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I filled out a TA multiple choice questionaire recently about teaching during pandemic. Did I feel supported in access to remote teaching tools? Did I need workshops on how to run an online discussion, test prep,? etc.

What was unasked and therefore unstated is the trauma students are facing amid an administrative effort to carry on, do our best, and talks about our "Fill-in-the-Mascot" Family. In my class we hear stories of students forced to leave campus and return to unsafe family home environments. Many students lost their on-campus jobs, yet are still stuck in rental contracts, with full tuition fees, and reduced campus services. Many students discovered they were on-call "essential" workers which has played havoc with their health concerns and class engagement. We also have students with COVID19 trying to stay on top of their course workload because they are supposed to graduate this Spring. 

Meanwhile as I talk to students I hear that most of their classes are recorded lectures taught asynchronously. They tell us that they often binge listen to these at 1.5x speed just to get through them. --This is the mode of online learning that Robert Post in his NCA post describes as "effective and efficient" for the "tramission of information." I wonder who isn't he talking about.

In trying to teaching using zoom during the pandemic, Sharon Traweek and I have held synchronous online class discussions. Many students have told us this is their only synchronous class this quarter. We have tried to teach students to think critically in/of zoom as a built environment. To ask what  assumptions, hierarchies, epistemologies are built into our online classrooms. We have struggled to find ways to disrupt those pathways with alternative strategies.

In answer to the question what is being foregrounded and obscured? I think in all the reflection about the future of residential and online learning and about the multiple crisis Universities, as well as the rest of us, are facing; what gets obscured is how important and how difficult it is to teach to students that they must think critically with and about the tools they are given and expected to learn.

While I found the article illuminating (I did not read the book), I am frustrated by, what I found, to be the hegemonic visions of political theory and climate change. Is there no space for feminist epistemological stances when imagining future forms of governance? Even their presentation of Climate X--what seemed to me like a quest for a unifying theory of opposition that is neither realistic nor reflects the how resistence movements however stuttering they may be are also a source of possibility and hope.

CDC (updated 4/1) includes a decison-tree on school closures: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/index.html

The US Department of Education, https://www.ed.gov/coronavirus points to Coronavirus.gov and the CDC site as primary sources for schools. ED.gov site appears to be a clearinghouse for links across the Dept. Linked topics like:  fiscal waivers, disability rights, other civil rights, student privacy, and food insecurity. Site links to documents in Spanish and English language.

California Department of Education: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/coronavirus.asp (Updated 4/15/20). Another site which serves as a clearinghouse for California-based governmental guidance to schools. Includes links to student mental health resources https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/cg/mh/studentcrisishelp.asp  as well as Distance Learning, Early Learning, School Meals, Special Education and Child Care

4/16 The Daily Beast ran this headline:"Scientists Tracked COVID-19 Mutat ions—and the Results Are Terrifying" which links to this Forster study and visualization of phylogenetic network of SARS-CoV-2 genomes sampled from across the world.

4/13 The website FiveThirtyEight published this comic on pandemic modeling to explain the wide disparity of predicted deaths by the CDC and a report from the Imperial College of London: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-comic-strip-tour-of-the-wild-world-of-pandemic-modeling/

NYT reporting of CDC forecast which presented during a conference call and not made public: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html?searchResultPosition=2report

Imperial College London, Report 9: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/mrc-gida/2020-03-16-COVID19-Report-9.pdf

According to Human Rights Watch currently 1.5 billion students are out of school this annotation begin assembling articles and media that address how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts young people in terms of food insecurity and how schools are responding to this crisis. 

YOUTH and COVID-19

Source: Human Rights Watch

More than 1.5 billion students are out of school, and widespread job and income loss and economic insecurity are likely to increase rates of child labor, sexual exploitation, teenage pregnancy, and child marriage. Stresses on families, particularly those living under quarantines, lockdowns and other restrictions on freedom of movement, may increase the incidence of violence in the home. As the global death toll from COVID-19 increases, large numbers of children will be orphaned and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/09/covid-19-and-childrens-rights-0#

FOOD INSECURITY

As Covid-19 spreads throughout the United States, schools and child care facilities are balancing their role of helping to prevent disease transmission with ensuring access to food for children who rely on the federal nutrition safety net.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp2005638?articleTools=true

Video: What is food insecurity?

"Food insecurity is often linked with a number of poor health outcomes such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems," said Norbert Wilson, a professor of food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

https://phys.org/news/2020-04-video-food-insecurity.html

Food Security in a Pandemic

https://www.paho.org/disasters/index.php?option=com_docman&view=download&category_slug=tools&alias=533-pandinflu-leadershipduring-tool-7&Itemid=1179&lang=en

What coronavirus means for food insecurity

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/488055-what-coronavirus-means-for-food-insecurity

SCHOOL MEALS

World Food Programme says nearly nine million children the organisation usually feeds are no longer receiving meals

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/21/coronavirus-300-million-children-to-miss-school-meals-amid-shutdowns

USA

How US schools are (and aren’t) providing meals to children in the Covid-19 crisis. Parents rely on schools for children’s meals. Coronavirus has exposed the vulnerabilities of these programs.

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/28/21197965/coronavirus-school-shutdown-free-meals

California

The California Department of Education (CDE) updated their app to help students and families find meals for COVID-19 school closures.

https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel14.asp

Louisiana

In county where every child qualifies for free school meals, a superintendent embarks on a project – driving 6,000 meals a day

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/in-the-poorest-county-in-americas-poorest-state-a-virus-hits-home-hunger-is-rampant

Michigan

Michigan is first state to provide food to families affected by COVID-19 school closures

https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Michigan-is-first-state-to-provide-food-to-families-affected-by-COVID-19-school-closures-569517061.html

Texas

Schools struggle to safely get free meals to needy students

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/covid19/schools-struggle-to-safely-get-free-meals-to-needy-students/article_a7f87437-9708-5a25-a618-7fd46d8816d1.html

UK

“Many families whose children are eligible for free school meals have not received supermarket vouchers as promised by the government because of delays in the supply system, school leaders say.”

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/09/uks-poorest-families-suffering-as-free-school-meal-vouchers-delayed

FOOD AID (mainly US-based)

a list of local, national, and international organizations that are working to ensure food, aid, and medical supplies are delivered to those who need it.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/coronavirus-covid19-organizations-help-food-medical-aid

THIS IS AN EMERGENT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HOW SCHOOLS IN THE US ARE RESPONDING TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, RESULTING SCHOOL CLOSURES AND THE CHALLENGES OF REMOTE TEACHING

Distance Learning and Covid-19

General (including Resources, Disparity, Opting Out)

Educators experienced with remote learning warn that closures are a serious threat to children’s academic progress, safety and social lives. They say that running a classroom digitally is much harder than bringing an adult workplace online, and that it can disproportionately affect low-income students and those with special needs. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/virtual-learning-challenges.html 

A Common Sense Media poll reports that “almost one in four teens (24%) say they're connecting with their teachers less than once a week. Forty-one percent haven't attended an online or virtual class since in-person school was cancelled.” https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/pdfs/2020_surveymonkey-key-findings-toplines-teens-and-coronavirus.pdf 

Distance Learning may only may only exacerbate academic inequities:  https://www.dailynews.com/2020/03/18/during-coronavirus-school-closures-distance-learning-may-only-exacerbate-academic-inequities/    

“Public schools are setting out on an unprecedented experiment: With little training and even fewer resources, in a matter of days they're shifting from a system of education that for centuries has focused on face to face interaction, to one that works entirely at a distance.” https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821921575/the-biggest-distance-learning-experiment-in-history-week-one 

9 Out Of 10 Children Are Out Of School Worldwide. What Now? https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/824964864/nine-out-of-10-of-the-world-s-children-are-out-of-school-what-now 

When New York City closed schools to combat the coronavirus outbreak and ordered remote learning for its more than 1 million students, English teacher Stephanie Paz wasn’t worried about how she would virtually teach her ninth-graders to take notes in the margins of their books or how they would discuss each other’s essays without being in the same room. Her biggest concern was whether they would have the basic technology needed to access their virtual lessons. https://time.com/5810503/coronavirus-achievement-gap-schools/

“A fed up mom went viral this week as she joined the ranks of other fed up parents who logging out of distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic. "This isn't working," Sarah Parcak, an archeologist and University of Alabama at Birmingham professor, told TODAY Parents.” https://www.today.com/parents/some-parents-refuse-remote-learning-will-there-be-consequences-t178188 

LAUSD

LAUSD

The Los Angeles Times reports that in the nation’s second largest school district, “about 15,000 Los Angeles high school students are absent online and have failed to do any schoolwork while more than 40,000 have not been in daily contact with their teachers since March 16, when the coronavirus forced campus shutdowns.” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-30/coronavirus-los-angeles-schools-15000-high-school-students-absent

LAUSD invests 100 million in online learning https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/03/23/lausd-schools-now-closed-may-1/

College Admissions & AP Exams

In response to COVID-19 and school closures the College Board has shortened AP Exams to 45 minutes and one essay each. They also must be taken at the same time worldwide which impacts students in Department of Defense schools (DODEA) worldwide: https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/modified-ap-exams-mean-some-overseas-dodea-students-must-take-tests-when-they-should-be-sleeping-1.625696

Zoom & PRIVACY

NPR, “Schools Ditch Zoom Amid Concerns Over Online Learning Security” https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/06/828087551/schools-ditch-zoom-amid-concerns-over-online-learning-security

The New York City Department of Education advised principals not to use Zoom after privacy concerns about the platform accelerated last week, the department’s chief operating officer said late Sunday in an email obtained by CNBC. The department is now telling schools they should use services provided through Google or Microsoft to connect with students while schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The message comes after a group of at least three state attorneys general said they were probing the company for potential privacy violations. The Connecticut AG, who announced the probe, said he had been “zoombombed” during a forum about the Census, with hundreds of messages flooding the chat box with profanities. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/06/nyc-doe-tells-principals-to-switch-from-zoom-to-google-and-microsoft.html 

Dingtalk (Homework App)

Wuhan students tried to boot remote learning app from the App Store by leaving bad reviews:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/9/21171495/wuhan-students-dingtalk-hooky-nyc-columbia-princeton-app-store-reviews

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n05/wang-xiuying/the-word-from-wuhan

I am sharing an upcoming community speaker series on COVID-19's impact on children and families across LA County. This zoom series is organized by UCLA's Pritzker Center and is free to all. A recording will also be made. UCLA's Pritzker Center focuses on Foster Youth and Families.

Link to the series information is here: https://ampersand.gseis.ucla.edu/ucla-pritzker-center-presents-covid-19…

Topics include:

April 9, Special Education and COVID-19

April 14, Child Abuse and COVID-19

April 16, Immigrant Children and Families and COVID-19

April 21, COVID19 and Contemporary Medical and Legal Issues in Foster Care

and more