University of Michigan Cancels all In-Person Classes For Remainder of Semester
It was only a matter of time. No classes tomorrow or Friday with classes returning in "alternative formats' on Monday.
Per Schlissel: https://twitter.com/DrMarkSchlissel/status/1237828043223134208
and that's how fauxmo kept his pinkies.
there is joy in the (murderous) clown universe this day....
Here's the full announcement with more details: https://umich.edu/announcements/
We're doomed.
At least, we can all say we rooted for Michigan.
Go Blue.
I can't imagine having to adjust mid-semester to a fully online format, both as an instructor and student. I hope everyone adopts a patient and understanding attitude - there will surely be proverbial bumps in the road.
Content delivery isn’t that hard. It’s ensuring that people don’t cheat on exams. Everyone I know who’s teaching this semester is going either to no exams or all open book.
im really glad I don’t teach in the spring.
There's still a learning curve for both instructors and students, even though they are probably comfortable with at least some online interactivity. I've taught numerous university courses, all with online components. But not exclusively online. There are nuances to content delivery and exclusive online interactions that might be initially uncomfortable to the uninitiated. And, as you state, online testing has its own unique complications and instructor overhead.
Not a lot of fun as staff either.
Suddenly becoming responsible for supporting online meeting software that I used for the first time this morning (and I'm not IT staff) isn't really awesome.
...Lots of questions about how labs are going to work also.
LET’S GO!!!
Works for me!
Michigan Athletics is working to limit spectators at its on-campus competitions to parents and media to avoid high-density audiences.
With the ticket policy at Crisler, they didn't have to wait for the virus to limit the high-density audiences.
Let's hope this is will be the only school year it happens. I can imagine the outbreak receding in intensity over the summer, but then what happens around next November?
Hope to have a vaccine by then and that people can’t be reinfected. But we don’t know yet that this is seasonal like the flu. Hope it is.
March 11th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
FDA could fast track the vaccine.
But if it is the same than Flu ... How many would refused it? :(
You can't set up the technology necessary to facilitate large online classes at the drop of a hat. Sheesh this is going to be messy, messy, messy.
And damnit, you can't take a party online. Those poor kids.
Seriously, though, I just had an ugly thought. If the protocols and guidance about the size of crowds at events lingers (or goes away and returns) in September... is this what finally kills the 100,000+ streak?
Are the kids going home? Seems like they could stay on campus and still party.
Also, in Italy they are having bandwidth troubles because suddenly everyone is working from home and taking online classes. This is not going to just magically work.
Highly unlikely this virus panic goes on into the fall months. Mid summer at the latest.
I will gladly give up parties for not having to get to class every day. Class today was pretty wild, with everyone talking about what might happen. Our professor said "see you all monday" and everyone laughed at that.
I think they'll find a way to keep the streak alive, even if the wording has to change to "Xth consecutive non-social distanced game with over 100,000..."
Honestly, the infrastructure was already there when I graduated in 2013. All my classes had online homework submission, online exams, etc. Professors recorded their lectures and streamed them online. I'd have to imagine that has only gotten more widespread throughout the university in the 7 years since. The only big issue I see are with labs that require in-class tools.
Good.
The more seriously people take this the more good it will do and the more lives it will save.
HURRY BRING IN THE RECRUITS
Welp, the Michigan Ticket Office is gonna owe me a shitload of money for all of the Baseball, Softball and Lax tickets we bought back in January that I can no longer use...
Fuck this. Fuck this fucking virus. And the NCAA Tournament might be cancelled as well.
Do those usually sell out? Would have thought you could buy tix at the gate?
You can buy tix at the gate for baseball, but the season tickets are less than half the price of buying the tickets game-by-game. It's a good deal even if you miss half the games, plus you can roll up to the game right as it starts without having to worry about a line to buy tickets, which there sometimes is.
For softball, no, that's frequently sold out well before gameday, especially if you don't want the outfield bleachers.
You are such a myopic butthole.
That must be like tens of dollars.
That's seriously your main concern? You're insufferable.
That’s what happens when your only attachment to a university is an unhealthy obsession about sports.
Wolverine Devotee if he lived in Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945:
“Fuck those Americans for making me have to miss out on next month’s big Sumo tournament. Why does this kind of awful shit always happen to me?”
U of M is ramping up more restrictions, this is only the beginning as they will go full bore like Wisc in a matter of days. They had to do something before the end of the day given the tidal wave of universities already shutting down.
The right call, but this semester is going to be a mess for a lot of students and instructors in terms of logistics. And I do wonder what happens to all the lab classes and the like that require in-person tools? I assume those are just...done.
We've been discussing that.
One possible answer is giving out data sets from previous years labs.
Use Ctools!!!
Just got the e-mail as a UM-D student. Dearborn and flint are both cancelled too.
Maybe this will cause some people who are still thinking this is just some flu to rethink that. We have some of the most informed leaders of our university making these serious decisions.
Maybe this will cause some people who are still thinking this is just some flu to rethink that. We have some of the most informed leaders of our university making these serious decisions.
To be fair this virus is clinically and epidemiologically almost identical to a virulent influenza strain. I’m grateful for the opportunity to iron these early response measures out against a respectable but impotent foe. I’m not arguing against the appropriateness of such measures. “Flatten the curve” makes total sense. You can’t stop the spread but slowing it will keep our infrastructure from being overwhelmed; which means better care and better results. This can be nothing but a good thing for our system, from a utilitarianism perspective. Yes, some will die, and that’s never a good thing but our resilience for the “real deal” is growing strong.