The @nytimes piece on faculty reluctance to return to campus is misleading and magnifies an already existing problem in the conversation. 1/x

What is being offered by universities seeking to bring students back to campus is *NOT* a return to what classes looked like in Jan 2020. The reality available at this juncture is very different and this is what profs are worried about. 2/x

For me, this is fundamentally a pedagogical question. I am deeply concerned about the quality of instruction I will be able to deliver to my students in the fall. Socially-distanced face-to-face teaching bears little resemblance to actual 2f2. 3/x

To pretend otherwise is misleading to students, parents, and the wider community. Socially-distanced f2f means that students will have to try to make out what I am saying through a mask (or a face shield?); 4/x

it means they will have to struggle to understand what their peers are saying in discussion; it means I cannot have students collaborate on small projects or small discussions while maintaining social distance. In short, it eliminates most benefits of real f2f. 5/x

Socially-distanced f2f and accessibility considerations also require I make provisions for students who cannot or would prefer not to attend class in person, ideally via synchronous methods such as having them zoom into class. 6/x

Even if I spend the class session glued to my laptop (not great for the students *in* class), the students zooming in will struggle to hear what others in class are saying, and vice versa. This is a further hit to the key benefits of f2f. 7/x

For my lecture course (which will enroll up to 100 students) I could create an audio recording of my lecture. However there will be real challenges to the audio quality (remember: mask, face shield) and this recording wouldn’t be synced with the PowerPoint slides 8/x

Or include contributions from the other students (whether spoken or contributed via platforms such as PollEverywhere). I can find ways to give a lot of this material to students not present but this would be in pieces, burdening them with putting the puzzle together. 9/x

Delivering a live (and recorded) lecture via zoom allows me to (1) speak clearly, (2) to easily sync audio and visual components, (3) to integrate polls, student comments, questions, and other contributions that are part of the record for everyone’s later reference; 10/x

(4) zoom also has the option for adding closed captions in a relatively efficient manner (within a few hours in my experience) which is great for all kinds of students. Considering the drawbacks and practicalities, it is hard to see the benefits of so-called f2f. 11/x

I have yet to say anything about the very real risks of concentrating up to 102 (including me and the TA) people in a room in the context of the ongoing pandemic, let alone the bottlenecks that will be inevitable as students try to move between classes on a large campus, 12/x

something that is already difficult for students, and not only those with mobility issues. But that is my point: reluctance about “returning” (a specious term at best) is also a matter of concern about what happens once we are in the classroom, when the work 13/x

Of teaching and learning is meant to take place. It is about the pedagogical challenges stemming from the present crisis. It is about the work professors do and care deeply about. I dearly miss real f2f, I am deeply enriched by the energy of sharing a room with students. 14/x

As I learned in the spring, a zoom room is *much* harder to read; it is harder to remain engaged and as with all forms of distance learning it requires a lot more effort from all involved. 15/x

I’ve been teaching f2f for long enough that I have my groove, it comes (relatively) easy. I really enjoy it, and there are few things as fun as the high of a good teaching day. 16/x

But I also know that this is not what is on the table for the fall. To pretend otherwise is to ignore the very challenges that lie before us. My large lecture course will be remote and I am going to work hard to make it the best it can possibly be. 17/x

This will involve taking apart my usual plans and practices, challenging myself as a teacher in ways I haven’t needed to in years. It is going to be hard. It could also be fun. Certainly I will learn from it and it will likely make a better teacher in the long run. 18/x

To frame this as a question of laziness or not wanting to come to campus is bullshit. 19/x

Also: my university has yet to announce plans for restoring access to the physical library holdings for students and faculty. The library has worked very hard on digital options, but these can only go so far (the fault here is more often with publishers than libraries). 20/x

Access to the physical collections of a university library is crucial to the work of research, teaching, and learning. We cannot pretend a return to “normal” without it. 21/x

And finally: Penn State lost its first student to COVID 19 yesterday: https://news.psu.edu/story/624840/2020/07/02/administration/penn-state-student-dies-covid-19-complications-allentown. I fear it will be a very long and sad fall.