It seems like quite a few of us work in higher ed in some capacity. Interested in a check in at all?
How are you handling working remotely? Staying in touch with students? Student development/support? Marketing/recruitment? Fundraising?
I work in central Marcom at a large private University. I have a Zoom drinking game going and take a sip (of coffee, you lush) every time someone says "extraordinary circumstances."
We've been working at home a week so far and some of us (including me) are online essentially 24/7 getting messaging out as we went to remote learning, shut down res halls, told nearly all employees to work from home and one by one shut down campus services. I think many people by now have positive students as a result of study abroad - we are no exception. I have colleagues at other schools with positive staff or faculty. I realized this morning it's really likely even if my family stays safe that someone in our campus community statistically could die, even with suppression/shelter in place tactics in place. Higher ed faculty/staff skew older for an industry and there is so much international travel/conferences that weren't canceled in time/early student contact with people returning from Italy and Spain.
I feel lucky to be able to work from home pretty seamlessly but am thinking of my colleagues who start remote classes this week. Here's hoping Zoom and Blackboard hold out.
We're at the point of experiencing the ripple effects. For example, students who aren't comfortable with online learning now wanting to late drop & get adjusted refunds. All campus buildings are locked down & need swipe access so making sure everyone has access as needed. Making sure our tutors & supplemental instruction leaders have what they need to provide tutoring remotely.
We're using combinations of Blackboard, Bluejeans, Google Hangouts and the university just got institutional access for all to use Zoom.
At this point my advisors are working remote with only one in office physically at a time & that's working well. Fall registration started last week so working as hard as we can to limit impact on upcoming enrollment.
And to make things interesting I'm in the midst of a search to fill an advisor position. First round interviews are typically online so that was fine (we used Zoom) but typically 2nd (final) round are on campus & we'll need to do those via Zoom as well which I'm not loving but will work with circumstances as they are & the candidates have done well with adjusting.
What are your campuses doing with optional pass/fail grading for students?
We're at the point of experiencing the ripple effects. For example, students who aren't comfortable with online learning now wanting to late drop & get adjusted refunds. All campus buildings are locked down & need swipe access so making sure everyone has access as needed. Making sure our tutors & supplemental instruction leaders have what they need to provide tutoring remotely.
We're using combinations of Blackboard, Bluejeans, Google Hangouts and the university just got institutional access for all to use Zoom.
At this point my advisors are working remote with only one in office physically at a time & that's working well. Fall registration started last week so working as hard as we can to limit impact on upcoming enrollment.
And to make things interesting I'm in the midst of a search to fill an advisor position. First round interviews are typically online so that was fine (we used Zoom) but typically 2nd (final) round are on campus & we'll need to do those via Zoom as well which I'm not loving but will work with circumstances as they are & the candidates have done well with adjusting.
What are your campuses doing with optional pass/fail grading for students?
They have pushed back the deadline for them to be able to switch the class to Pass/Fail. They have 7 days after the grades are posted to change it to a P/F. I know a lot of faculty aren't happy about that, but what can you do?
Post by jennybee1018 on Mar 22, 2020 12:21:44 GMT -5
I'm on the administrative end of things, but the faculty have been online teaching since March 12. They finally decided that the staff should work remotely about a week later....
Working at home for me has been going well. I actually find I'm a bit more productive - less interruptions, so I can move through projects a bit faster.
We've been communicating through Zoom and that seems to be working well so far....had two meetings earlier today and didn't have any technical issues ;-P
While the building has technically been open for access, they've decided that after Tuesday, employees will no longer be allowed in the building, so I ran in today to get my monitor - which will help when I'm doing spreadsheets.
So far, so good - just taking everything one day at a time. Our home campus in Pittsburgh is actually a week behind us on moving to remote work, so they've been coming to us for advice/suggestions on what has worked well!
I'm an administrator in a School of Health Sciences at a medium sized private institution in the Northeast.
We have been working remotely since March 11, with no classes on March 11-13 and this week was spring break.
I have also basically been working 24/7 since we started talking about closing. Luckily, from a technology standpoint, we were fairly well prepared. All of the faculty and staff in my college have laptops, know how to use blackboard, and are decently well versed at Zoom.
The students have been pretty amazing. While they are disappointed, they are mostly understanding and seem to be on board with finishing the semester however we can.
We had a group of students studying abroad in Italy, but we brought them back fairly early. We do have some positive cases in our campus community, but they are all in students who work in the healthcare field already.
bex1973 , we decided Friday that students will be able to elect pass/fail for their courses if they wish. Our withdrawal deadline has also been extended to the week before classes end.
Our biggest hurtle right now is how we will handle clinical rotations if students are unable to resume them before the fall.
ETA: Our building are locked down and no one is allowed in. We were able to go retrieve items yesterday, in assigned time blocks.
Post by turnipthebeet on Mar 22, 2020 12:58:46 GMT -5
I work for a community college in the Midwest. A large portion of our classes are trades and we are really struggling with how to manage those labs and clinicals. We have moved lectures entirely online. The other component we’re struggling with are certifications/adult ed.
This coming week is our scheduled spring break, but we extended it to last week for students. Faculty spent last week prepping for online. Our state has really been slow-rolling the response, and as a result we’ve had to pivot multiple times per week. Initially we were going to limit labs to groups of 25 or fewer, then to groups of 10 or fewer, and now we’re going to have to suspend any in-person labs.
Facilities are shut down, including residence halls. Fifty percent of our faculty are over the age of 50, so this has been a Herculean effort. However, we have had good feedback, suggesting that some of their classes (that they have really resisted taking online) have been simple to convert. They are really doing a great job.
Post by jennybee1018 on Mar 22, 2020 13:12:40 GMT -5
Also, FYI, the Down Dog apps (Yoga, Barre, HIIT, 7 Minute workout, etc) are currently free through April 1, and they will be free through July 1 for anyone with an .edu account - so in case you or your students need a mental health break, this is a great way to do it!
Some faculty are holding classes at the same day/time just through Bluejeans and students seem to really like that because it's easier for them to ask questions the same way they normally would.
Our nursing students have been pulled from clinicals but they will have to make up the hours but there doesn't seem to be a plan yet for that.
I'm supposed to have an orientation session on April 14 but no decision has been made on that yet. We do have an online version but it's of course not as effective as being on campus.
I’m faculty at a community college. Last week was doing break and this week is “extended spring break” for students so faculty can switch their classes to online. I already teach half online, so my switch is relatively easy—I just have to figure out testing remotely. Our institution had a bad year 18-19 with a natural disaster so this year feels like more of the same now. We figured out how to teach with no internet and displaced students (and damaged buildings) last year, so teaching with internet feels easier. My anxiety is high though because our community is so traumatized and just starting to get better. We don’t have great infrastructure and I worry about my students.
Our buildings aren't locked down yet but I suppose it's a matter of time. I forgot a plant in my office but to be honest, it was a crapshoot with me as an owner anyway.
Post by rupertpenny on Mar 22, 2020 17:50:55 GMT -5
I work in technical services in a university library. Last week was our first at home and we got word that no one will be returning to campus before the end of the semester in May. For my small department things are going surprisingly well. We all already had laptops with the necessary software and were planning to use this time to do some data cleanup. I think we are very lucky though. We are a large, well resourced, private institution with campuses around the world so we are well set up for remote communication.
The only students I’ve communicated with are the grad students who work with is part time. So far they are all fine. I feel really bad for all the undergrads though, especially the ones who lived in the dorms. We also have a ton of international students and I can’t imagine how stressful this must be for them.
I’m a reference librarian at a large state university. The last week was spring break so tomorrow is the first day of remote classes and my first day of remote reference. The library is now fully closed.
I have no idea of what to expect but I’m “on the desk” at 8 am so I guess I’ll find out.
Post by lilypad1126 on Mar 22, 2020 18:56:23 GMT -5
I’m in a professional school admissions dept at a regional, rural, public university. So, recruitment/marketing and file review are my top challenges at this time of year. It’s awful. We had to cancel our admitted student days and all other on campus visits through the end of the semester. Our deposit deadline is mid-April, though we are working through some options for pushing that out and even waiving it. Which is great, but it means I will zero idea who is actually going to start at my school until at least registration which is mid-June for my incoming class.
Working from home is fine, we use Zoom and Microsoft Teams. My staff and I made plans for this about a week before the university announced we were moving to a WFH model. So at least my staff was ready. I’m a planner, and there was no way I wasn’t going to be prepared for this. Other student services departments at my school acted surprised that they weren’t going to be allowed on campus. My office also implemented webinars this past September, so we are set to move some of our on campus content to online.
They extended our spring break by a week to give faculty more time to move classes online. So last week was “real” break, and this week is “extended” spring break. There’s a faculty meeting this week to talk about Pass/Fail options. I have no idea what they’ll decide to do. Whatever you think they should decide, sure as hell my faculty will go the opposite way. So, that’s fun.
I feel bad for my MarCom team; they lost an employee this past summer due to RIF and now they are expected to keep up with this. The person they lost was our web specialist, so it’s been a shitshow in regards to getting the website updated. The RIF order came from central, not from our school, so now everyone’s mad at our MarCom that they don’t have the right people. #eyeroll.
For all of that, our students have been amazing. They are handling this so well, they are working together to help others. It’s so amazing. It makes me happy to be working here right now.
You guys are lucky! I work at a major Australian university.
Our teaching is going online as of Monday, with a week pause last week to prepare.
All staff are expected to be on campus to provide services, regardless if their job can be done remotely. Zero understanding of health concerns, or drastic lack of students on campus.
It. Is. Bonkers.
ETA: We're now doing half the team WFH on a rotating weekly basis. I'm WFH this week, woot! However it seems to be quite inconsistent around the university. So strange!
I don't even know what to say. I'm the Director for Academic Technology so my job for the past three weeks has been an 16 hour day with weekends, shit show. And we're back from extended break tomorrow.
I'm still at work because I oversee the helpdesk and our off-campus number routing is still a little unreliable so we're holding it in reserve. None of us see anyone ever during the day, but I'm looking forward to shutting us down mid-week this week.
I tell ya, if Zoom servers crash this week like I saw some hints of on Friday, I will just quit. Also this is the only time that I've ever been thankful that we self-host Moodle
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”
I’m a reference librarian at a large state university. The last week was spring break so tomorrow is the first day of remote classes and my first day of remote reference. The library is now fully closed.
I have no idea of what to expect but I’m “on the desk” at 8 am so I guess I’ll find out.
We were on spring break last week too but apparently the ask a librarian chat was still slammed.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Mar 22, 2020 19:33:02 GMT -5
Last week was the week my university issued the, “Get out of the dorms,” proclamation. They had let some students come back after spring break, but immediately sent them away.
It’s weird. I’m in faculty HR and so much of my job is paper files. I’m granting online access for reviews, running elections, kicking off course evaluations soon, managing my few direct reports (who really can’t work at home and are being paid to be at home, which is great, but again, just weird) and I kind of love it?
I’m a student as well, but taking my capstone for my masters. Beyond having my graduation canceled WHICH SUCKS, it doesn’t seem like the struggle has been too bad. We have a large undergrad population, but we’re dominated by grad students and online programs, so many of our classes are offered in some form online already. It has really been about getting those “can’t go online” classes to do the impossible. They did push back our drop date because of everything.
Post by badgerwrangler on Mar 22, 2020 19:34:48 GMT -5
I am a Program Manager at a school in the health care field. We go totally online starting tomorrow so we shall see! On Friday we were told that there are to be no in person activities on campus until at least August 4th. We are somewhat exempt (due to clinical training) but likely won't have any access to campus facilities until at least June 15th.
For me, it's ok, I can generally make changes fairly easily. If it goes on too long though, we will be forced to push back graduation dates due to not having enough clinical contact time.
Our building will be locked as of Tuesday so I am going in tomorrow to get my monitor, printer, etc. Anything to make working from home a bit easier.
Our buildings aren't locked down yet but I suppose it's a matter of time. I forgot a plant in my office but to be honest, it was a crapshoot with me as an owner anyway.
Before we went under shelter-in-place, I asked our receptionist, since she had planned to stay at work unless we were kicked out, to please water my plant in a week or two.
Well, it was nice knowing you, Droopy. I’ll have always thought you deserved better.
I am at mid size engineering school. I work in finance in an academic unit. Faculty are really struggling with the amount of hands on labs in the upper level classes. Upper administration is really stressing to focus on making sure the students learn the material needed to move on and to stop worrying about the grade, so the concept is there but the culture is hard to change overnight. Everyone has worked very hard to make things as quality as possible for the students and some are adjusting well while others are really struggling. Commencement is cancelled and refunds are being given to students that leave the dorms. (I think they are late to the game on this one. They are hear now, traveling home is not a great idea either. 🤷♀️)
My department was not working from home last week. Our Dean is and all faculty are, but the staff are waiting to see who blinks first as the Director still thinks this is blown out of proportion. 75% of campus is gone. We aren’t in a stay in place state yet but Research sent an email to all faculty that it is time to prepare for it and reiterated that all research will stop unless it is Covid related or includes animals. I hope the Gov just does it already so we can find a new norm. Everyday is left wondering but no one at the top will pound the gavel across the board.
I am in higher ed HR, though thankfully I do training so I get to avoid a lot of the messy HR stuff, including the current decision making. I'm a "manager" so I have a daily meeting with the head of HR and all the other HR decision makers, though. Most of the actual decisions are being made with other executive leadership so the head of HR mostly just communicates those down to us and then brings our concerns to the rest of his group. It sounds like it's been super stressful for them and deciding how to handle who is in the office vs who gets to stay home is a huge, complicated headache. Not for the first time, I am glad I work in the "fun" area of HR instead of the one where the things I do may negatively impact people.
Honestly though other than being slow to make decisions I feel like they are doing a good job. We are paying everyone and being as flexible as we can be, which is great. I am not thrilled that they have decided that new employee onboarding must be done in-person (including on site training with their manager for a couple of days) but at the same time, I'm glad we're not leaving people hanging who have quit other jobs. I have to orient people so that means I have to go in for an hour every Wednesday, but they are really pushing not scheduling anyone to start after April 1st so hopefully that will be the last week I have to do that. I am not sure what happens if we get to "shelter in place" - would we close the campus completely?
Students are moving out, but last I heard there were around 250 who were going to stay for various reasons (I think if they have nowhere else to go, basically). I think they are moving them all to the same dorm, though things have changed so much that I'm not 100% sure if that's accurate. All classes are online, and I'm a grad student so I guess that impacts me too. I am not excited about it - actually going to class and having discussions was the best part - but what can you do. I'm glad they aren't forcing us to be on campus!
As far as actually doing my job, it's been weird. As a trainer there are a lot of things I can't really do online without serious modification. I'm waiting to actually talk to my supervisor about whether he wants me to offer stuff online right now or just let people be. I know they've been nervous about too much unnecessary communication and activity for staff right now so I'm not sure he'd even let me advertise courses if I did put them together. And he's been so busy that he really hasn't provided me much guidance. I think if this goes on more than another 2-3 weeks we should offer something, though. If nothing else, people may have downtime once the dust settles and WANT things to do. Hard to say. I'm also fine with spending the next few weeks catching up on administrative crap and course development, and maybe working a little less than my normal schedule if that doesn't take up all my time! I was honestly about at my wits end between school and work recently, so this has been a nice change of pace for me to have some things cancelled and not to have to commute.
lilypad1126, we're using student bridge to host virtual accepted student's days. Our first one is this coming Saturday so fingers crossed it goes well. Have you all considered something like that?
just, you're amazing. I am awed by everyone in academic technology roles right now.
spearmintleaf, I am worried about enrollments, but I try to keep reminding myself that everyone is in the same boat. The students will (likely) go somewhere.
wildrice, are you guys still hiring? We have enacted a hiring freeze for all non revenue generating positions.
lilypad1126, we're using student bridge to host virtual accepted student's days. Our first one is this coming Saturday so fingers crossed it goes well. Have you all considered something like that?
just, you're amazing. I am awed by everyone in academic technology roles right now.
spearmintleaf, I am worried about enrollments, but I try to keep reminding myself that everyone is in the same boat. The students will (likely) go somewhere.
wildrice, are you guys still hiring? We have enacted a hiring freeze for all non revenue generating positions.
We have put most positions on hold, unless the hiring manager can make a solid case about why the work can't wait and/or the position is hard to fill and we would lose highly qualified candidates. We have at least a couple positions where that are hard to fill so they will likely move forward if they find the right person. Even for those, though, we are aiming for a July start if at all possible.
Eta: and we have tried to push start dates for people who had accepted offers before all this happened, but many had already given notice at their old job and we didn't want to make them have a gap in employment. We don't have anyone further out than April 1st currently.
Post by mrsukyankee on Mar 23, 2020 5:59:23 GMT -5
I work at a uni in London as a CBT therapist. Students are freaking out because they don't quite know what's going to happen with their year end assessments and exams. I think professors are trying to figure out what they can and can't do/expect from the students at this time as we're closed until the summer (PhD students might get to return but it's unlikely until later in the summer at the earliest). I'm doing online video and chat sessions. Most are doing it, some are forgetting to join (many forget to come to face to face mtg, so it's not unusual). It's interesting work as it's not what I expected to do at this point in the year (anxiety around disease, not being able to hand with friends, etc, versus just test anxiety).
I’m a reference librarian at a large state university. The last week was spring break so tomorrow is the first day of remote classes and my first day of remote reference. The library is now fully closed.
I have no idea of what to expect but I’m “on the desk” at 8 am so I guess I’ll find out.
We were on spring break last week too but apparently the ask a librarian chat was still slammed.
I worked the desk last week and it was not terribly busy. Most of the questions were about when the library would close, what about ILL requests, and faculty asking us to purchase ebooks. What was maddening was that 95% of in person visitors were community members doing non urgent things. I get that we were the only free internet in town after the public library closed, so I’m definitely not judging the people applying for jobs. But there were tons of elderly folks doing genealogy research or watching YouTube videos, and I wanted to tell them to go home and stay safe!
Post by lilypad1126 on Mar 23, 2020 8:59:50 GMT -5
sarahsays, we've considered a virtual admitted students day. No one in my office is keen on it (thank god because our in person format does not lend itself well to virtual). Having said that, we are increasing our webinar offerings and making them more admitted student friendly.
In fact, I've tapped my Dean to do an Ask me anything type of webinar for our admitted students. I'll sign in as well to help manage the questions, but I'm putting him on the hot seat. He always says he wants to do things like this, so here's his chance.
I think you are right about enrollments as well. The students have to go somewhere and most of them will continue with their plans to enroll this fall. I think we'll see a small drop, but hopefully it's not too bad.
My job does not work well online but they’re gracious enough to keep paying me, so that’s good. I am “working” a few hours per day.
Anyone concerned about enrollment for the fall based on all this? My initial thought is no, the loans will be there and students will still come because what are they supposed to do, get a job? In this economy? But idk. Still worried.
Yes. I think we'd be foolish to not expect some impact. But I think prospective students & their families are looking at how we handle this & it's going to weigh in on their enrollment decisions. Likewise, some schools may see transfer number go up based on students wanting to be closer to home or from dissatisfaction from how their school handled things.
I am at mid size engineering school. I work in finance in an academic unit. Faculty are really struggling with the amount of hands on labs in the upper level classes. Upper administration is really stressing to focus on making sure the students learn the material needed to move on and to stop worrying about the grade, so the concept is there but the culture is hard to change overnight. Everyone has worked very hard to make things as quality as possible for the students and some are adjusting well while others are really struggling. Commencement is cancelled and refunds are being given to students that leave the dorms. (I think they are late to the game on this one. They are hear now, traveling home is not a great idea either. 🤷♀️)
My department was not working from home last week. Our Dean is and all faculty are, but the staff are waiting to see who blinks first as the Director still thinks this is blown out of proportion. 75% of campus is gone. We aren’t in a stay in place state yet but Research sent an email to all faculty that it is time to prepare for it and reiterated that all research will stop unless it is Covid related or includes animals. I hope the Gov just does it already so we can find a new norm. Everyday is left wondering but no one at the top will pound the gavel across the board.
Gretchen supposed to be doing a press conference at 11 so we'll see...
lilypad1126, We've already done a few virtual events and they are going well. Also, that sounds about right for your poor Marcom team. We never do anything right, especially when we're understaffed and working 24-7 on a crisis, LOL. Thanks for having pity on them. :-)