of teaching, I've only had a handful of these. The last one was two years ago, for a student who had a car accident during exam week and had to have surgery for a complex fracture. She finished her project and took the exam the following semester and got an "A" in the class. I realize that private schools have a lot more flexibility and such, but it just wouldn't happen in the school I work for.

Of course research transfer policies and such, but I'm a big fan of community colleges and teach at that level. The ones in my state have wonderful guaranteed admission agreements that allow you to start local and then go to well-known schools fairly seamlessly. Both of mine did CC first and then now are at a great school in nationally-ranked programs. We saved a huge amount of money, and it built up their confidence.

I agree. When I had my graduate school interview, honors wouldn't have made any difference. They looked at where I went to school, my grades in detail (particularly in certain classes), my GRE scores, and asked about my relationship with my references. At that school, they then called those references. I'm a 3/4 time professor at a community college which is just a little better than an adjunct. It means that I'm scheduled year-round for the maximum number of classes a part-timer can teach. Zero paid benefits. When they hire full-time professors at my current school, they want work experience. I might have a shot at the previous school I worked for if they reopen the program in the area I teach in like they say they are, but who knows when they might do that. They were going to build a new STEM building and bring that back, but they haven't even broken ground yet. Also keep in mind that even at community colleges I've taught at, professors are expected to have an active professional life speaking at conferences, collaborating on textbooks, sitting on statewide curriculum committees, etc. etc. I've done some of that myself. So it's not just teaching.

FWIW, it might be more motivating to have it all in one day? I've been following him for years, but am doing Financial Peace through a local church. There are certain things that are making more sense to me now as a whole though. I'm glad that I'm doing it at this point in my life because I have a lot of upcoming decisions with two in college.

Same here. My vet always asks when I last gave ours heartworm preventive, so I know that he thinks it's important.

I was comparatively "light" with my two in high school, and I don't regret that at all. Both did a mix of standard high school and college-level classes. My theory was that they need time to "be" and to work through those years emotionally. They both did Latin all the ways through, and that was a big win for both in terms of teaching them how language comes together, giving them excellent vocabularies, and teaching them discipline. We had an extremely difficult year as a family during my youngest's senior year, and I was glad that she didn't have over-the-top academics on top of everything else. She had a good mixture that year. I went too light though with my oldest in 10th grade. I outsourced most of his work that year to a local group, and it was a huge mistake. The following year I was able to put hm into several online courses that upped the ante in an appropriate way. Now they are a junior and a senior in college. Both are academic superstars with clear goals in mind.

Yes, I hear you. I've got to do some of that this afternoon. I have to have a professional involved for legal reasons, but getting everything together is a pain.

Mine both were high achievers and did community college and are now at a highly ranked four-year as commuter students. No regrets about that at all. You said "no enlisting" but the National Guard and Reserves have a lot of advantages for kids who want a little more than just college for one weekend a month and two weeks (generally) in the summer. My oldest is in the Army National Guard, and it has been such a positive thing for him. They pay for his college, he got a government clearance, and really enjoys the speciality he chose. His unit supports the entire state in a specialized area, so he is unlikely to get deployed, although you never know.

Some of this you can find on psychologytoday.com if they have an entry there. What modality do you primarily follow in counselling? What are the top three issues that you work with in your counselling? How would you describe your "average" client? And of what are your hours, what are your payment policies, and such.