Post by carrotsmakemefat on Aug 8, 2020 9:14:17 GMT -5
I’m not in higher ed but my stepdaughter is a rising sophomore. Her university did a great job I feel up until a few days ago. Excellent plans on how to mitigate risk. Original plan was to have students come to campus if they wanted, have virtual class options, no breaks, and finish finals online after Thanksgiving.
Now they decided to start classes virtually and have them move in sometime in Sept. which makes no sense. If they want to go fully virtual just do it. She’s a bio major and needs the lab time and is concerned about having to switch her whole schedule around now. It comes across now as more of a play to keep room and board money and less about their health.
The FB parents board is just a shitshow with lots of fear mongering helicopter parents. Many refusing to let their kids come back or wanting them to get credits at the community college and then transfer those in.
I feel like I haven't been on here for FOREVER! Been busy with doing virtual orientation sessions which are surprisingly going pretty well. I've been going in on orientation days to make sure I have the best connection and it's quiet. It's so weird because campus is so empty. And it's weird to see things like posters for events in March and newspapers from March and stuff like that. Also - I keep thinking it's Friday on Thursdays (orientation days) because campus being so empty makes it feel like a Friday in the summer LOL.
Our campus is "reopening" on the 17th but very few people will be there. The directive was to save the density on campus for those who absolutely need to be there and folks seem ok with honoring that. My office will not being on campus at all for the Fall semester.
I feel like our class options make sense - we're doing very few face to face (really only those would be impossible online) and them a mix of online synchronous and online asynchronous. A tiny few that are "hyper-flex" meaning a few days face to face spread out through term and the rest online. Those that are face to face will move online solely after Thanksgiving break.
Limited housing is being offered and I don't think it'll even fill.
Face coverings mandated on campus - indoors and outside. Basically they said if you can't or won't tolerate a face covering don't come to campus.
They have held a few Open Forums via Zoom for updates and for folks to ask questions so that has been helpful.
Honestly the only complaint that I have is that they are still charging us our monthly parking fee which is bull crap and we've said that many times.
For those of you in advising, what are you using for remote walk-in appointments? Or same-day appointments? Our online scheduler requires 24 hours notice to make an appointment. We typically hold walk-in advising hours during the first week of classes and my unit is having a hard time figuring out how to do this remotely. We use Teams almost exclusively. Does it have a function where we can create a lobby/waiting room like Zoom does? Other ideas? I'm cringing at the idea of managing same-day appointments while meeting with students non-stop. I can handle a lot via email, but would like a video chat option too.
My office is not technologically progressive. They're having a hard time seeing beyond walk-in advising where students visit our office and sign in on a piece of paper. Any suggestions/ideas are helpful. TIA!
I oversee advising. We're not doing walk in advising. We do have a queue system where students can call and get on a list for a return call but students aren't really going that route because it's working better for them to contact their advisor via email. We do operate on a caseload model though so that impacts this. We don't typically do same day appointments but if a student contacted their advisor they could go that route if their calendar permits.
We're doing all our appointments via phone or Zoom. Advisors prefer Zoom for the screen sharing options. A few advisors in other units are using Google Meet or Blue Jeans but our dept is Zoom.
I've been pretty impressed with how easily students acclimated to this remote advising world.
I have been working all day, because as the Dowager Countess says "what is a weekend?" The worst part in all of this is parents. I really hope our school gets a parent ombudsman and I very much hope to hell it is not me.
Post by litskispeciality on Aug 10, 2020 13:18:39 GMT -5
We were told again today to plan on OT to do everything we're supposed to do, as well as keep up with everything we can't keep up with due to volume, and at least 2 hours of virtual info sessions this week alone. Also working on Saturday, but apts are by secret appointment only (meaning not posted on the website), hopefully that'll at least bump enrollments after we just did a drop for non-payment. Hoping our boss stands strong that we aren't doing 1:1 sessions for programs that don't enroll until spring or 2021 until Sept because we can't keep up. Issue is helpful front line staff say sure we can schedule something without checking. Just freaking out that we're working around the clock, but constantly behind and now feeling the pressure.
As far as drop ins, a couple of weeks ago we were told if someone was on the phone to do a (new) student registration if we had time. I assume we're reaching the point where they'll have to get on a waitlist, which I'm not sure what they're doing. Terribly helpful I know lol.
For those of you in advising, what are you using for remote walk-in appointments? Or same-day appointments? Our online scheduler requires 24 hours notice to make an appointment. We typically hold walk-in advising hours during the first week of classes and my unit is having a hard time figuring out how to do this remotely. We use Teams almost exclusively. Does it have a function where we can create a lobby/waiting room like Zoom does? Other ideas? I'm cringing at the idea of managing same-day appointments while meeting with students non-stop. I can handle a lot via email, but would like a video chat option too.
My office is not technologically progressive. They're having a hard time seeing beyond walk-in advising where students visit our office and sign in on a piece of paper. Any suggestions/ideas are helpful. TIA!
Sorry if you've had better responses since, lol - this is as far as I've gotten.
Thankfully, our appointment software has a walk-in feature. Students sign in and then advisors "take possession" of the appointment, calling each student at the preferred contact number they've supplied. We're including some verbiage about not signing in if you have a class time within 30 minutes; that sort of thing.
Depending on your caseload - is it dedicated? Or a free-for-all? Before we had our software, we utilized Skype, actually, and our admins would send advisors the names/id numbers of the students as they came in, even though we were meeting face-to-face. I could see this working better with a dedicated caseload; we're a bit of a mix currently, but used to be completely free-for-all.
We use Teams for other reasons, so I'm not sure of the functionality there. Do you have an advising webpage where you could direct students to a Zoom waiting room - just like a link or something? I could see that working if that's a platform with which everyone's comfortable. If you have admins, they could be monitoring the room to direct traffic, so to speak, and contact advisors via Teams that they have xyz coming at them/waiting/however you want to handle that. If they can just send students to your breakout room, I could see that working really well, actually. We've been utilizing breakout rooms for our orientations this summer and it's been working really well.
ETA: We're normally 100% appointment-based, but do only walk-ins (we're calling them "drop-ins" this semester) during the entire first week of classes (our drop/add period).
Post by ChillyMcFreeze on Aug 11, 2020 12:03:16 GMT -5
Well, our students are all moved in and classes start tomorrow. I think our governor will fight to keep us open at all costs, so the numbers would have to be pretty astronomical for us to change course now. I can't get over the sense of impending doom. There is NO positive outcome here. We close now: no revenue --> layoffs We close in a few weeks/months: still lose revenue; I have to orchestrate an emergency move-out AGAIN We stay open: illness, death
Well, our students are all moved in and classes start tomorrow. I think our governor will fight to keep us open at all costs, so the numbers would have to be pretty astronomical for us to change course now. I can't get over the sense of impending doom. There is NO positive outcome here. We close now: no revenue --> layoffs We close in a few weeks/months: still lose revenue; I have to orchestrate an emergency move-out AGAIN We stay open: illness, death
Same. Our hospitals are at 100% capacity, and leadership is forging ahead, damn the torpedoes.
It's a losing situation all around. Sounds like you're in res life; I'm so sorry. I know ours is struggling.
So our 200 person class started yesterday in orientation. Social distanced, bringing them in groups etc etc. Not only have I spent all summer worrying about COVID and how to do all of this. We had that huge midwest storm come through in the middle of the day. It was insanity. We had students arriving, we were having to whisk them inside to keep them safe. We were trying to keep the ones already here in interior rooms.
I was not prepared to have to worry about two forms of safety in one day. And I still don't have power at my house. We have really bad destruction in our city.
Also delivering curriculum on Zoom doesn't work if your students don't have internet. That is enough 2020!
OK, this is actually funny. Circulating on Facebook, tips for parents whose college kids are at home so they feel like they are at school.
1. Tell them they are not allowed to eat dinner with you anymore. Give them a 4-month supply of Ramen noodles. 2. Make them do their laundry at the laundromat. 3. Only talk to them once a week -- via Skype. 4. Make them wear flipflops in the shower. 5. Anoint their sibling(s) as Resident Advisor. Have them plan mandatory community building activities. 6. Three words: Family beer pong! 7. Make them walk to class by taking a lap around the house. 8. Have them take the bus to the corner store. 9. When they leave the house, lock them out by putting a sock on the front doorknob. 10. Put up signs around the house advertising movie night. 11. Hang big Greek letters on the family room walls. Tell them they can’t come in unless they are part of the fraternity/sorority. If they ask to join, interview them and have them do various activities to determine if they’ll be a good fit. Seriously consider rejecting them. 12. Collect a meal ticket/card swipe every time they open the refrigerator. 13. Fill a bowl with warm beer. Add a stinky gym sock, French fries and a slice of pizza. Leave it in their room all semester. 14. Declare the dining room the “library”. If they speak too loudly, “shhh” and stare daggers at them. 15. As soon as they start to fall asleep, laugh and yell loudly while playing music on full volume outside their door. 16. Minimally, two times per week set off all of the smoke detectors between the hours of 2am and 5am. Force your student to stand across the street in their pajamas and stare at the house for at least 1 hour. During this time, their sibling (now Resident Advisor, see #5) must knock on every cupboard and closet in the home to be certain your student is not hiding inside. (At least once every 2 weeks, wait until your student has returned to bed and fallen asleep, then set off the detectors again.)
circa1978, hilarious! #9 & #16 are the best. They should have added to the laundry one to follow them and dump the wet clothes out the second the washer ends.
Post by ChillyMcFreeze on Aug 19, 2020 11:44:02 GMT -5
spearmintleaf I'm so sorry. I feel our announcement is imminent and have exactly the same fears. Meanwhile, we are open F2F and one week into classes. We have more than 50 cases.
Post by litskispeciality on Aug 19, 2020 12:01:26 GMT -5
The gov in my state keeps limiting gatherings, therefore I assume more schools, who promoted face to face no matter what, will move to online any day now. Our only advantage is most places start around or after Labor Day.
This year feels harder on the financing front too, like even less people have applied for and/or completed FAFSA, so it's more drop for non-payments, and then re-registering.
My niece moved-in today as a resident freshman at a large state school (NYS) that announced a long time ago mostly all-remote learning. My sister texted me the process for check-in during COVID.
Each student was given an appointment time to report to the Student Center for COVID 19 testing. Results come back in about 15 minutes. If you test negative “green” you can proceed to your assigned dorm room. If you test positive “red” then you are placed on a 14 day quarantine. It is recommended the student go back home to quarantine. If that is not possible, resident student can proceed to isolation housing on campus for 14 days. Which they stated had limited amenities and student would not be allowed to leave the bedroom-bathroom area during the isolation. Student would not be required to re-test after 14 days. And classes must be attended virtually during the isolation period.
My niece moved-in today as a resident freshman at a large state school (NYS) that announced a long time ago all-remote learning. My sister texted me the process for check-in during COVID.
Each student was given an appointment time to report to the Student Center for COVID 19 testing. Results come back in about 15 minutes. If you test negative “green” you can proceed to your assigned dorm room. If you test positive “red” then you are placed on a 14 day quarantine. It is recommended the student go back home to quarantine. If that is not possible, resident student can proceed to isolation housing on campus for 14 days. Which they stated had limited amenities and student would not be allowed to leave the bedroom-bathroom area during the isolation. Student would not be required to re-test after 14 days. And classes must be attended virtually during the isolation period.
Welcome to college, kid.
Wow, I'm impressed they had enough isolation housing prepared for that. How do you even plan for that without knowing how many might test positive? We have reserved our isolation spaces for international and out-of-state students, but there's such liability that comes with that level of duty of care. And who's the unlucky staff member who has to do meal delivery to the isolation wing? It's all such a cluster.
My niece moved-in today as a resident freshman at a large state school (NYS) that announced a long time ago all-remote learning. My sister texted me the process for check-in during COVID.
Each student was given an appointment time to report to the Student Center for COVID 19 testing. Results come back in about 15 minutes. If you test negative “green” you can proceed to your assigned dorm room. If you test positive “red” then you are placed on a 14 day quarantine. It is recommended the student go back home to quarantine. If that is not possible, resident student can proceed to isolation housing on campus for 14 days. Which they stated had limited amenities and student would not be allowed to leave the bedroom-bathroom area during the isolation. Student would not be required to re-test after 14 days. And classes must be attended virtually during the isolation period.
Welcome to college, kid.
Wow, I'm impressed they had enough isolation housing prepared for that. How do you even plan for that without knowing how many might test positive? We have reserved our isolation spaces for international and out-of-state students, but there's such liability that comes with that level of duty of care. And who's the unlucky staff member who has to do meal delivery to the isolation wing? It's all such a cluster.
I did some more detailed reading online. They are using a local hotel(s) which is free to resident student and available to non-resident students at University-negotiated rates. Meals will be delivered from campus dining and charged to their meal plan accounts. Students entering isolation are not able to leave at all. Wow. Any student who chooses not to quarantine will be withdrawn from registration/housing without penalty and given guidance for re-registering in the spring. That last bit means that they can’t make you do anything, but if you don’t, you are no longer a registered student.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Aug 19, 2020 13:34:39 GMT -5
Everyone who works, lives, or attends school on-campus has to do a saliva test weekly on my campus. I spit in a tube for the first time this morning. I’m hoping this will be extremely successful. I know a lot of classes are online this semester, but I hope this will help us have more on-ground classes next semester.