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Bit of a rant!
For those who don’t realise. Unis have never closed - we have been and will continue to work hard. Uni staff have been teaching all year(masters programmes run all year, PhD students need supervising). Support staff have also been working 1/8
For those who don’t realise. Unis have never closed - we have been and will continue to work hard. Uni staff have been teaching all year(masters programmes run all year, PhD students need supervising). Support staff have also been working 1/8
Uni Staff have spent the summer preparing for online and/or blended (ie a mix of in person and online) teaching for the new academic year. This has taken more hours than they usually spend teaching in total 2/8
Uni staff are now teaching the first semester. This involves some face to face teaching (that is done online rather than in person). They’re also checking in on the students to ensure they are coping (but probably not as much as is needed as we have so many this year) 3/8
Uni staff are also preparing for the second semester. They don’t know what that will be like so they may have been asked to prepare for both online only and blended. Neither of these are like the typical teaching so need different approaches and materials 4/8
Teaching is just one aspect of most uni lecturing posts. Uni lecturers also have admin roles (eg programme admissions) and other service work (eg reviewing papers/grant/conference abstracts; serving on committees) 5/8
Research is a large part of many lecturers roles too. If their research is relevant to covid (eg health behaviour change) then it is likely they’ve been busier than usual with research 6/8
Many lecturers with covid relevant expertise have also been volunteering their time to help prevent the spread of covid (eg reviewing literature, writing guidelines, serving on task forces, designing tools) on top of their day jobs 7/8
So please do not think universities have been closed or will be closed if in person teaching is not taking place. Teaching is happening, research is happening and lecturing & support staff are working hard in difficult circumstances. 8/8
