I just extended all deadlines in my Spring courses and wrote to my students: “I know many of you will need some extra time. However, I also want to share a useful Twitter thread about productivity.” https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/1239631950383468544

The @Wikimedia company has moved to a “50% work expectation.” So, all employees are being paid their full-time wage but only required to be 50% productive. This is in place to "reduce cognitive strain so people can stay healthy and care for loved ones."

The CEO continues, "We're not tracking our colleagues' time. People will work when they can and when they can't, we trust they'll be right."

I continued in my message to students: “All of this is to say that I want each of you to take care and trust your own instincts about what you are capable of.”

“If working on the project for our course is helping you right now, go with a gusto. And I encourage you to adapt or modify what you're doing to make it even more useful for you personally (as an item for your own portfolio or just because it's fun).”

“If you can't be quite as ambitious with this project as you originally planned, everyone will understand. And reach out to me if you need anything.”

“Whatever else, remember this line from our syllabus, which is suddenly even more important: ‘You should consider this course a busy-work-free zone. If an assignment does not feel productive, we can find ways to modify, remix, or repurpose the instructions.’”

Some of us won’t even be capable of 50% productivity right now. And that’s okay. Remember that the students most likely to be struggling in this moment are the ones who were already struggling. And this goes for our adjunct and contingent faculty colleagues as well.