Texans, check your kids' schedules for August

[....]

After announcing that classes would be in-person, we registered and paid for all our classes....my daughter's classes were unexpectedly switched to online yesterday.  I'm trying to keep her positive here, but this was devastating news for us.  She will have to drop Sailing and probably Biology.  I don't see how you could possibly do Biology online.  Then, we need to find two more classes to replace those (which means another online advisor meeting and redoing her tuition).  We have really cr@ppy internet and that was a huge problem last semester.  Also, her cheap computer could not keep up with the online classes, which meant she was borrowing mine (which leaves 1 computer for 6 people - and dh does online college, too).

☹️  Thanks for listening to me whine.  Also, check your classes!!!

[Serenade]

Yesterday my son's school also sent out an e-mail with updates to the schedule.  My son is a transfer student, so he just picked out all of his classes this past Monday and now they have all changed from face-to-face meetings to hybrid. The hybrid classes supposedly have occasional face-to-face classes although hybrid is not fully defined.  The university is open this fall, but the kids are going away to college for classes that are mostly online!  I'm thinking the university is trying to keep at least one meeting a week in person because otherwise, why bother to come to campus at all?  Most people now have already signed housing contracts, and they can't back out, and the university has announced that they won't be giving any housing refunds even if the school closes down early.   So students are stuck with the debt of paying to go away to college to take classes that will mostly be online. 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Serenade

[....]

OMG, Serenade.  I'm sorry.  My daughter didn't want to go away to college, so she still lives at home with us.  (She didn't want to leave her dog.  lol). I would be beyond frustrated if we had paid for housing/meal plans.

[almondbutterandjelly]

So far so good.  Tamucc has a July 1 date for changing schedules, so we won't know for sure until then.  So far everything is still in person that dd has registered for.   They did have online options, but she didn't choose those.  Fingers crossed!

[....]

38 minutes ago, Serenade said:

Yesterday my son's school also sent out an e-mail with updates to the schedule. 

 

My husband and I were talking - we're wondering if there wasn't some kind of announcement privately to the colleges yesterday.  

[regentrude]

Even if you check the schedule and classes are supposed to be in person as of now, there is absolutely no guarantee that won't change between now and the start of the semester if the covid situation gets worse (which it seems to be rapidly doing). There is also no guarantee that fully live classes won't have to abruptly switch to online a week into the semester when the first students show symptoms or the instructors get sick. Nobody can have that information at this point, every college is just guessing, and things will most likely change at the very last minute. It sucks. And no amount of checking and scheduling now is going to make a whit of difference.

Edited June 27, 2020 by regentrude

[....]

20 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Even if you check the schedule and classes are supposed to be in person as of now, there is absolutely no guarantee that won't change between now and the start of the semester if the covid situation gets worse (which it seems to be rapidly doing). There is also no guarantee that fully live classes won't have to abruptly switch to online a week into the semester when the first students show symptoms or the instructors get sick. Nobody can have that information at this point, every college is just guessing, and things will most likely change at the very last minute. It sucks. And no amount of checking and scheduling now is going to make a whit of difference.

 

They switched from in-person to online.  They won't switch back.

[Bootsie]

As new information about COVID-19 emerges, universities are having to adjust.  Also, each decision has a lot of different areas it impacts.  What makes sense for a small senior-level literature class, doesn't necessarily make sense for a freshman biology class, a dance class, a music class, a nursing class, or an MBA class.  My university had decided to be in-person, but any student could opt to attend virtually; we are starting a week early, having no break, meeting on two Saturdays, and finishing by Thanksgiving.  Then, as they started really looking at classroom space and how long it will take people to get in and out of the classrooms when socially distanced, they realized that we didn't have enough time between classes.  So, do you change all of the timing of the classes?  That brings up serious coordination problems for both faculty and students.  For example, the faculty member with elementary kids who was teaching at 2:00 in the afternoon is now scheduled to teach at 6:00 in the evening.  

We went from, on Wednesday, if you have more than 40 students in a class, you can request for your course to be taught online and we will see if it will be approved to if you have a class of 30 or more your class needs to be online by Friday morning.  Faculty have been given until Monday to designate whether their class will be taught online or in-person.  But there are a few caveats--we aren't sure what room we would have (could be anywhere on campus with a number of different setups), students can opt to be online--so we have to accommodate them at the same time we are teaching in class, if we have 30 or more students we must divide them up so that they aren't all coming to class on the same day (but of course the number enrolled in our class could change dramatically by Aug 17), and any courses that are required to be in-person for accreditation and licensing requirements that would delay graduation of students must be in-person.   We are now striving for a residential online model in which students have access to campus resources and the community while taking many of their classes virtually.  

[chiguirre]

1 hour ago, Evanthe said:

 

My husband and I were talking - we're wondering if there wasn't some kind of announcement privately to the colleges yesterday.  

I don't think they had to say anything special to colleges, they announced the Covid numbers and the closing of bars and the rollback of capacity in restaurants. Many counties went further with mask requirements. Harris county is at Level 1 and my oldest's day program shut down--this is such a disappointment for him and for the staff of his program, they were doing so well with masks and social distancing and now they have to shut down, ugggghhhhh. Our CC (Lone Star) was already assuming they'd be doing online classes until October and the Honors College had come up with a plan for those classes a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I think we're going to be stuck for the next couple of months and everything that can will have to move online.

If you can play with your dd's schedule, try to find the online classes that get the best ratings on Rate My Professor. You might have to fulfill different Core requirements than you'd normally start with but I think it's worth it to have a better experience. In my dd's experience, the Composition classes are okay online because the feedback is mainly in writing and you can schedule an online office hour to work on your own issues. My dd also enjoyed her online Film Appreciation class. American history was good because the teacher assigned interesting discussion questions and replied to the board. Maybe Federal Government would be fun during the election. If you dig around you can probably find some gems that will make online okay.

Another thing you might consider is to drop all the classes and have your dd study for a couple of CLEP exams to get some credit without the pressure of deadlines if you have shaky internet and computer access. There are lots of online prep classes at Modern States or you can use MOOCs to learn the material. It's not ideal, but it would keep her moving forward while we have to hunker down.

[regentrude]

1 hour ago, Evanthe said:

 

They switched from in-person to online.  They won't switch back.

Yes. But if they hadn't switched and it would still say "in person",  that would not mean they would not change later.

[Bootsie]

3 hours ago, Evanthe said:

 

My husband and I were talking - we're wondering if there wasn't some kind of announcement privately to the colleges yesterday.  

https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2020/05/Report-Temporary-Emergency-Relocations-due-to-COVID19-.pdf

SACS is the regional accreditation body for Texas universities.  Universities have to adhere to certain policies to offer online courses.  Some of these policies were suspended in mid-March for a three-month period.  This was released yesterday morning by SACS; many schools have had the suspension extended through the end of December, making it easier for them to offer online courses. 

[G5052]

Yes, everything is somewhat in flux, but I'm hearing what local universities are doing. Thankfully we have excellent internet, and I paid to have our computers upgraded two summers ago. But if we are all online in class at once -- I'm not sure how that is going to go. We shall see. 

The community college I work for is going largely online. There is already a large online program with asynchronous classes. Many classroom classes are moving online with live Zoom class sessions. Some classroom classes are going to hybrid online format with only one class session a week on campus and the rest online. And the labs, studio time, etc. are going on as always on campus. We'll see what enrollment looks like, but there is some expectation that some student won't come back or won't enroll because of the choices made.

My kids' college is doing something very similar and just announced that Friday. One kid's classes are currently all online, and the other doesn't want to look yet (LOL). Thankfully both are seniors with one graduating and one taking a little longer. Both did online classes in high school and some online classes in college even prior to COVID. But quality of their online classes has been so mixed. It really is sad. My oldest did his capstone courses, and one of them was really substandard. It was like the professor just gave up. 

I'd have mixed feelings if I had a freshman. I might reduce their credits or defer if I could find something meaningful for them. This really isn't a good way to go to college, but it's what we have. 

Edited June 27, 2020 by G5052

[G5052]

43 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2020/05/Report-Temporary-Emergency-Relocations-due-to-COVID19-.pdf

SACS is the regional accreditation body for Texas universities.  Universities have to adhere to certain policies to offer online courses.  Some of these policies were suspended in mid-March for a three-month period.  This was released yesterday morning by SACS; many schools have had the suspension extended through the end of December, making it easier for them to offer online courses. 

 

Yes, the school I work for has a SACS-approved online program. It's far more strict and detailed than what a regular professor would provide. They standardize all online course shells and have all kinds of procedures and practices that classroom professors don't have to follow. As an example, if I find an error in an assignment or exam, there is a procedure for how I report that and how the shell is changed. In the classroom, the professor would of course handle that themselves. 

[8filltheheart]

We aren't in TX, but we are changing internet providers in July or Aug if college dd#2's college announces anything shifting to online.  Our contract with our current provider is through Sept, but having dh working from home and 2 college students online will be disasterous with our current provider.   We had to strategically use the internet this past semester when 1 dd and dh needed to be online at the same time (and even then they would get kicked off every once and a while.) 3 online at the same time.....not going to work.  

[....]

1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

We aren't in TX, but we are changing internet providers in July or Aug if college dd#2's college announces anything shifting to online.  Our contract with our current provider is through Sept, but having dh working from home and 2 college students online will be disasterous with our current provider.   We had to strategically use the internet this past semester when 1 dd and dh needed to be online at the same time (and even then they would get kicked off every once and a while.) 3 online at the same time.....not going to work.  

 

Boy, the internet thing is really stressing me out just thinking about it.  When dd18 went to class in-person, she didn't miss a single class all semester.  Once it switched to online, she was really upset, because she kept having so many problems with our stupid internet connection.  And once everyone was doing school online, the internet was crashing here.  Oh my, this is really driving up my blood pressure!  😂

I need to brainstorm what to do to make this go smoothly.  We may need to buy dd a new computer and possibly a table or a desk for her bedroom.  And we have 5 kids, so she has a really hard time working in here - there are too many distractions and it's too loud.

[....]

1 hour ago, G5052 said:

I'd have mixed feelings if I had a freshman. I might reduce their credits or defer if I could find something meaningful for them. This really isn't a good way to go to college

 

I absolutely agree.  Ugh...

[....]

3 hours ago, chiguirre said:

If you can play with your dd's schedule, try to find the online classes that get the best ratings on Rate My Professor. You might have to fulfill different Core requirements than you'd normally start with but I think it's worth it to have a better experience. 

 

So, after completely losing my mind this morning, I've calmed down and had some time to think about how to help her problem-solve here.  

One of the things that's bothering me is the biology professor gets terrible reviews on Rate My Professor.  That + online (which dd18 doesn't do well with) + terrible internet = disaster.  We had originally chosen this professor, because we set up her schedule based on her commute.  We live in a very large city and you just can't get anywhere during certain times of day.  I'm going to talk to her tonight about switching to another section with a different teacher (because now, commuting just doesn't matter).

She's pre-nursing, so if she can't take Biology, she's in trouble.  She needs that class to be able to take Anatomy & Physiology 1 and 2 and another science class (can't remember which ones).

Sailing - yeah, you can't learn to sail a boat online!!!  Omg.  I know that sounds like a cheesy class, but it counts as a Kinesiology class and she was SO excited about it. I mean, so excited that she was going up to the Kinesiology teacher last semester and telling her she was taking her class in August.  lol. Now, she's going to have to drop it and enroll in something else.

Her highest GPA class last semester was English I.  She had a 99% average in that class.  So, I'm going to suggest she pick a literature class or something to replace Sailing.  She is obviously very strong in English, so being online shouldn't be too bad.

I feel so bad for these teenagers.  Their whole year has been a disaster.  I know I shouldn't be posting when I'm stressed out, but I feel like I've been watching everyone's lives crumbling around me all year.  We know a couple of people who have died this year, my neighbor is losing her house on the 30th, my other neighbor was taken away in an ambulance yesterday and it's just ridiculous.  

Thanks for listening to me complain.  lol

[BusyMom5]

For those with multiple people online- be sure to check your WiFi router!  Some are only made for a few devices.  Last semester we had DH working online and DD1 doing 4 classes online.  Next semester shes planning 5 classes, but we haven't signed up yet.  Mine us a Senior in high school, but if she was planning to move into a dorm, we would be seriously reconsidering that.  It's a lot of money to move in only to be sent back home in a month! 

As of yesterday the CC was still saying social distanced with masks, but by August who knows.  Weve nixed the Biology class, I just cant see that one working well.  Weve narrowed it down, trying to find classes that have professors that have taught online or have both in person and online classes.  She wants to take both English and Philosophy,  but both are on campus at the same time.  If they go online only, she can take both.  She still has Hope's of on campus classes!  We shall see.  

Edited June 28, 2020 by BusyMom5

[Tree Frog]

43 minutes ago, Evanthe said:

She's pre-nursing, so if she can't take Biology, she's in trouble.  She needs that class to be able to take Anatomy & Physiology 1 and 2 and another science class (can't remember which ones).

If that professor has terrible reviews, could she take biology at online at another university or community college? If you're in Texas, I believe there's a required agreement that allows community colleges' classes be accepted at 4 year institutions. My dd did this with a calc class over a summer. She doesn't like online courses, but it was the best way for her to achieve her goal.

Good luck to your dd! 

[Lecka]

Maybe OT if it is Biology for majors.... my husband took Biology online (to complete a degree requirement).  He purchased a box of lab items and would need to take pictures of certain steps of his labs.  Then he had other assignments as well.  I can’t tell you as much about them, but I think just the usual quizzes and discussion questions type of stuff. 
 

Edit:  and attach the pictures to go with his lab assignments.  
 

I would say it was fine and met his requirement.  It’s the class they recommended to meet that requirement as an online class.  

Edited June 28, 2020 by Lecka

[....]

15 hours ago, BusyMom5 said:

Weve nixed the Biology class, I just cant see that one working well.  Weve narrowed it down, trying to find classes that have professors that have taught online or have both in person and online classes.  She wants to take both English and Philosophy,  but both are on campus at the same time.  If they go online only, she can take both.  She still has Hope's of on campus classes!  We shall see.  

 

Yeah, biology online would be a mess for dd18.  ☹️   English and Philosophy (I think) would be great classes to take online!  DD18 is probably going to drop Sailing and add a literature class.  We talked about it last night.  English is definitely her strong suit.

I hope you guys get to have in-person classes!  

[Janeway]

On 6/27/2020 at 9:07 AM, Evanthe said:

After announcing that classes would be in-person, we registered and paid for all our classes....my daughter's classes were unexpectedly switched to online yesterday.  I'm trying to keep her positive here, but this was devastating news for us.  She will have to drop Sailing and probably Biology.  I don't see how you could possibly do Biology online.  Then, we need to find two more classes to replace those (which means another online advisor meeting and redoing her tuition).  We have really cr@ppy internet and that was a huge problem last semester.  Also, her cheap computer could not keep up with the online classes, which meant she was borrowing mine (which leaves 1 computer for 6 people - and dh does online college, too).

☹️  Thanks for listening to me whine.  Also, check your classes!!!

I am curious where your child is going to school. 

[....]

OK...it's getting weirder.  We started periodically checking her course list.  The teachers' names are disappearing from the courses.  One of the courses was replaced by another teacher and a bunch of others are blank.  She is mad, because some of the sections she chose because of the teacher.  She had two of the teachers last semester and wanted to continue with the same teachers this semester.  

She added Photography I.  *shrug*  

What a mess... 

[....]

On 6/28/2020 at 10:09 AM, Janeway said:

I am curious where your child is going to school. 

 

She's going to a community college in north Texas.  Which I felt kinda bad about at first, but now - after this 2020 experience - whew!  I am so glad we did.  😂   She's working towards a BSN, so we were originally trying to keep her student debt as low as possible (nurses aren't millionaires).  Also, she didn't want to go away to college....she still lives at home with us.      

[almondbutterandjelly]

So at Tamu-CC, two of my dd's classes, English and Art History, have gone online for fall.  One class, Chemistry, will be "blended" but the lab will be totally in-person.  Two other classes will be totally in-person.  Some room numbers have changed (I think because they have installed a lot of plexiglass in some of the lecture halls and have moved some classes to those).  

She is satisfied with this.  Thank goodness she is a commuter student (lives at home) so does not have to worry about living arrangemnts.

They did decide to start a week earlier and end a week earlier.  I suspect they will require most professors to give finals online, so no one has to come back to campus after Thanksgiving.  (Finals week is the week after Thanksgiving.)

Edited to add: All professors remain the same for my dd.

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by perkybunch
additional info

[The Governess]

Dd is taking two classes online this fall at our CC. We specifically picked classes that were already planned to take place online and had instructors that had taught online before and had favorable reviews for their online classes. My hunch back when we registered was that the classes that were scheduled to meet on campus wouldn’t actually be happening, and I didn’t want her in a class where a teacher was switched to teach online (possibly last minute) but didn’t have prior experience. After how things went spring semester we didn’t want to risk it. 

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, lovelearnandlive said:

Dd is taking two classes online this fall at our CC. We specifically picked classes that were already planned to take place online and had instructors that had taught online before and had favorable reviews for their online classes. My hunch back when we registered was that the classes that were scheduled to meet on campus wouldn’t actually be happening, and I didn’t want her in a class where a teacher was switched to teach online (possibly last minute) but didn’t have prior experience. After how things went spring semester we didn’t want to risk it. 

We did the same, although DD picked "Hybrid" sessions because if there is an option of at least some in person sessions, she would like to have it. We also chose to stay at the CC one more semester vs going to the bigger state U, as she had planned. It just doesn't make sense to pay the premium for the state U for online classes-hopefully, she'll be able to use those in the Spring. 

[Lanny]

The title of this thread directs it at Texans (I vote absentee in Texas) but the confusion and concerns are obviously not limited to Texas. This is the URL of a thread in the sub Reddit for UNC: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/UNC/comments/hjdjvv/what_does_hybrid_mean/

As others have pointed out, unless a school declares now, in concrete, that a class is going to be "Online" in the Fall, they are trying to leave their options open, hoping for the best, but to have "wiggle room" in case things go South.  

One thing at UNC with regard to scheduling of in-person classes is that some of them will end at 8 P.M. They need to allow more time for the students to go from one class to another, etc.

This is sad for the students and their college/university experiences, but not the end of the world.

OT:   With regard to Covid-19 from what I read in the news from the USA the situation there may get much much much worse, before it begins to get better, so that's not good for our college/university DC.  I am normally in favor of "States Rights", but in the case of Covid-19, uniform laws throughout the USA, IMO, would have been better than 50 states and DC having different laws. 

 

[Serenade]

On 6/27/2020 at 10:39 AM, Serenade said:

Yesterday my son's school also sent out an e-mail with updates to the schedule.  My son is a transfer student, so he just picked out all of his classes this past Monday and now they have all changed from face-to-face meetings to hybrid. The hybrid classes supposedly have occasional face-to-face classes although hybrid is not fully defined.  The university is open this fall, but the kids are going away to college for classes that are mostly online!  I'm thinking the university is trying to keep at least one meeting a week in person because otherwise, why bother to come to campus at all?  Most people now have already signed housing contracts, and they can't back out, and the university has announced that they won't be giving any housing refunds even if the school closes down early.   So students are stuck with the debt of paying to go away to college to take classes that will mostly be online. 

I thought I would post the explanatory note my son got from the Physics & Chemistry department (also includes Forensics) at his school.  I actually felt better about the whole thing after this was sent out.   I think they're doing the best they can.  The only thing I was a little disappointed in was the labs.  I had always hoped that labs would be one thing that would retain the old schedule, because my son struggled with the online labs this past spring.  He really missed the collaboration and being able to discuss things in class with the teacher.  Anyhow, I guess at least having an in-person lab every other week is better than no in-person lab at all. 

[Jann in TX]

My friend's son will be attending UT Austin this fall-- they got notified that ALL classes will be online... at least they let them out of the dorm commitment!

 

[Lanny]

6 hours ago, Jann in TX said:

My friend's son will be attending UT Austin this fall-- they got notified that ALL classes will be online... at least they let them out of the dorm commitment!

 

 

Austin and that area has a very bad problem with Covid-19.  I have a cousin who lives in Bexar County and he sent a chart showing Covid-19 in different counties a week or 10 days ago and Bexar County was the worst of the counties he sent in the email.

[Kassia]

6 hours ago, Jann in TX said:

My friend's son will be attending UT Austin this fall-- they got notified that ALL classes will be online... at least they let them out of the dorm commitment!

 

 

Do you know where this is posted?  I looked online and can't find anything about it.  I want to verify before I share (my dd will be attending UT Dallas).

[Kassia]

45 minutes ago, square_25 said:

I don’t know about UT Dallas, but my hubby is at UT Austin and that sounds right for them. 

 

I saw an email from yesterday from UT Austin and it seemed like it was online or hybrid, but I was in a hurry and haven't been sleeping, so I don't know if I read it correctly.  😛

[Jann in TX]

He had already enrolled in 'in person' classes and the email he and his parents received said that all of his classes had been moved to online only (no hybrid option).  They were then given the option to back out of their housing obligation (and they did).

He is an incoming freshman and his classes would have been among the larger ones.

 

[....]

21 hours ago, Jann in TX said:

He had already enrolled in 'in person' classes and the email he and his parents received said that all of his classes had been moved to online only (no hybrid option). 

 

This is what happened to dd18.  And they dropped/changed half the teachers she specifically enrolled for.  She was upset, because she really liked those teachers.  Several weeks ago, we were told by our governor that "everyone will be going to school in the fall."  Do you guys remember that announcement?  lol.  And I know he was talking about the public schools....but if the public schools are allowed to go back, I'm assuming it's ok for the college students to go back.  But, now I'm thinking none of the colleges will go back and neither will the public schools.  ☹️  Not blaming anyone, but what a difference a few weeks makes.  I'm upset that she won't go on campus this fall, but I am also a little relieved.  We know 6 people with covid right now, so it's going around this area.      

[G5052]

The college where I teach is currently online, hybrid (only one class session a week), and labs/clinicals in person for the fall. 

They put out a long email yesterday to all faculty that they area strongly considering going 100% online and are paying for folks to go through training NOW that covers what good online courses are and the technical best practices. They are paying about $20/hour for attending training. By doing it now, we get paid for it. If they go 100% online in the fall, it will be mandatory in many cases, and you won't get paid for it (LOL). They are also saying that if they go 100% online there will be more spot checks and ongoing review than before unless the course was already online and standardized with an approved online professor. 

They have sessions every day from now until mid-August, so I got myself registered. They said even approved online professors could do this. My summer sections end next week, and I can fit it in just fine because we're not going anywhere this summer. I've been teaching online for over a decade and have the state certification to do that at the community college level, but I figure that I might get some tips and get paid for it.

My kids are at another school, and they got an email that schedules will be final by the end of the month. They're figuring online because that's what most of the sections are even now. My younger one started watching more because she was waitlisted for several she really wanted, and she now has everything she wants and then two "safety" classes. They also moved her on-campus job online which she did online from March on. My older one also has some "safety" classes. 

I'm not complaining, believe me. My kids are both commuter students, and we did great all being home from March on. It's less expensive for them because they pay their own commuting costs. There will be more food to buy because they both had an on-campus, flexible meal plan that they paid for themselves, but they'll be able to cover more of their own tuition and such. The college rolled over unused meal plan dollars to their accounts.

Edited July 4, 2020 by G5052

[....]

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I only glanced at the news last night but I think he might have hugely backtracked the “everyone is going to school” for the PS kids too yesterday? I think he’s going to pull a 180 like with the mask mandates. 

I told dh last night I think public school Superintendent has to be the worst job on earth right now. I can’t imagine the stress level. I also can’t imagine the stress for working parents of young children. 

 

Oh, I didn't see that.  I'm going to look at the local news this afternoon (after all my cooking - sigh).  I agree with you on the 180.  My kids are all homeschooled, but I listen to our school district superintendent's updates and he said on Wednesday "be prepared"....  Yeah, I think they're not going back, which is really sad.  My neighbors' 8 kids - who do not speak English at home and have no books in their house - will not have been in a school for SIX months.  The older ones (about 12-13) just started going to school for the first time about 3 years ago.  They will never catch up.  ☹️  And they have a 5 year old boy (same age as ours) - there's no way he's going to be able to do Kindergarten online when the parents don't even speak English.

What a mess, guys!!

[....]

55 minutes ago, G5052 said:

ey put out a long email yesterday to all faculty that they area strongly considering going 100% online and are paying for folks to go through training NOW that covers what good online courses are and the technical best practices. They are paying about $20/hour for attending training. By doing it now, we get paid for it. If they go 100% online in the fall, it will be mandatory in many cases, and you won't get paid for it (LOL). They are also saying that if they go 100% online there will be more spot checks and ongoing review than before unless the course was already online and standardized with an approved online professor. 

They have sessions every day from now until mid-August, so I got myself registered.

 

Good thing you registered for the training!  Extra money is always good, too!  I'm not looking forward to the headache of dd18 telling me "I can't log on"...."I can't hear the teacher"......"the internet isn't working right"......ugh.  I feel for you trying to teach classes online with these kids!

[DoraBora]

I wonder whether some of the universities will change a bunch of schedules in hopes that they can create more distance in the dorms.  In one of the million articles I've read about colleges and Fall 2020, Texas Tech's Provost (I think) was quoted saying that their dorms were reserved to capacity for this fall, and that they "can't have that".  There are probably lots of parents -- freshman parents particularly -- who won't be willing to pay for a dorm in such situations, especially if the schools let them out of their housing contracts.

[vonfirmath]

On 7/3/2020 at 4:58 AM, Lanny said:

 

Austin and that area has a very bad problem with Covid-19.  I have a cousin who lives in Bexar County and he sent a chart showing Covid-19 in different counties a week or 10 days ago and Bexar County was the worst of the counties he sent in the email.

Austin does have a problem (I live there)

But Bexar County is San Antonio -- south of us.

 

[TCB]

On 7/4/2020 at 12:01 PM, Evanthe said:

 

Good thing you registered for the training!  Extra money is always good, too!  I'm not looking forward to the headache of dd18 telling me "I can't log on"...."I can't hear the teacher"......"the internet isn't working right"......ugh.  I feel for you trying to teach classes online with these kids!

Is there anywhere your dd could go to do the online classes? Last semester my dd was fortunate to be able to go up to the small Christian school and use the internet there. The school was closed so she was often the only person in the building. Also, the public school here set up internet hot spots in various places in the community so kids could drive and park and use that. We have satellite internet and it is pretty bad too.

[....]

2 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Oh my word. Dd starts second summer semester tomorrow. Registered back in May, long after they already had declared ALL classes through at least summer were online ONLY. So, she met with the online advisor, picked the class/section/time, registered. Done. Class gets email today from Prof that since the class isn't meeting in person they have a Microsoft Teams meeting at X and Y time daily (make one- but it's live only and not recorded so you can't be there at a later time). Neither of these times are anywhere close to the time the course was scheduled for. Like you registered for a 3pm class and prof emails you and says, sorry, since it's online it's either 9am or 6pm. But definitely not at 3pm. 

This has me extremely leery of what we're in for come fall semester.

 

Oh, no...  Over the spring semester, dd18's college kept their online meeting times at the same time they were originally scheduled to meet in-person.  I'm assuming this semester is the same.  What a headache!!

[Christina78]

I‘ve got two kids going to UT Austin. They are not only online for the fall. My kids currently have a mixed schedule for fall, about half online and half in person. 

[vonfirmath]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:21 AM, Christina78 said:

I‘ve got two kids going to UT Austin. They are not only online for the fall. My kids currently have a mixed schedule for fall, about half online and half in person. 

DO have them bring masks. Austin yesterday just announced they are fining businesses up to $2000 each for allowing unmasked customers.  Even before that, a lot of stores were not allowing people in who were unmasked.

[Christina78]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

DO have them bring masks. Austin yesterday just announced they are fining businesses up to $2000 each for allowing unmasked customers.  Even before that, a lot of stores were not allowing people in who were unmasked.

Yes, definitely! UT is also requiring masks on campus. 

[DoraBora]

On 7/10/2020 at 11:20 AM, Christina78 said:

Yes, definitely! UT is also requiring masks on campus. 

So are TAMU and Blinn.

[Guest]

My DD’s last in person class which was listed as hybrid is now one synchronous Microsoft TEAMS lecture a week, and the rest asynchronous online. So, she won’t be going to campus at all. 

[RootAnn]

11 hours ago, dmmetler said:

My DD’s last in person class which was listed as hybrid is now one synchronous Microsoft TEAMS lecture a week, and the rest asynchronous online. So, she won’t be going to campus at all. 

My eldest did a lot of online classes in high school so she's used to them. At the same time, live, in-person classes are what she thrives on in college, so it is sad to see the switch to online. (Despite spiking case numbers in her college area, DD currently has more in person/hybrid classes than strictly online ones. The hybrid ones can easily go all online, though, and probably will. I'm most worried about the one in-person class because that professor does not do well online.)

[....]

So, kind of an update to my OP.  

Wow, dd's college is organized!  I'm impressed!  They have advisors online answering questions.  They're prerecording lectures already....they have Biology lab kits that they're creating/putting together for the students.  DD goes to campus the week before, picks up her lab kit for the semester and then does the labs at home, takes pictures and turns in her lab reports.  She added an Entomology class, but they gave a special exception for that class - it's actually going to held on campus (I think in the greenhouses).  Entomology will be just as cool as sailing - lol.

I felt like this was going to be a disaster, but dd's college seems to be really on top of it!!  I'm impressed with how they're handling it and how well organized they are (maybe it's easier, since they are a smaller college).