MyCrypto - Medium: Whether you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a first-year university student, the topic that’s on everyone’s mind worldwide as we head into Spring of 2020 is the Coronavirus. Governments across the globe are advising people to stay away from large groups, schools are evacuating, and many businesses are opting to have employees work from home (in many cases, for the first time).
10 comments:
This article had some incredibly useful and interesting information about, and suggest for, working at home. With one week in the bag and the second almost halfway over, the School of Drama is off to a very rough start. I think a lot of faculty and staff in the School of Drama should give this article a read. First, the SoD has shown absolutely no regard for timing. There has been almost no talk about people in different time zones. One way to improve this would be for all teachers to be required to record their classes in order to allow people to watch when possible. For someone living in Hawaii, there is absolutely no reason they should need to have their first class start at 4am because they have a 10am in Pittsburgh. Another issue is the lack of communication from some teachers. While most have done well, one of my teachers, who teaches two of my classes, clearly has no regard for his students when it comes to communication. From not touching base with students until hours before our first class, to not being clear in emails and even disregarding to put due dates on their assignments, this teacher does not deserve the attention to time of his students.
some great tips and things to keep in mind from this article:
Some apps can help you manage working from home
People work differently and have different schedules
Don’t keep others hostage. Don’t use group time to talk about something that can be sent in an email
Working at home requires a greater deal of self-discipline
There are many great platforms available for communicating
There are pros and cons to any situation. Working from home is no different
Take breaks and fill your time with something that won’t leave you bored or drained mentally
Make your environment comfortable and motivating
Time to work on yourself. Do some things you otherwise wouldn’t have the time to do (get a plant, do some yoga, eat a salad, call your grandparents)
Make sure you are doing things that you find enjoyable. Yes you can take this time to be a productivity machine and grind out all the to-dos you’ve been putting off, or you could also realize that you are human and need to take a break sometimes and do doing that you enjoy
Reset. Reflect. Take this time to think about things that you might otherwise push to the back of your mind. Read the news and learn about the world (and don’t just read corona news, you’ll get depressed fast!)
I think that the systems that CMU and the school of drama have been great so far and I am very appreciative of all the work that has gone into moving classes online. Working with the circumstances I think that CMU students are very fortunate with the speed at which classes have moved online. It has been frustrating at times not going to lie, but I think that everyone is trying their best and figuring this mess of a situation out.
Boy, do I need this article in my life right now. I've been having a pretty hard time adjusting to this new work environment. I am someone who needs structure to do well, and that means waking up, getting ready, going to class, etc. etc. I can only work when I am on a strict routine, and at school, I never had the chance to stray away from that routine. Being home, and not having to get dressed or get out of bed to go to class has been pretty detrimental to my productivity. Including all my daily naps, I am sleeping about 15-17 hours every day, which is definitely not productive considering I still have classes and all this work to do! My favorite little tip they mentioned, which actually works well for me when I'm not being too lazy to do it, is actually getting dressed and ready for the day. It really motivates me to actually work. Hell, I didn't start doing this week's comments until an hour ago when I took a shower and got dressed. These times have made me really appreciate the structure and routine in my life that I usually have.
It took me a while for me to settle here in Japan after leaving Pittsburgh do with the certain virus. Since my whole family moved to a new house this year, the first thing I had to do before unpacking my suitcases was to buy shelves, a chair and a desk lamp, sort out wi-fi connection problems and so on. It is not always the case that when a person goes home, there will be an organized working environment waiting for them. I think it is important for people to understand that each has a different environment at home. I would like to thank all the teachers who supported me patiently. However, even the environment is settled, I am still having a hard time figuring out how to handle remote classes. Although many of the courses allow students to take courses not on time considering the time differences, it is still challenging to schedule tasks along with the different time zone. It also makes the communication much slower. Luckily, ironically, I still have a lot of time to get used to working from home. I would like to do my best.
I think we can all agree that we cannot treat this situation with any sense of normality. In particular, I think it is foolish to think we can keep our curriculum the same and schedules the same, and just assume everything will work online just as it did before. We need to recognize that this is a whole new style of education. Having taken online theatre classes prior to this, I think we can restructure our courses to benefit our students. First, I think we can find a happy medium between recorded lectures and in person discussions. As of now, many have resorted to one or the other, but that has drawbacks in both directions. It would probably benefit many if we switched to some recorded lectures with one or two in person 'recitations' to discuss what happened in the videos. This way, students can learn at their own pace in their own timezone, but still get the benefit of having a teacher to discuss this with. This article also notes a few ways to maintain productivity in this new world, and I think Communication is the most important of all of them. If we aren't communicating effectively, then what will we get out of this? I hope this might have a beneficial side-effect when we return that emails and meetings will be more efficient, but that is looking beyond all the problems we have now.
I think the SOD is doing a good job adjusting to what has gone on, and I thank all the professors and staff that have take a lot of extra time to get this up and running. Everyone, of course, will have their opinions on what should be done, but we are only two weeks into this and things are already improving. Hopefully we can get the most out of the time we have and turn this situation into something positive.
I found this article to be incredibly informative and wish it was more widely shared because I think some of the topics covered would be really valuable for teachers. At just about two weeks into remote instruction at Carnegie Mellon, I can not quite tell if we are making progress or if I am just getting used to stumbling through continued education. While some professors have really got the hang of Zoom, there has been no discussion, to my knowledge, about class times for students in different time zones. I would certainly be more upset if I suddenly had to get ready for a class at 7:30am that usually takes place at 10:30am on the east coast. Additionally, I think it would be more helpful if all teachers would record their lessons due to the fact that the amount of information being retained is far less than if the instruction was direct and in person. This problem seems to arise when discussing the due dates for assignments and is only worsened by some professors that are not on zoom or canvas. Overall, I think communication still needs to be addressed and prioritized at the level that this article states.
In high school, I often augmented my traditional 7 periods of class with additional online classes, so I thought I would have an easier time adjusting to this new format of learning. I forgot that online classes often sap my motivation right out from under me, that with no formalized lecture or in-person time, I struggle to maintain a steady pace in the class and keep up with the requirements. I think that no matter what phase an institution is in in regards to making the switch to virtual communication and workflow, empathy is needed in large quantities. Professors cannot expect us to make a seamless switch to classes at home, when we were only effectively given 2 days past our spring break to move out of our dorms and get set up at our home, not to mention the mental and emotional adjustment from a whiplash of information and mandates. Likewise, our professors may not get it right the first time, or ever. Many are having to learn new software in order to present classes, and do a 180 on entire curriculum for the last quarter.
This article was pretty helpful given our abnormal circumstances, especially since I don’t particularly enjoy doing my work from home. For their first point of “timing is everything,” it’s a little bit difficult to get to my morning classes fully awake since my time zone is one hour behind. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for some of the students who are in Californima’s time zone and have to deal with behind three hours behind, taking a 10:30am class at 7:30 instead. I think it could help if some of the teacher’s lessons were written out and then they were just there to do check-ins every so often. I also agree that “communication is key,” though I don’t think that’s specific to working at home, since no matter the situation, better communication makes for better results.
I’ll keep saying it, but trying to keep the sense of normality and class schedule like this through virtual means isn’t sustainable and it’s negatively affecting my health. Sitting at the computer for hours upon hours a day looking at the computer is not good for physical and mental health, and something needs to be adjusted. Even taking breaks as often as possible, keeping things organized, and trying to keep the rest of your life healthier isn’t enough to offset ten hours of computer time.
I thought this article was helpful because it acknowledged both pros and cons for working from home for various company and education structures. Everyone is frustrated right now and trying to adapt to entirely new systems of working or learning that had to be put together very quickly with not a lot of preparation, and so a lot of what we’re working with right now is suboptimal. I think personally I’m starting to get into the swing of working online, but I’ve also found myself slipping when it comes to deadlines and communication due to the lack of in-person interaction, and figuring out how to solve that has been frustrating. I think a lot of the tips in the article could be very helpful in terms of trying to maintain structure in our lives in this confusing time, and I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that literally none of us want this to be happening, and we’re all making do with what we can.
It's been very interesting to see different Industries transition to individual at home working environments. My parents both worked from home offices initially, so this part of our society now has not changed for them, but it has definitely affected my work. As a college student, transitioning from the classroom to my bedroom has been pretty difficult. For one, my parents bought me a new desk chair because I was using a kitchen chair, and by the time I got to my second class, my back was killing me. Our classes are very Hands-On and I move around a lot doing physical labor so it's been hard to sit at a desk and look at a screen all day. That being said it's out of our control and we must adjust to this new way of work until the situation improves. I think it's important to take the time in your day to maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout the crisis.
Post a Comment