In this episode, Phil Hill, Jeanette Wiseman, and Kevin Kelly discuss additional details on the Hybrid Flexible model (HyFlex). We then address how institutions that have already invested in the social infrastructure to support quality hybrid and online teaching are likely to fare much better than under-resourced schools (in terms of eLearning support and culture).

Hosts:

* Phil Hill* Jeanette Wiseman* Kevin Kelly

Transcription:

Phil: Hi, I’m Phil Hill, and welcome back to COVID Transitions. I’m here talking to Kevin Kelly and Jeanette Wiseman. Before we get to the topics of the day, we are lucky to have Janette with us today, because there was a family medical emergency that she’s been going through. That really raises a question about how life affects us during this time of COVID. But, you know, without sharing details, but Jeanette – anything you wanted to share with the hospital experience and what it does to families?

Jeanette: Yeah. I will share a little bit so it’s not so cryptic with people probably thinking it is worse than it is.

My husband was on top of the ladder yesterday and fell. It was a pretty high ladder, and he hit his head, had a skull fracture. He wasn’t at home when this happened – he was at his place of business, just cleaning things up.

What’s really scary is once somebody gets into the hospital, that’s it. It’s sort of like a dead zone. I had no idea what was happening other than he was taken in the ambulance to the hospital. And it’s really scary. It was a scary 12 to 14 hours. Luckily, we have a friend who’s a physician who was able to go and be with him and advocate for him a little bit.

I think it just speaks to you’re not going to the hospital, you’re not going to the doctors at this time. When you do it’s a very different place to be. It’s a very different experience to go through. And you feel really helpless. He’s fine, though. He’s going to be OK.

Kevin: I’m so grateful that he’s OK. And I hope he continues to … to heal quickly. I wish I had less experience with this, to say that sounds so unique. But every time it’s proven to be true that someone needs to be an advocate, because health care has changed so dramatically where the focus is less on the patient and more on completing tasks.

It also makes me think about – to pivot slightly toward our topics – our students and even instructors today who are trying to deal with emergency remote teaching while addressing family needs. I co-teach my online course with someone who’s down in the L.A. area, and her mother had a stroke and recently passed away, and she couldn’t even visit because of the restrictions around hospital visits. The whole experience of not being able to, to be with your own mother in a time of crisis, not being able to attend the funeral except for FaceTime. It speaks to the need to remember the human side of the virtual world that we’re in with these stay at home orders.

Jeanette: What I’ve noticed is that we as humankind are being robbed of ritual. When you hear of things like no funerals. And now we’re looking at May graduations aren’t going to happen. Birthdays aren’t going to happen. Weddings aren’t happening. And that’s major component of being human is not something that we’re able to celebrate or grieve with, or to just be supportive in some ways that we’re used to. We’re having to find new ways to do that.