COVID Developments and News

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Atmo

OT, but that reminded me of a paper I wrote for one of my undergrad majors. It was the early days of the WWW and from my travels to 3rd world countries, grasped and promoted the concept of remote online learning in the paper.

Hooboy, I didn't think that one through. My professor came unglued. He had a vested interest in graduating more BS Ed. people to feather the nest of his department. My concept was perceived as a direct threat to the status quo so I abandoned it and pumped out some generic boilerplate to soothe the powers that be.

A few years later I saw the concept being deployed successfully and fantasized that I could've been the next Fred Smith by ignoring the ideologues, a valuable lesson going forward.

it's honestly a little aggravating at how fast/hard schools are pushing to be back in-person, especially at the higher education level. ya'll are just going to assign/phone-in 3 chapters of a book, and then make me take a test on it later, wtf do i need to see you in person for?

[p1l0t]

Oh is 100% now that the vaccine does more harm than good with the exception of highly at-risk individuals which is what the focus should have been to begin with. But oh well lesson learned.

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[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by soundman98

it's honestly a little aggravating at how fast/hard schools are pushing to be back in-person, especially at the higher education level. ya'll are just going to assign/phone-in 3 chapters of a book, and then make me take a test on it later, wtf do i need to see you in person for?

I’m starting nursing school next week. Hybrid learning—online and in person for labs. Mandatory masks. We are all vaccinated though.

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

Oh is 100% now that the vaccine does more harm than good with the exception of highly at-risk individuals which is what the focus should have been to begin with. But oh well lesson learned.

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I haven’t seen any vaccine deaths, vaccine ICU patients or vaccine critical patients in the ER. I’ve seen plenty of COVID patients who were young (under 40) in critical condition with no medical history.

2 million have been hospitalized for COVID, which is one in 135. Over 500,000 of those were 18-49, which 1 in less than 1000. 35,000 were under 18 years old. Are you saying you know all these people had prexisting conditions or at high risk? These numbers keep growing and maybe 10% or 20% wouldn’t worry people. The point isn’t to worry anyone. It is to have sympathy for others. A vaccine is far easier to sustain for your country men and women than their deaths and their hospitalizations. The hospital ERs are still getting flooded with less severe cases that don’t get admitted, who still need breathing treatments and other tests. Targeted vaccines don’t improve that situation. Vaccines will also slow the spread or potentially stop the spread. More hosts mean more variants. More variants mean more spreading, potentially even in asymptomatic vaccinated people, which is why we need mass vaccinations.

https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/covidnet/COVID19_5.html

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by soundman98

it's honestly a little aggravating at how fast/hard schools are pushing to be back in-person, especially at the higher education level. ya'll are just going to assign/phone-in 3 chapters of a book, and then make me take a test on it later, wtf do i need to see you in person for?

Reminds me of many of my undergraduate classes. Yep, although they were "in person", one couldn't hardly see the instructor and couldn't hear them too good either. If you had a question - good luck -

The classes might as well been "remote" - oh, wait one - the Internet hadn't been invented yet -

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

I’m starting nursing school next week. Hybrid learning—online and in person for labs. Mandatory masks. We are all vaccinated though.

I wish you well with your studies -

Yep, I remember them good ol college days -

[Irace86.2.0]

Thanks.

Originally Posted by humfrz

Reminds me of many of my undergraduate classes. Yep, although they were "in person", one couldn't hardly see the instructor and couldn't hear them too good either. If you had a question - good luck -

The classes might as well been "remote" - oh, wait one - the Internet hadn't been invented yet -

I attended a UC Davis class with 625 students, but that pales in comparison to this 1600 student psych class. Does anybody have a question?

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/17/n...r-teacher.html

[Irace86.2.0]

New Data Shows Not Getting Vaccinated in Pregnancy Is the Riskier Choice

https://lifehacker.com/new-data-show...s-t-1847475082

[wbradley]

Originally Posted by reni

Texas hospitals putting up tents to deal with covid overflow
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/09/u...rnd/index.html

99.5% of their covid deaths are unvaccinated
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07...inated-deaths/

Originally Posted by p1l0t

Oh is 100% now that the vaccine does more harm than good with the exception of highly at-risk individuals which is what the focus should have been to begin with. But oh well lesson learned.

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I wouldn't wish a symptomatic infection on someone who could just as easily have been vaccinated. That's a lot of confidence there. Not sure it's intelligent, but confidence nonetheless.

[p1l0t]

Yes of course thanks to the vaccine healthy individuals will only get mild symptoms and transmit it to a few less people... (as if that wouldn't be the case anyway)

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[Capt Spaulding]

Originally Posted by soundman98

it's honestly a little aggravating at how fast/hard schools are pushing to be back in-person, especially at the higher education level. ya'll are just going to assign/phone-in 3 chapters of a book, and then make me take a test on it later, wtf do i need to see you in person for?

In my opinion, the difference between in person and remote classes at the university level is huge. There are three levels of instructional contact that I've experienced. In person, synchronous remote, and asynchronous remote. In person everyone is familiar with; synchronous remote is class meeting via Zoom or Teams or some such; asynchronous remote recording video lectures.

In person is by far the best - for students and (for faculty who actually care about the teaching part of the job) for faculty. In person students present all sorts of cues as to how well they are understanding the points being made at particular points in a lecture/discussion. The questions they ask provide opportunities for elucidating finer points of a subject, questions the professor asks them stretch their thinking and that of the student(s) who are observing the discussion. There's a lot more to the in-class dynamic that can't be replicated remotely.

Remote synchronous retains the element of dynamic verbal interaction, but the subtleties are largely lost. Think of driving a sports car wearing welders' goggles and gloves with divers' boots. You have a vague sense of the impact the discussion is having, but no sensitivity as to its impact. It requires much more effort on the student's part to stay engaged and often, they don't. When they drift, it is much harder to see it and bring them back.

Remote asynchronous is IMO truly phoning it in. The only interaction with students is via email generally. The professor records lectures, the students watch lectures and take tests and then complain about grades. My lazier or disdainful colleagues loved it. I hated it, and most of the students I discussed it with did too.

In the end, I guess it depends on what you (as a professor) care about. If you like and care about students, remote instruction sucks ass. For students who see college as a way to get their ticket punched, it is a goo thing. For professors who want to impart or students who want to receive an education, remote is inferior in every way imaginable.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

In the end, I guess it depends on what you (as a professor) care about. If you like and care about students, remote instruction sucks ass. For students who see college as a way to get their ticket punched, it is a goo thing. For professors who want to impart or students who want to receive an education, remote is inferior in every way imaginable.

It has been really hard on vocational and trade schools. Remote learning is not an option for quite a bit of it. We have one guy here we paid to go through a vocational program for work, he has not been able to finish it. Spring 2020 was supposed to be his last term.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

It has been really hard on vocational and trade schools. Remote learning is not an option for quite a bit of it. We have one guy here we paid to go through a vocational program for work, he has not been able to finish it. Spring 2020 was supposed to be his last term.

Why not?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Why not?

The last part he needs to do is mostly a lab and the school he is going to was closed to in person learning. That part of the program is only available in the spring term.