Faculty Fears About Re-Opening Schools in Fall
Student, Staff, and Faculty safety should not be in play.
I’ve always felt some kind of anxiety before the start of a new semester. As a professor, you have to update or reinvent your syllabus, your course material, your assessment methods. All this work happens behind the curtain. Students don’t see it. Even deans assume everything is ready and that’s there is nothing to change.
But updating and creating the syllabus is hard work. None to mention that we usually do it during the holidays because we are so busy doing other behind the curtain stuff when we are not teaching.
Now, this summer break is really something. Not only we can’t relax over a fresh mojito somewhere on a beach lounger because of our friend Corona. We have also to figure out how we will handle our classes this fall. Online? Hybrid? Normal? New Normal?
No wonder, anxiety is eating our brains.
There is no simple solution. Every potential solution can backfire, ending up in a much deadly catastrophe.
Because whatever we decide —or more fairly, they (politicians) decide because we are excluded from the decision-making process — we are not prepared for it.
Faculty and administrative staff concerns…
