Princeton University Moving to Virtual Classes

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Princeton University announced it is moving to virtual classes in an effort to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Starting March 23rd, classes will be held online and students can “attend” from home instead of returning to campus after spring break. I do not know what platform Princeton University is using however this has to be helpful to Zoom. I imagine other educational institutions will follow this policy as well and some of them will probably select Zoom as their platform.

Wiseguy

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/03/09/cor…

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From Princeton’s Website:

"Zoom: You may use Zoom as a recording tool, and record a lecture that your students watch later. For instructions on how to use Zoom, see Pedagogical and Technical Help. "

https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/node/3276

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UC Berkeley has done the same. Don’t know what platform they are using.

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March 23rd is 2 weeks away. What are they doing until then?

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March 23rd is 2 weeks away. What are they doing until then?

Spring break.

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Harvard also sent an announcement for their folks to get familiarized with Zoom. Here’s a link to set up account. These large purchases must move the needle in the next coming quarters.

https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp?id=kb_article&sys…

Long ZM.

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The thing about technology is it changes things and drives down costs. I no longer write checks put them in a stamped envelope and mail them, now I pay my bills online. I no longer need a broker to buy and sell stocks, now I do it myself and its free. I have a $200 cell phone that connects me to the internet, texts, makes phone calls and takes good quality pictures that I can share with friends and family. Cell phones can do much more that, but that’s what I do with mine. When I was a child when using the phone we had to worry about long distance charges. Anything outside of a 25 mile radius was long distance and we were charged by the minute. Now I call anywhere in the United States, talk as long as I want, text as much as I want, surf as much as I want and all for $40 per month. What a bargain. Now most everything I buy is ordered on the internet and delivered to my door. I still have cable but also have a Roku stick and am starting to stream more and more, at some point I’m sure I’ll cut the cord.

Now, due to the corona virus, we have Universities getting ready to hold classes via Zoom (or others) and business canceling face to face meetings and using Zoom (or others) instead. Unless I miss my guess some meetings and classes will never go back to the old face to face. Too many advantages to use Zoom (or others).

I know you know all this. I know today was a tough day. I also know we are fortunate to be able to be investors at this time and take advantage of what technology offers. Besides it kinda exciting to witness all the changes.

Kindest Regards,
Steve

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Now, due to the corona virus, we have Universities getting ready to hold classes via Zoom (or others) and business canceling face to face meetings and using Zoom (or others) instead. Unless I miss my guess some meetings and classes will never go back to the old face to face. Too many advantages to use Zoom (or others).

I just wonder if people are posting every single time they run across Zoom on here and ignoring the times they run across a WebEx for example. So I did some searching.

University of Washington is cancelling in person and doing remote, via Zoom. So is Stanford.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/09/colleges-move…

Amherst College is also temporarily doing remote only. I couldn’t find what they were using until I typed in “Amherst College Zoom” and found this:
https://www.amherst.edu/offices/it/services/communication/vi…

Finally I found a list that was compiled that provided links that many colleges put up on how they are addressing Coronavirus and what steps they are taking.

It’s a google documents spreadsheet that’s in a link in the following article.
https://www.educationdive.com/news/as-coronavirus-concerns-r…

Abilene Christian University: Zoom
American University: Blackboard Collaborate
Arizona State University: Zoom
Auburn University: Zoom
Baruch College, City University of New York: Blackboard
Boston University: Microsoft Teams
Bowdoin College: Blackboard
Brandeis University: Zoom
Brown University: Zoom
Bryn Mawr College: Skype for Business

I could go on but it’s pretty clear that Zoom is well represented. Note: These are not all colleges that have switched to online only. This information was from pages that were set up on how to handle the coronavirus, or, how teachers could communicate with students at times of disruption. So if the schools DID go in the online only direction, they already have a plan in place.

As of right now I think around 20 colleges have stopped in person courses.

I put this out here because I think “I just found out so and so college (or company) switched to Zoom” is at best useless information. Nobody is coming on here saying a college is using Teams or Blackboard. Why is that? I will say, however, it is surprising that Zoom already has such a stronghold in the education community, when this area has been so well entrenched by companies such as Blackboard and 2U. But I think the more general public facing nature of Zoom, it gets people thinking they’re really on to something when they find out their company, or they know of a company, or their brother in law’s neighbor’s company, uses Zoom. So they come here and report it and the board gets really filtered viewpoint on Zoom’s usage in the world. Because we’re not getting the offsetting “my cousin’s company is going to Teams” reports.

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Add my Alma mater to the list:

Columbia U. suspended classes for Monday, March 9 and Tuesday, March 10 to allow for preparation to shift to remote classes for the remainder of the week. No indication who they’ll use, https://www.columbia.edu/content/coronavirus, but I am sure if that case is confirmed they’ll keep remote classes until the COVID-19 fear subsides.

I. M. Young

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It’s a google documents spreadsheet that’s in a link in the following article.

Where in that article is the link?

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Not my Alma Mater (mine is their cross state rival)
Just posting to show that not everyone is moving in the same direction…

Statement tonight from the University of Alabama: The University of Alabama has no plans of closing, canceling courses or moving to online-only courses after Spring break. Our campus has a number of comprehensive plans to address emergencies and a variety of contingencies. We continuously review and keep those plans updated.

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This is the spreadsheet listing all the contingency plans from various colleges:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VT9oiNYPyiEsGHBoDKlw…

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That list of what all the universities are doing is a great resource, thanks.
As of 2 minutes ago Johns Hopkins just cancelled all classes for the next week and will resume with e-learning through April 12 at least.
This is going to be an adventure.
We have a lot of options, I’m choosing Zoom :slight_smile:

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I can confirm that UCLA has suspended all classes for the next thirty days as well as any in person gathering over 100 people. The UW is restricting in person gatherings greater than eight people (might be twelve). If UCLA is doing it, it’s likely the other ten campuses have or will soon. For comparison with enterprise, UC student enrollment is about 300,000, staff about 200,000, annual budget about 35 billion. This excludes the five medical school campuses and law school. As mentioned in a prior post, ZM is the official recommended remote meeting software, and as also mentioned Teams is not, despite the campus-wide Microsoft subscription (nor Blackboard).

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The recent decisions by colleges and universities to go to online courses could have mixed results for Zoom over the next year or two. Well designed on-line courses are extremely valuable. I designed several old-school (early 2000’s) in-service on-line courses for teachers and used some on-line units to supplement my high school senior/college freshman dual enrollment writing classes.

However, poorly designed on-line courses without proper support can be terrible. So as instructors (some a bit tech challenged) have to re-tool everything in a short period of time to create on-line classes, the experience could be negative enough to convince them that they never want to do an on-line course again. Some students may have similar experiences. So if enough people are using Zoom to conference ineffectively, they may slow the school’s willingness to use Zoom more frequently on a long term basis.

Also, some classes (especially those with clinical components) need to meet in person to be effective. I have seen several former students (now in college) complaining about the decision to go on-line. If their initial exposure to a Zoom class conference is poor, that may make them less willing to try it more permanently.

On the other hand, instructors are asking for help and guidance on designing on-line classes in a short amount of time, and much of the advice they are receiving mentions Zoom by name. I’ve included a link from an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education which mentions Zoom several times. Most instructors and departments will probably use the recommended technology (in this case Zoom) rather than search for alternatives. Once they start with Zoom, they will most likely continue to use it rather than other conferencing options. Some will continue to use it to supplement regular classes once the coronavirus concerns have passed or to expand their school’s on-line offerings.

Here are the two most relevant passages from the article to show that instructors are being encourage to use Zoom:

A detailed Google doc, written by Jenae Cohn and Beth Seltzer — both academic-tech specialists at Stanford University — is geared for Stanford, but there’s a lot there that anyone can use.
Their guide is particularly noteworthy for how it breaks down the synchronous-asynchronous distinction, explaining advantages and disadvantages of each and offering guidance about how to use Zoom for virtual meetings.

In particular, this mini-reflection should help you decide whether to go with a synchronous means of engagement (e.g., a real-time Zoom meeting), an asynchronous one (e.g., VoiceThread decks or narrated videos), or some combination of the two.

All the best,

Raymond

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