I just saw the UMASS plan on Linkedin. Don’t know how to add all that stuff to CC. You can probably just find it on Linkedin searching for UMASS.
Would be an interesting study to see how the kids off campus fare compared to those on campus as on campus will be living a very restricted life vs whatever happens to happen off campus. I’d like to think those kids will be responsible. Some will. Many won’t.
Per Boston College
Dean of Students Affairs
Dr. Joy Moore
June 29, 2020
Dear Students:
These past few months have been challenging in so many ways. Our country (and other countries and regions around the world) has exploded in its anger and frustration over racial injustices that we continue to see play out in our communities. Much work needs to be done by each of us to move forward in a way that changes our world, so that people of all colors–particularly black and brown people–are treated equally and, most importantly, with dignity as fellow human beings. We look forward to engaging in that important work with you.
We also face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, which will require new practices and protocols at Boston College. COVID-19 remains a serious threat, and we are committed to doing everything we can to help mitigate its spread and keep the BC community as healthy and safe as possible. You will play an important role in this effort.
Prior to your arrival on campus, you will be asked to sign the Eagles Care Pledge, which is a commitment to adhere to BC’s COVID-19 policies and to care for yourself, others, and our community.
Here are new practices and protocols that will be implemented for the fall semester:
All students will be required to wear face coverings/masks on-campus, except when inside their residence hall rooms or apartments, eating, and when physical distancing of 6’ is possible. However, face coverings/masks will be required in all classrooms and meeting spaces.
All students will be expected to self-monitor on a daily basis for symptoms including high temperature, cough, loss of smell or taste, labored breathing, and headache or muscle aches.
Testing, contact tracing, and if necessary, quarantine and isolation, will be key components of our plans for the fall semester. Additional details will be shared in July.
All residential students will be required to sign an addendum to the housing agreement prior to move-in. This document will be available in the MyResLife forms section of the Agora Portal.
Move-in days for on-campus housing will be extended to ease congestion. The move-in schedule will be posted on the Residential Life website in July.
Sophomores, juniors, and seniors will be able to select a move-in time through MyReslife in the Agora Portal. First-year students will be advised of their move-in time, which will be according to their local, national, and international region.
Students are encouraged to pack lightly for the fall semester, bringing essential items only. Please avoid bringing large pieces of furniture.
Elevators on campus will be limited to four people or fewer.
Non-BC guests will not be allowed to visit residence halls during the fall semester.
Physical gathering policies, including the number of people allowed in student rooms, will be based on physical distancing guidelines. More information will be provided on the Residential Life website.
Student travel/excursions off campus should be limited during the fall semester, especially out-of-state travel.
Please visit the Reopening Boston College website, for further information and updates regarding the fall semester.
@privatebanker So all classes are in the classroom?
Middlebury plan vs. Bowdoin plan…
@privatebanker BC has no hybrid option, only in-person instructions?
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UMass Amherst Announces Fall 2020 Reopening Plan Under Extensive Public Health and Behavioral Restrictions
Majority of University’s Courses Will be Offered Remotely
June 29, 2020
https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-announces-fall-2020
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst today announced its Fall 2020 Reopening Plan, noting that while almost all of the university’s courses will be taught remotely this fall, students will be given the option to live on campus under exacting public health restrictions. No students will be required to return to campus, and students will determine which option, taking courses while living at home or in campus residence halls, is best according to their personal health, educational path and home environment.
…
For students who choose to reside in on-campus housing or expect to spend any time on campus, standards will be exacting. Students must agree not only to the standard Code of Student Conduct, but also to a set of protocols outlined in The UMass Agreement, a commitment that they will be required to sign.
Protocols for students include strict physical distancing, wearing face coverings outside personal living spaces, limiting social contacts to a minimal number of people per day, the prohibition of guests in residence halls, subjecting themselves to virus testing on demand, daily self-monitoring and reporting, assisting with contact tracing, and limiting travel away from the immediate campus area for work and/or emergencies only.
Health and Safety
The university will establish a Public Health Promotion Center to be the central coordinating and operational center for COVID-19 on campus. It will focus on the following: asymptomatic testing (symptomatic testing will be conducted at University Health Services); contact tracing; coordinating isolation and quarantine; flu vaccinations; and communication outreach focused on health promotion with public health ambassadors.
The university is developing a comprehensive surveillance, testing, isolation and contact tracing program that students must comply with both on- and off-campus. All students, faculty and staff will be asked to self-monitor on a daily basis for COVID-19 symptoms before coming to campus. All students returning to campus will be tested prior to arrival. During the fall semester, any student experiencing even the slightest symptoms will be tested by University Health Services.
Students living on campus who test positive for COVID-19 will have the option to return to their home to isolate for the appropriate amount of time, or they will be placed in isolation housing on campus and be provided with support services and a daily wellness call. Off-campus students are also encouraged to develop an isolation and quarantine plan with their family and roommates. The university will provide support services in a student’s off-campus location or home, but it will not provide on-campus isolation or quarantine space.
Teaching and Learning
The university previously announced an altered academic calendar for fall 2020, with a start date of Aug. 24 for classes. Classes will end Nov. 20, at Thanksgiving Break, when students will move out of residence halls. Final exams will be conducted remotely after Thanksgiving break. Classes also will be held on Labor Day, the second Monday in October and on Veterans Day.
A majority of the fall 2020 curriculum will be fully remote, with only essential labs, studios, performance and hands-on courses offered in-person and focused on the upper-level curriculum to provide seniors with timely progress toward degree completion. Some students who live on campus may have a fully remote curriculum, a factor they should consider in their decision whether to come to campus.
Classroom capacities will be limited to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Additional sections of courses may be added to reduce class sizes. Course schedules will be adjusted to increase time between classes to reduce interactive foot traffic on campus and provide time for increased cleaning of lab and classroom spaces when needed. Students will be encouraged to be patient and flexible regarding classroom assignments and course schedules.
Libraries are currently working on a phased reopening plan for restoration of in-person services and onsite access to their collections. Until then, the libraries will continue to provide access to their materials through its Library Express service.
Residential Life
While all courses that do not require physical presence on campus will be offered remotely this fall, all undergraduate students who have reserved on-campus housing for the upcoming semester, and for whom there is space available, are invited to live on campus under strict public health behavioral restrictions.
…
Life in the residence halls will be altered to include pedestrian flow restrictions, restrictions on group gatherings and limited face-to-face contact. No guests will be allowed in residence halls until further notice.
Move-in for fall semester will take place over multiple days to reduce the amount of people on campus at any time, and students may bring only two family members or helpers to assist them. Students are advised to bring less items to campus this fall, and to plan for 12 weeks of residential time as opposed to an entire school year due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Also, if COVID-19 cases spike in the Commonwealth or region, the university may close down residence halls and send students home.
…
The complete reopening plan, including a detailed set of frequently asked questions, can be found at www.umass.edu/reopening.
I’ve been told hybrid. Labs on the weekends as well. Later and earlier classes. Split start times in half hour increments with variance to avoid the usual rush. Large teaching zones. Potentially remote lecture into classrooms with tech. Think big tv and audio. Students there and profs elsewhere.
Synchronous and asynchronous classes online.
Tbd.
But you can only get maybe 20 kids in a big lecture hall. I’ve been in two lecture halls at BC and I can picture that. So those kids sit there and watch the professor on a screen? But he/she can’t see the kids so there’s no give and take so why bother going into the lecture hall?
We also walked through an academic buildings with classrooms that hold maybe 30-35 kids. Those won’t be used at all I guess? There were a LOT of classrooms that size. This was a really big building full of those sized classrooms and it was maybe four stories tall.
I think the rationale for that idea is for the in person discussion portion and the students to ask questions.
But that’s not the whole idea. It’s just a number of methods I’m hearing being channeled for consideration or as an amalgam approach to bring it all together.
Big classes and seminars are clearly going to be remote or many ta hosting a lot of sections.
My d22 hasn’t had a class over 20 to 25 students this year at all. So I don’t know. More to come.
Vassar sent out an e-mail this afternoon with many details and an extensive plan coming. All students are invited back, brought back in waves over the last two weeks of August (following testing within 5 days before the return to campus). They will stay on campus until Thanksgiving break and finish the semester at home. Classes will be in person and online and all students are required to stay on campus the whole semester (12 weeks) with local businesses providing needed services.
BC is also doing the wave return with reserved time slots and one helper.
Orientation for frosh completely revamped etc.
@privatebanker our friends at BC have had similarly small classes like your D. The problem they think is that there are not classrooms to socially distant 25 kids. And then they would be so far apart and the professor won’t even be able to hear them. Add in that those classes, even if they can find enough big lecture halls and stretch out the times to have classes into the evenings and weekends, professors might be video-ed in. Just seems really hard to pull that off. I hope BC isn’t over promising.
Vassar sounds a lot like Middlebury but the students need to have a negative approved Covid test result within 3-5 days prior to their arrival on campus.
Anyone see Connecticut reopening school k12 guidelines? I heard a synopsis but i’d like to read the paper. Is it online? What do they mean “Social distancing as much as possible” ? Yet, they have everyone going to school everyday? How is that possible without de-densifying? Is Ct saying how far desks have ro be apart? Also, are masks for students required or encouraged ?
@silverpurple --I have not read it, but here it is.
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/COVID-19/CTReopeningSchools.pdf
Where the professor is being brought in on video you still need someone in the classroom to run the technology for part or all of that time. And that person has to be paid as well. It seems untenable on the face of it.
DS19’s school (a large research focused university in Ontario) opened up course registration today. They had announced at the end of May that the majority of courses with only a few exceptions (like upper year nursing) would be online for the fall. Unsurprisingly all of his courses will be. I was wondering if they would reorder course offerings to allow for first semester labs to be offered in person in second semester instead but they didn’t do that either. I don’t know what format his classes are going to take yet (synchronous/asynchronous etc.) or what opportunities will exist for students and faculty to interact online.
Residences are also only being offered on a special circumstances basis to only a limited number of students. Recreational facilities etc. will not be open. They really don’t want to encourage students to be on campus at all.
Where are you reading that about the professors being videod in? Love it. I want hologram teachers but the technology is a bit pricey right now.
nvm