Spring 2021

[G5052]

Yup. The college I work for is keeping the status quo. Most classes will remain online with some hybrid classes. Many labs and clinicals will be in person.

We haven't heard yet on my kids' school, but my oldest is graduating anyway. The younger one is fine with online and actually works online for the college in the Writing Center. 

Edited September 30, 2020 by G5052

[Kassia]

2 hours ago, G5052 said:

Yup. The college I work for is keeping the status quo. Most classes will remain online with some hybrid classes. Many labs and clinicals will be in person.

 

I believe it will be the same for dd's college.  One of the professors already said that faculty has been asked to submit their modalities for spring semester.  Dd actually prefers it this way, so it's good for her but I feel bad for students who struggle with online learning.  Right now she has one hybrid class, and the rest are online - two that meet online and the others are asynchronous.  

ETA - our new academic calendar came out and they did not eliminate spring break, but moved the semester back a week - starting and ending a week later.  I wish they had eliminated spring break like many colleges are doing.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Kassia

[regentrude]

3 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Stormy said:

We haven't heard yet and have just over a month until registration. I am thinking dd will probably want to stay online though. The on campus procedures- especially the tracking app- seem onerous. And random. One of the required daily questions is affirming you have "not used fever reducing medications for three days." Do they not know that people can regularly use Tylenol or Advil for things beyond illness? 

I think that question is in there to judge the responses about fever - because I'm sure the app asks about fever. The information "I have no fever" is meaningless if the student is using Tylenol.

[regentrude]

As far as we know, we will keep doing the same thing: some classes in person with distancing in the classroom (which limits available rooms), a lot of classes online or hybrid, with the requirement that all content and assignments be provided in an online format for students who are sick or quarantined.

It is working well so far at my institution; our students are very diligent, and infection numbers are staying low. 

[BusyMom5]

The only thing ours has said is that they are trying to change lots of classes to 8 week blocks instead of 16 weeks for Spring 2021.  My DD has plans to take Calculus- but if it's 8 weeks that's a no go!  I'm not sure if it was all classes, or just some classes, or even how it would work b/c that's a lot of time in the same class- maybe it was online classes only?  Right now my DD has 1 in person class- today there were 7 kids there.  The rest are Zooming or have dropped.  Its an English 2 class.

If we don't like the college offerings, I have no idea what we will do b/c mine is technically a Senior and I have to give her credits for that semester.  I may be trying to figure out a few classes to teach her at home (please no!!!!)

[RootAnn]

Dd#1's college has almost all of their schedule out as priority registration for Spring 2021 opens Oct 5th. It looks similar to this semester with maybe even more online/less hybrid classes than this semester.

DD#1 has one all in person class now, threeish hybrid (at least 1 in-person meeting a week) and the rest all online (live or asynchronous). Next semester looks like no all in person, one or two hybrid (both math) and the rest all online. 

Dd#2's college hasn't released their schedule yet but they are all in person this semester anyway (with a significant pre-covid online presence).

[8filltheheart]

Ds said Berkeley announced their first 2 weeks will be fully online.  No decision about the full semester, but if they open, they are making everyone quarantine for 2 weeks.

[Guest]

It hasn't been announced here yet, but I am guessing the CC will keep almost all classes online with weekly TEAMS sessions and only have labs/practicals online again. The state U seems to be doing the same thing-originally they had announced they would be bringing more classes back in person, but walked that back. I'm expecting DD to finish her senior year at home with online classes, much as she would prefer to be back on campus. 

[teachermom2834]

I fully expect the local private U my senior does de at to be mostly in person. They actually moved more classes from hybrid/online to fully in person during the first few weeks of fall as they worked out protocols. They have kept cases under control and have, from what we have seen, good compliance with safety measures. The classes that have remained online have been the introductory lectures with 100+ students that they just don't have rooms big enough to distance them. So even if, at registration, it isn't clear what will be in person or online, we can make pretty good guesses based on what we saw remain online this fall. 

[RootAnn]

On 9/29/2020 at 8:02 PM, RootAnn said:

Next semester looks like no all in person, one or two hybrid (both math) and the rest all online. 

Updating on dd#1's plans. Looks like two hybrid (one math, one foreign language), three online, and maybe one traditional, once-per-week, small group, in-person honors seminar if she pushes the registration button fast enough & the system doesn't lock up again.

ETA: and the school just announced they would start sdfpring semester 1 week later and cancelled spring break.

Edited October 2, 2020 by RootAnn
Added cancelling of spring break news

[Bootsie]

Faculty at my school are supposed to be able to choose to be fully online  or in-person (but teaching anyone remotely who is not on campus, quarantined or ill at the same time.)  The deadline to decide was Sept 25.  On September 24 at 4:58pm the provost sent out an email saying she would like to here people's ideas for other options like breaking classes into smaller classes, moving lab equipment to other buildings, hiring teaching assistants (oh but we have a hiring freeze), etc.  So, maybe we didn't have to decide until the 28th.  Today at a faculty senate meeting she talked about possible ways to teach class in the spring and other changes that maybe we could brainstorm about.  The registrar's office said no changes can be made after October 6 so that students can register.  But, now she thinks they can change that to October 8 and we can come up with ways to split classes and have all different kinds of versions.  We don't have enough faculty to cover the courses we have on the books right now (because of pre-pandemic openings that can't be filled, retirements, and a death), but in a week we will come up with ways to offer a lot more sections????? I am so glad I am not a dean or a department chair.  

I realize that as events unfold during a pandemic we have to be ready to pivot at a moment's notice, no matter what the plan is.  But, we also have to just get a plan and do it to the best of our ability rather than spending all of the time coming up with new, revised, updated, plans.  We have wasted so much time preparing for four modes--no only two--but it will be really three--and you need to have this in your syllabus--but you can't have it in your syllabus.... It just keeps on and on

 

[BusyMom5]

Ours just released the Spring schedule.   Its awful!  Everything is in 8 week blocks including Calculus!!!!  3 hours of class, 3 days a week.  No science labs.  Most of the classes went online.  I may end up looking for another online college for DE. 

My DD did find 2 classes per session- online- that she can take,  but they are super easy ones.   We aren't doing the Calc or any science.   Maybe she will just work.  

[AEC]

sounds like we should expect last-minute decisions.  DS's college has a 'january-term'...usually 4wks long, students take 1 class. That seems likely to cancelled or moved to the end of the year. Many students do travel-abroad classes for that term and those have all been cancelled or moved to June.

So J-term won't be a thing. But it's unclear if the regular spring term will wait till early Feb to start, or they're going to pull that in. Sounds likely spring break will be cancelled....but no official word yet. Classes will remain hydrid? we think? We usually plan things like travel and classes and events SO far ahead. oh well.

[elegantlion]

I'm hoping they maintain the status quo at my university, a mix of online and in person courses. I'm hoping I can continue to TA remotely, it looks like I'll have enough selection of courses to take online. I really hope universities keep in the mind the challenges of students finding apartments mid-semester. 

 

ETA: I just found out yesterday that I'll be TAing online next semester. That takes a huge weight off my shoulders. I just need to find one more online class to take -which shouldn't be an issue once schedules are released. 

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by elegantlion

[easypeasy]

DDs classes will be pretty much the same as this semester: mostly online with a few in-person/hybrid music classes.

She's filling her time by applying to programs and groups! I'm curious to see if this will be sustainable for her next year as she enters a (hopefully normal) sophomore experience! She's already part of a program that *should be* traveling once a month and having weekly in-person meetings plus a summer trip for 3-4 weeks.

Then, she was voted into an office with a large group she joined earlier -- then she applied to, and was accepted to, a leadership group that meets (online) once a week plus other activities and events -- and she's decided to join a sorority next semester because the sorority girls she knows are doing fun things (while still being reasonably safe about the whole thing). She has *never* been interested in a sorority because she knew music school would keep her so busy, but... this is what Covid has wrought! 😅 It's tough for the extroverted freshmen out there!!

What a college experience. It's all just so weird.

Her school is still doing a great job keeping the cases down!

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by easypeasy