On Friday, Carleton released their plans for Fall Term 2020, ending a long period of discussion and speculation.
The parameters of the plan are what I expected. Our calendar works in our favor here (start in mid-September, end by Thanksgiving), so I wasn’t surprised to see that hadn’t changed. I’d expected we’d move to a hybrid model, with a mix of in person and partially to fully online courses. I was pleased to see that neither students nor faculty would be required to be physically on campus if they chose to stay home/teach online. Though, of course, some faculty (in the arts, lab sciences, teaching first year seminars), and staff who support faculty, may find themselves weighing their preferences against other factors and pressures. The decision to bring back 85% of the student body to campus surprised me, as I’d read that as an upper bound, if-everything-goes-perfectly threshold. But, here we are.
So, we have answers. But the plan, as extensive as it is, still leaves many questions unanswered.
The big question left unanswered, of course, is what happens if I get sick? (The cynical part of me wants to phrase that as “what happens WHEN I get sick?”, but I’ll try to be optimistic here.) The faculty FAQ is vague on this point. The policy outlined in the link no doubt works well enough during “normal” times, when a faculty member falling seriously ill during the term is an exceptional circumstance. But in a pandemic? When it’s likely that a nontrivial number of faculty are out for an extended period, either due to quarantine, their own illness, or care for a loved one? (Or extended child care WHEN schools close down again, assuming they open at all?) We should PLAN on faculty stepping down from their courses as NORMAL this term, not hope fervently that it doesn’t happen.
As department Comps Czar this year (i.e., the person in charge of all capstone projects), I’m drafting a plan for how to step in if/when a Comps advisor falls ill or needs to step away for part or all of a term. For my own course, I’m aiming to get as much of the course up and posted by Day 1, so that it’s easier for someone else to step in if need be. This is especially important since I’m teaching an elective course, meaning there are only 1-2 others in my department with the expertise to step in and take over. But it shouldn’t fall to individuals, and individual departments, to decide that making contingency plans is necessary. And, it’s important to note that this extensive advanced planning happens at a cost — I can’t afford to take much time off this summer for a break, and I’ll be spending less time on my research projects.
(We have not held a department-wide conversation about “who takes over which class”, but I’m already thinking ahead to what I could take on if need be.)
Similarly, what happens if a student gets sick? The student FAQ contains some guidance about testing, contact tracing, and isolation. But what about academically? Is the Dean of Students’ office planning for mass student absences, streamlining processes for extensions and leaves, ??? I would love to know this info so that I can more effectively advise students and plan my course to be as flexible as possible. And I’m particularly thinking about my own Comps project groups — Comps is a graduation requirement, so what happens if a student can’t finish out a project? We can’t handle these as exceptional cases, because they WILL be the norm.
As a parent of a teen and a special needs tween (thoughts and prayers, please), the big unknown is how will the school district’s plans impact my family’s day-to-day? That’s right, our school district has yet to announce its plans for the fall. If they’re partially or fully online, how do we supervise their schooling while doing our own jobs? What will an online school day look like? Will all 4 of us be on Zoom at the same time? If they’re back to in-person…well, does our family want to take that exposure risk? (Particularly since cases are on the rise in my county.) Should we be looking at school alternatives this year? My head hurts just thinking about all of the planning and decision making ahead of us.
Finally: what plans are in place if (when) we need to pivot back to online-only? Do we have plans? If so, will these be shared at any point with faculty, staff, and students? Similarly, how are we planning for Winter and Spring 2021? And when will these plans be communicated?
There are, of course, a zillion smaller questions as well, enough questions to feed my insomnia for weeks. And a trillion things to do, big and small, to prepare for the term ahead, as I wait and hope for those larger questions to be answered.
What big questions haunt you about the fall….and beyond? How are you coping with the uncertainty?
This is what a computer scientist looks like 
Thanks so much for sharing this Amy! At our last meeting of Department Chairs and Program Directors – a meeting chaired by the Provost – I talked about exactly your first point. I think a lot of smart faculty are starting to grow troubled about what happens when we and students get sick or have deaths in our families – or, as you point out, when we need to care for sick family members or quarantined children.
I think we’re going to see a lot more more incompletes and deferred grades than at any point in recent history.
My proposal was that we need to think about our winter and summer breaks as catch-up time for students and faculty who are unable to complete classes in the usual fall or spring term. I think that makes sense for us as a semester school, especially since we are adjusting our academic calendar to give an extra-long winter break. I don’t know what makes sense for Carleton as a trimester school – the lack of a break after winter term seems to make things a lot harder. Is that something you’ve been discussing at all?
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That’s an interesting idea, using breaks as opportunities to finish out an interrupted term. Our usual winter break plays in our favor here since we have Thanksgiving through New Year’s, but not our teeny tiny “break” between winter and spring, as you point out. Last year we extended spring break by a week and dropped a week off of spring term to give us “enough” time to plan. I have heard zero discussions about anything beyond fall term, which is unfortunate but not surprising. How much have you heard at Whitman about discussions for winter/spring?
The other thing that bothers me is how much we’re assuming that this year will be “business as usual, but with masks and deeper cleaning”. This is not just administration — I think a fair number of my colleagues, and our students, think this way. I worry a LOT about the disillusionment that our students will experience once they are back on campus and realize just what “being on campus during a pandemic” entails, and how this will affect their well-being and academic performance.
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