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University teaching, latest plans for October 2021



Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patreon
Oct 8, 2003
49,337
Faversham
My college has been sending out updates on its plans for the autumn. None of this is yet public. Like last year it is a mess.

1. There will be no on campus teaching, except for professional courses (medicine, dentistry) and lab practicals.
2. Students taking courses with lab practicals are therefore encouraged to return to campus.
3. To remove confusion all students will be told they are expected to be on campus
4. Large group teaching (lectures) will not take place on campus owing to the impossibility to socially distance
5. Therefore, because moststudents will be on campus (see what I did, there?) we have been asked to make arrangements
6. For example, if we had a class of 200 students, we will be asked to give the lecture five times, to cohorts of 40
7. We are also being asked to think up alternative exercises, particularly tutorials, which can be delivered multiple times to small cohorts.

So the upshot is most students will be on campus.
Large class lectures, which probably contributes 80% of their reason for being on campus, will not take place.
Instead students will receive some small group teaching
This means that staff will have to give the same lecture multiple times
Despite this students will receive fewer total lectures because staff do not have multiple clones and we have ony so many lecture theatres (small group teaching means 40 students in a room that holds 200 to maintain social distancing)
This means a lot of the lectures will, again, be delivered via Teams, Kaltura, etc. Online.

The timetabling turnaround is always tight owing to the mountains of administration associated with timetabling and setting up online coursework submission portals with inbuilt deadlines. This year we have been given till May 20 to finalize timetables. A bit tricky. In my case I have the added problem of finding new lecturerers to replace 6 lost due to a colleague announcing, one week ago, he's retiring. The likely solution is a shell timetable with fake content. Tremendous scenes.

My advice is the same as it was last year. If you kid is doing a degree with large class teaching, and has yet to book accomodation, plan to stay at home till Christmas. If your kid is entering clinical training or is doing something where social distancing will be easy to manage then attending will probably be the better option.
 


cloud

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2011
3,028
Here, there and everywhere
It's a right mess. Many students will be finishing off their first year next year, as well as studying parts of year two. The year after will then be finishing year two.
 


CheeseRolls

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jan 27, 2009
5,922
Shoreham Beach
My college has been sending out updates on its plans for the autumn. None of this is yet public. Like last year it is a mess.

1. There will be no on campus teaching, except for professional courses (medicine, dentistry) and lab practicals.
2. Students taking courses with lab practicals are therefore encouraged to return to campus.
3. To remove confusion all students will be told they are expected to be on campus
4. Large group teaching (lectures) will not take place on campus owing to the impossibility to socially distance
5. Therefore, because moststudents will be on campus (see what I did, there?) we have been asked to make arrangements
6. For example, if we had a class of 200 students, we will be asked to give the lecture five times, to cohorts of 40
7. We are also being asked to think up alternative exercises, particularly tutorials, which can be delivered multiple times to small cohorts.

So the upshot is most students will be on campus.
Large class lectures, which probably contributes 80% of their reason for being on campus, will not take place.
Instead students will receive some small group teaching
This means that staff will have to give the same lecture multiple times
Despite this students will receive fewer total lectures because staff do not have multiple clones and we have ony so many lecture theatres (small group teaching means 40 students in a room that holds 200 to maintain social distancing)
This means a lot of the lectures will, again, be delivered via Teams, Kaltura, etc. Online.

The timetabling turnaround is always tight owing to the mountains of administration associated with timetabling and setting up online coursework submission portals with inbuilt deadlines. This year we have been given till May 20 to finalize timetables. A bit tricky. In my case I have the added problem of finding new lecturerers to replace 6 lost due to a colleague announcing, one week ago, he's retiring. The likely solution is a shell timetable with fake content. Tremendous scenes.

My advice is the same as it was last year. If you kid is doing a degree with large class teaching, and has yet to book accomodation, plan to stay at home till Christmas. If your kid is entering clinical training or is doing something where social distancing will be easy to manage then attending will probably be the better option.

Last year felt like there was a bias towards optimism. All the planning felt a little temporary on the basis that things would soon blow over. This year, where barring a major set back, we should expect to be well shot of the pandemic by October, this just looks overly cautious. The only possible justification is to keep the loons in place, who think it is all over now. Politics trumps planning.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patreon
Oct 8, 2003
49,337
Faversham
Last year felt like there was a bias towards optimism. All the planning felt a little temporary on the basis that things would soon blow over. This year, where barring a major set back, we should expect to be well shot of the pandemic by October, this just looks overly cautious. The only possible justification is to keep the loons in place, who think it is all over now. Politics trumps planning.

The main fear is that if we don't have students on campus they may ask for their money back. If they are on campus this is less likely. Last year students were mostly on campus - for this very reason. I don't agree with it, the logic or the strategey, but I'm not the government (they cracked the whip on this). Next year (Autumn onwards) it will be the same. If we are still social distancing, we don't have the arenas necessary to cope with the numbers of students on campus at the same time. Perhaps it would be better to vaccinate all the staff (with Covid 20 vaccine, because like flu we will need a new and different vaccination in the Autumn) and take pot luck with the students. Depends whether or not you want to risk "thousands of bodies piling up". I'd probably risk it, but the universities will fudge it, as described above.
 






Chicken Run

Member Since Jul 2003
NSC Patreon
Jul 17, 2003
18,275
Valley of Hangleton
Interesting as my son who is in his first year at Leeds has been told in essence to expect normal service resumes in September [emoji2370]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 


Green Cross Code Man

Wunt be druv
Mar 30, 2006
19,631
Eastbourne
Thanks for this Harry.

This provides for food for thought. I showed my eldest your thoughts last year but he elected to continue with his foundation year, but this year my younger son is making the same decision. He's thinking of Brighton University. I wonder if they will make their plans public?
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patreon
Oct 8, 2003
49,337
Faversham
Update,

The great spaffer will sonn announce Freedom Day. As noted elsewhere I thing 'back to normal' is correct, but I think that HMBFUG (you can work that out) will F it U.

We are still not planning to go 'back to normal'. However we could in as much as the students are expected to be back on campus. The problem is timetabling and room booking. Our semester 1 arangements (Oct to Dec) are set in stone in May. The logistics of room booking are labarynthine.

So, ironically, London may be 'back to normal' in October, for all, apart from the tens of thousands of uni students who are watching lectures pre-recorded, online, in their bedsits and halls.

Perspective, though. Who gives a shit? Nobody it seems. Same reaction, hopefully, will be accorded to my union who today voted to boycott Israel, including it's universities (FFS....). There were two who spoke against the motion, the first being me.

The world is full of futile nobbers. Thickies, cockwombles and halfwits. Confirmation bias rules KO!


My college has been sending out updates on its plans for the autumn. None of this is yet public. Like last year it is a mess.

1. There will be no on campus teaching, except for professional courses (medicine, dentistry) and lab practicals.
2. Students taking courses with lab practicals are therefore encouraged to return to campus.
3. To remove confusion all students will be told they are expected to be on campus
4. Large group teaching (lectures) will not take place on campus owing to the impossibility to socially distance
5. Therefore, because moststudents will be on campus (see what I did, there?) we have been asked to make arrangements
6. For example, if we had a class of 200 students, we will be asked to give the lecture five times, to cohorts of 40
7. We are also being asked to think up alternative exercises, particularly tutorials, which can be delivered multiple times to small cohorts.

So the upshot is most students will be on campus.
Large class lectures, which probably contributes 80% of their reason for being on campus, will not take place.
Instead students will receive some small group teaching
This means that staff will have to give the same lecture multiple times
Despite this students will receive fewer total lectures because staff do not have multiple clones and we have ony so many lecture theatres (small group teaching means 40 students in a room that holds 200 to maintain social distancing)
This means a lot of the lectures will, again, be delivered via Teams, Kaltura, etc. Online.

The timetabling turnaround is always tight owing to the mountains of administration associated with timetabling and setting up online coursework submission portals with inbuilt deadlines. This year we have been given till May 20 to finalize timetables. A bit tricky. In my case I have the added problem of finding new lecturerers to replace 6 lost due to a colleague announcing, one week ago, he's retiring. The likely solution is a shell timetable with fake content. Tremendous scenes.

My advice is the same as it was last year. If you kid is doing a degree with large class teaching, and has yet to book accomodation, plan to stay at home till Christmas. If your kid is entering clinical training or is doing something where social distancing will be easy to manage then attending will probably be the better option.
 



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