LL#1's college has really kind of screwed the pooch on the whole coronavirus thing. They announced last Wednesday at 4:30pm that effective the next day at 8am, all classes would be online only through April 12th. They gave students and profs no time to prepare - she literally woke up Thursday with no idea how classes would work and had a midterm scheduled for that day with no idea how to take it. It was a mess! Their spring break was originally scheduled for 3/20 and they did not cancel anything prior to that - just business as usual (except online) up to break. LL#1 opted to stay and try to figure out the whole online class thing at school, intending to come home for her previously scheduled break on 3/20 and then just stay home til in person classes resumed. She doesn't do well with online classes in general so she was dreading this transition.

So then last Friday they announced that they would not be resuming classes on the 12th and that everyone should move out by March 27th. Most of the kids left over this past weekend. But LL#1 has 2 huge midterms and a big project due this week and she did not want to spare the time it would take her to pack up and move out of the dorm and drive home (a 10 hour drive). So she opted to stay through this week - we are currently intending to drive out Friday, start packing her dorm room up Friday after dinner (her last test must be taken online at a specific time and ends at 4pm friday), stay overnight, finish packing Saturday am and drive home Saturday.

But she has been hearing rumors that Ohio is going to shut down the entire state and not let anyone in or out. Can they do that? I've offered to drop everything and go get her now, but she insists that her schoolwork schedule does not allow for that much disruption and I get that - she would lose an entire day just in drive time, not to mention how long it would take to pack her stuff up, take some of it to storage, load up the car with the rest, etc. I just don't want to see her stuck in a deserted dorm on a deserted campus for the next 8 weeks. They've already shut down the dining halls and are only offering to-go options which probably means she isn't eating anything because she hates sandwiches and other typical to-go fare.

I just think it is crappy that her professors haven't let up at all on the work schedule - they aren't allowing any leeway for missing the tests - they have to be taken at a specific time in a totally quiet and undisturbed room (they have some kind of proctoring system monitoring for noise etc. while you take the test.) Seems like other colleges extended break or gave time off for the kids to actually move out but hers hasn't and I'm worried that because she's trying to keep up with her schoolwork schedule, she's going to get trapped there.

Do you think states could actually shut down their borders?

Answer...no.

I suppose anything is possible, but I don't think it's likely that borders would be closed between states.

That said, I think that it's possible that train and plane travel might be severely restricted. And those restrictions would likely happen first and be a warning.

If you think about the mechanics of enforcing border control, it doesn't seem like deploying forces (like the National Guard, say) to close off roads between states is a good use of resources.

I'm thinking you guys will be fine and should be able to get her back.

There have been rumors that Trump is talking about shutting state borders. But the one's he's talking about are Washington and California.

Think of how many small roads there are between Ohio and Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. How would you even be able to do that?

Even in the "containment zone" in New Rochelle, they haven't prohibited travel in and out.

So no, I don't expect that. But it is the drastic absolute last step.

I'm so sorry to hear this! We (faculty in my building) had talked a lot about how important it is to be flexible and make sure we make appropriate adjustments for students.

Obviously, your daughter's school isn't taking that same approach, and it must be communicated above that instructors need to maintain the same activities etc. I'm so, so sorry, I know that weighs heavily on students.

Re the test-taking, they are probably using a lockdown browser with a web-cam component that "watches" the student taking the test. Those programs monitor using AI, and if the student moves, looks away etc. they get flagged, and then I think (I hope) reviewed by a human for possible cheating.

It's draconian and I don't plan to use it.

As to your other question: can state borders be closed? I would imagine they might be able to try to prevent people from entering, but why would one state prevent someone from leaving when the neighboring state wasn't doing anything?

having said that, the other detail is that I can't imagine in practice how closing a state's borders would work, they can't patrol every road into the state, it just wouldn't work.

I would also imagine, given that the US as a nation gave advance warning so that people abroad could come home, that the state would do something similar.

In the meantime, how about calling the provost's office to complain. I think the school is being completely unreasonable!

SK - honestly, I don't think the school has given the profs much guidance. Some are giving leeway, while others aren't giving anything at all. LL#1's profs have said that they'll drop the lowest test score or somesuch, but that if she misses, she gets a zero (no makeups) so that would be the test that gets dropped. She'd rather have her actual lowest score get dropped so she doesn't want to take the zero. Some profs have been downright cruel (not hers, thankfully), saying "if you can't figure it out (it as in the whole online move - like if your computer won't run the webex software or you don't have a good internet connection or you can't get the test proctoring extension to run in your browser or whatever), drop the class." Others are like "everyone just gets the grade they have right now as a final grade" -- it's all over the map. And yes, they are using that test proctoring thing that analyzes via webcam for any looking away, loud noises, talking, etc. For a kid who already has an IEP for anxiety, the feeling that she is being scrutinized and recorded is stressing her out badly. This whole transition is going to be a disaster and I hope she manages to come out of the semester in an ok place both grade-wise and mental-health wise.

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For a kid who already has an IEP for anxiety, the feeling that she is being scrutinized and recorded is stressing her out badly.

I'm so sorry! I wish she were my student!

I have students who have accommodations where they get 1.5 time for exams and take them in the testing center. We can't recreate that online, so I'm planning to completely change how I do the exams so that students needing accommodations are not disadvantaged.

Best of luck sorting this out, make sure your daughter knows to advocate for herself, to the extent that she can.

Also, to the teachers who say "if you can't figure it out, drop" -- seriously?? F*** right off, ok?



Besides all of the other things that are wrong with this, a lot of students can't drop classes because if they go below full time, they loss financial aid eligibility and possibly health insurance.

Any teacher who isn't sensitive to these issues, esp in this day and age, shouldn't be teaching.

I doubt any closure would be "real." They might station the national guard at state borders and have a road block to figure out where people are going and why. But it seems very extreme and unnecessary.

I mean, if you are from PA and want to go MD, well . . . there's nothing to *do* here other than sit in your house. So come on down!

Lisa, I can't say about your daughter's school, but where my daughter teaches the 'online learning' is essentially a fairy tale. They won't be giving grades, not even pass fail. So if the kids don't do them there's no consequence.

They had no time at all to prepare for what sounds simple but in fact is not. I have to believe that goes for colleges as well. They won't be going back this term anyway.

And Quirt's right. They can't shut the state borders down. Even if they could it would just slow down an already limping supply chain.

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where my daughter teaches

Does your daughter teach K-12 or post-secondary?

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Also, to the teachers who say "if you can't figure it out, drop" -- seriously?? F*** right off, ok?

SK!!


I'm not getting how any school could have been caught so unprepared. What IS this school? We've been able to think about this for a month now.

At W&M we have been given two+ weeks to make the shift, with lots of resources offered to help in the transition. I'll be spending some quality time over the next two days determining how best to use Panopto, Zoom, and various online testing options (one of which is to rely on the strict honor code).

The quality of the education will decline, but we'll muddle through. Lots of people will get some experience at adding online bells and whistles to their classes, so this should add some value to face-to-face classes going forward.

BTW, the market was down 13% today ... but Zoom rose.

Oops, sorry, I forgot myself...

No you didn't. You meant exactly what you said, and rightly so!