Thread by @ryankatzrosene

I REALLY, REALLY hope we can return to in-person teaching in September (though I recognize that might not happen). Either way, here're some things I hope the ‘higher-ups’ at my university are thinking about NOW to make the return to school safe experience… whenever it may come:

HAND WASHING STATIONS
Start putting these up everywhere. In the entrances to buildings. In pedestrian ’chokepoints’ - including outdoor spaces (for the warmer months)… make it VERY EASY to wash your hands frequently.

FREE MASKS, THERMOMETER (or THERMAL IMAGING?) CHECKPOINTS:
Every building should have a kiosk at main entrances where people offer out free masks, offer randomized and/or voluntary temperature screenings, and provide the latest COVID-19 information.

INSTALL AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENERS EVERYWHERE (or better yet, remove doors, like in some ‘wrap-around’ washrooms) so no one has to touch a single door handle on campus. Doors are key transmission points.

ELEVATOR BUTTONS… Not sure about this one, but one option - like a Sabbath elevator - is to set it up so it stops at every single floor, so you wouldn’t have to push buttons. Slow, I know… but beats an elevator operator (?).

REDUCE MAX ELEVATOR CAPACITY: The lack of personal space on elevators is an issue. We’ll definitely have to limit number of people in the elevator at one time. Floor markings can help keep people distanced while lining up/waiting for the elevator (and exit/entrance lines).

FLOOR MARKINGS in any place where there are often line-ups (cafeteria and coffee shop check outs, etc.) - these can help distance patrons.

PLEXIGLASS SHIELDS - These should be installed at all places of direct person-to-person exchange (like at cafeteria or store check-outs, the Docucentre, library desk, and Registrar’s desk, etc).

CHANGE SICK POLICY - (This should be done regardless of pandemic…) don’t require people who are sick to go get a medical note in person. Set up online medical consultation process for sick notes and provide online options so that missed classes/assessments can be easily made up.

REDUCE CLASS SIZES - Those large lecture halls are a problem. We’ll have to cordon-off seats like they do at Presidential press briefings so that students are not seated so closely together like sardines. This will mean operating classes at around ~50% capacity I presume.

REDUCE CLASS LENGTHS - In order to compensate for the need for more total classes we may want to reduce the typical class time, from , say 1h25 mins to 1 hour; or from 2h50mins to 2 hours... offer more courses overall.

LONGER TRANSITION PERIODS BETWEEN CLASSES - There’s a real risk of transmission during the shuffle between classes where students are leaving a lecture hall while others are entering: Increase transition times a bit AND designate class ENTRANCES & EXITS.

COMPUTER CONSOLES/PODIUMS - These pose a risk to instructors. One option is to have a little Lysol wipes dispenser next to the main computer consoles, so that they can be wiped down before and after each class.

EXCHANGE SHARED COMPUTERS FOR LAPTOPS - Those computer labs for students to work at... so 20th Century (lol)! It’s time to bite the bullet and just offer any student who needs one a FREE LAPTOP for their personal use throughout the school year.

INTRODUCE ‘COHORTS’ - This paper identified a real challenge with universities and the risk of transmission. One option is to introduce ‘cohorts’ for first (and second?) year students - where the same group of students stick together across core courses… osf.io/6kuet/

INTRODUCE SEMI-SEMESTERS:
In theory you could divide the FALL and WINTER semesters into four semi-semesters, so that core courses are done with cohorts during first 3 semi-semesters and then electives taken in the final semi-semester(?).

SET UP AN INTERNAL CONTACT TRACING DEPARTMENT - Set up a unit which monitors cases and helps identify and notify others (anonymously of course) if they may have been exposed.

UPDATE/LINK SecurUO APP to enable pandemic related notifications. Tied to above. Could be used to notify people who may have been exposed (but you’d have to improve the app so that it only notifies the right people).

TESTING, TESTING, TESTING - As Dr. Paxson recently argued in this op-ed, opening universities in the fall would require widespread and quick testing… we’d need to set something up that allows frequent, quick, repeated testing.
nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opi…

PREPARE FOR CHANGING COMMUTING HABITS: Expect people to be trying to avoid public transit. This means advocating cycling, improving cycle parking infrastructure, maybe even expanding parking spaces (for a bit😬), and lobbying OCTranspo to implement enhanced public health measures

HAVE ALL COURSES have a ‘Plan B’ for DIGITAL TRANSITION: I’ve been scarred for life and will always do this going forward… lol. MY plan is to load videos of all my lectures so sick/quarantined students can easily access them and so a sudden digital transition isn’t so jarring.

ENCOURAGE CAPSTONE PROJECTS instead of FINAL EXAMS: It may be time to rethink the need for large sit down exams. Are there other ways we can get students to demonstrate what they’ve learned? Ways that can easily be turned ‘digital’ if schools suddenly close?

What am I missing?
How do things differ on YOUR campus?
We keep hearing things won’t return to normal 'til there’s a vaccine, and that likely won’t be available ’til Summer 2021. The current record for vaccine development is 4 YEARS (!). Time to prepare for long haul changes…

Your thoughts @AlexUsherHESA ? Too much? Too soon? Too costly?