This past spring, everyone had their classes online/remote, but for the fall with some schools having options for some classes to be in person and remote/online at the same time, I would think those taking that class remotely may be at a disadvantage to those taking it in person. So while schools are committed to ‘improving’ the online experience for the fall, I worry that the hybrid classes could be worse for those taking it remotely.
Bowdoin FAQs say there are grades this fall and that the campus is closed, so I don’t think students living off campus will be able to use the library, but i don’t know that for a fact.
Does your student there feel it is competitive at Bowdoin re: grades and backstabbing?
No. Only those students on Bowdoin’s campus can be on campus. It’s in the FAQs. No access to library or any other buildings for kids living off campus.
@homerdog Could you post the link to that report?
@homerdog, I’m so very sorry. 400 pages willing the gods to let your kid go back and now this. It’s so hard wanting our kids to be happy and being powerless to bring it about.
Anyone who thinks that X College is “definitely” going back in person in the fall, and who would use that fully-tentative information to transfer colleges away from Y College, which they chose because it was the best match, is relying way too much on marketing and implications.
Hello, we’re in a pandemic here. Nothing is going to be the same as it would have been. Schools plan and the virus laughs, to misquote a Yiddish proverb.
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Online classes are not worth 28k? But what if they were improved? What if colleges leveraged their faculty and other resources better? Instead of taking the traditional model (a single prof, perhaps some TAs) and using modern technology to deliver it, what if they rethought the whole thing? What if courses were instead ‘team taught’ and professors were slotted into roles which they are best at, for multiple courses? Some are great at lecture development; some at delivering lectures; working with students one one one; developing tests; grading papers; orchestrating the whole thing. VERY few profs are great at every aspect of course delivery. Some are really awful at some aspects of it, yet are forced to do them, year after year. Some are terrible at all aspects of teaching and hate it all; they could be the scientists and scholars of the departments and inject state-of-the-art thinking into courses.
The higher ed model evolved out of the need to have students go somewhere to have access to scholars because they had the books. We’ve come a long way since then. Some colleges are thinking outside the box and delivering superior educational experiences to students via an online model, and most here have never heard of these colleges. They organize courses MUCH differently than what we’re hearing students describe about their online experiences this past spring.
It is like all colleges suddenly gave their staff cell phones yet all of the professors are still standing next to the old phone jack.
Now if you take this thinking to the extreme…one could imagine the eventual end to the current US model (if superior courses for any subject were available online to anyone with a few hundred dollars). Residential colleges, then, I predict would become more like ‘finishing schools’ for only the affluent. But the educational product available to the masses would be available more equitably to the non-affluent.
Thank you. He’s ok. Just really wants to get back to his friends. Hoping that works out somehow for fall.
The sorta funny thing to me is that some that think school won’t be worth it online can be the same people taking $150,000 online MBAs…
@knowstuff one gets an MBA when they are already a full adult and have been out in the work force. Ideally, undergrads are on campuses getting life experience by meeting new friends and being guided by adult professors. Completely different. It’s not all about the actual knowledge in the class for many kids but I guess especially not for those not majoring in something like engineering or computer science. I doubt that S19 will use any of the specific knowledge he learns in undergrad for his first job but he’s learning to communicate and write and polish up his quantitative skills.
Living off campus with your friends to take online classes may not be such a good idea. My S almost did it with his friends in the spring when the college was shutting down. The place they picked has plenty of restaurants and some grocery stores at the time, but many of them were later closed or became curbside pickup only. I was so glad that plan wasn’t necessary because it would have been a really bad idea having to go outside almost everyday, or even more frequently, during a pandemic.
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Thought of this article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/university-like-cd-streaming-age/613291/
I am sure D’s college’s online instruction can be improved a great deal. In fact, it needs to be! The problem is that none of the COVID-19 updates we’ve received has provided any details on technology improvements or pedagogical innovations. While that doesn’t mean nothing is being done (there are vague allusions), nevertheless it does nothing to inspire confidence in the quality of a “hybrid” model. I don’t think there have been many exact definitions given by instititions of what these hybrid formats will actually be like.
I think people need to realize that when colleges take ICU beds into consideration, it isn’t just about the college students - the community is also a factor. Great, only one student may need an ICU bed, but what about the community at large that these students are going to be near?
I can see a gap in the market for 4 year long sleep away camp programs, marketed to middle class 18 year olds who have just graduated high school but don’t want to work full time yet. They can make new friends, have access to fun sports and activities, learn to cook and use a washing machine and other life skills. No academics required.
I am being serious. The modern college model has conflated everything above with the mission of post high school education.
If a substantial portion of the students live in off campus apartments, the students may be present in the community regardless of the instructional method used by the college.
Agreed that online instruction has to be improved, and we will be asking about that today on Bowdoin’s town hall meeting. Two of four of D19’s freshman profs did not teach one live session once things went remote last semester.
It will be interesting to see how the higher ed evolves due to the pandemic, historically the schools that are the leaders in online education (Western Governor’s, Southern New Hampshire, ASU) have differentiated (beyond the online nature) by having a lower price.
There is lots of conversation in my parent group about kids who have off campus leases and how they are stuck with the rent for the whole year unless they can find someone to sublet. Most of those students are going back and will stay even if the university has to move back to 100% online.
@roycroftmom I was responding to the discussion of ICU beds as it pertains to LACs in rural areas. Limited ICU beds in small towns, with most students residing on campus.
@momofsenior1 There has been the same discussion of off campus living in my parents group. It seems split between those who are upset they are paying rent when their student wasn’t living there (last spring) and are upset that they have signed leases and think they should somehow be relieved of the obligation to pay, and those who are thinking that off campus living will be better than on campus next year and are looking to move off. We are in the latter camp - my son just signed a lease for an off campus apartment and will stay there regardless of what happens with classes.