This morning at 6am, I shot out of bed. This is a rare thing these days. Usually I don’t get up until 7 or 8am. I knew I needed to pick up some polarizers from work for an online out-reach event we are doing tomorrow. (Its going to be awesome! Thank you for putting it together James and Katie.) I wanted to get to campus and back before traffic and snow.

I was walking around the department at 7am picking things up, checking my mail, and in general feeling sad about my decision to start my classes online. I miss my students! I miss hanging out with members of the department. I miss getting to communicate in person. I miss my office.

So I thought I would explain my logic for the class schedule this semester. Hopefully this will reduce my sadness about my decision to hold classes online for now (of course sadness is a way of life these days):

Benefit of Online Classes

• Increased safety for everyone.
  • There are still a crap ton of people out there getting sick (people I know well). That graph looks like a plateau, even though I pray it starting to fall.
  • There are new strains out there that may or may not be worse than the already bad pandemic
  • Even if I get my vaccine, which I could if I could figure out how. My family or my students wouldn’t have it yet.
  • Everyone’s safety can met first.
• Selfish reasons
  • No commute
  • More family time
  • I get to work at my brand new desk

Cost of Online Classes

• Reduced quality of instruction. I have been teaching myself how to be a good online instructor, but I am not at the same level I am in person.
• From my own experience Adelphi students do better with in-person meetings
• Hang out time with students.
  • I enjoy my students (selfish)
  • Its good to be able to check in with all my students with just a look after class. Not always possible online
• Physics club is remote. 🙁

I would like to do the reverse of last semester. I would like to start online and end up in person (if possible). I have the times and the classrooms. I want to keep talking with my students, find out what they want and need, do the safe thing, but also meet their needs as an instructor.

So I will definitely be remote through most of February. After a couple of weeks, I will send out a survey to the students and check over the COVID numbers on the NY Times and then make a decision based on that information. I will then keep updating the decision every three weeks as the semester moves along.

Unfortunately, upper-level courses don’t lend themselves to being taught outside by the amount of math that needs done. Good luck fitting all the math on tiny white board.