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MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

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Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#431

Post by kyeb »

voidlogic wrote: post #273
kelnos wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are certainly restaurants nearby, but not sure I'd call them cheap. I imagine a lot of MIT students don't have the money to eat out every day. And since most dorms don't have any kind of kitchens or cooking implements, buying food from the grocery and cooking isn't really an option. Pre-made meals or other things from grocery stores that don't require cooking could work, but, again, I'd expect some/many student…

At my college all the dorms had a kitchen for residents to use in the basement... is this not normal?

We have 1 kitchen in the basement, but that's shared among 500 people

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#433

Post by AlexCoventry »

sethaurus wrote: post #348
throwaway237654 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, it's the same reason why most people now see the Japanese internment as unjust. They just know we won the war and fail to connect the dots that the internment was potentially critical to winning the war.

Is this an accepted view among historians? I'd like to know more about that.

There was a widespread, mostly inaccurate perception in the West that Japan's incredible territory gains early in the war must have been due to fifth-column agents preparing the battleground.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036444

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#434

Post by raegis »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #237
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about lab work that demands physical access to facilities and equipment? Not everything can be virtualized.

I don't know. But if they can solve it, then a true online degree becomes possible, not just in an emergency. That's going to be revolutionary. Twenty years from now, everyone having to move to a physical location to attend a university is going to seem insane... if they can solve it.

The harder problem is preventing cheating, which is already difficult to do in-person.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#435

Post by hateful »

rockmeamedee wrote: post #415
smallgovt wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I think it's likely going to be seen as an overreaction in hindsight by the general public (even though it may not be). If these actions are successful in curbing the virus' spread, most people won't appreciate how bad things could have really gotten.

It's a common thread in Incident Response & "Resilience Engineering" that preventative measures that reduce the blast of incidents are always blamed, especially if they work. Whatever ends up working to fix the incident, you should have done it sooner or it was too drastic a response. (No matter the fact that it _did_ fix the incident, outsiders will blame you that way). One example is the Knight Capital trading disa…

I see this in Programming/IT a lot. Also a very similar case whereby the person fixing the issue gets pressure to complete the fix and even blame after the fact.

It would be like going to doctor and blaming the doctors for why I was sick.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#436

Post by chaz »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #122

The real reason behind such a move is the culture of litigation in the US. Someone made your coffee too hot? Sue them. Someone stepped on your toe? Sue them. In this case, everyone is ducking for cover because they don't want to be the focus of a lawsuit that claims they didn't do anything to prevent the spread of the disease. The people who make these decisions at MIT are not unintelligent. They have all the resourc…

> culture of litigation in the US

"Sixteen countries have shut schools nationwide, impacting almost 363.1 million children and youth. A further sixteen countries have implemented localized school closures to prevent or contain the spread of COVID-19."

https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-emergencies/coronavir...

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#437

Post by vonseel »

kyeb wrote: post #167
generationP wrote: post #144

> Undergraduates who live in an MIT residence or fraternity, sorority or independent living group (FSILG) must begin packing and departing this Saturday, March 14. We are requiring undergraduates to depart from campus residences no later than noon on Tuesday, March 17. This is strange. Isn't the travel they are forcing quite possibly a cure worse than the disease? And are they really expecting students (many of them…

>In what way are dorms worse than personal homes for diseases anyway? Are they not trusting their students to prepare their own food? Why don't they just close the dining halls instead? The dorms have shared bathrooms, often shared rooms with doubles, triples, and quads, and shared living spaces (lounges, study rooms, laundry, etc.) in addition to the dining halls. Moreover, in our dorms, we have effectively no way t…

I kind of wish we had dorms for college graduates thinking about a 500 person dining hall, but I doubt that would be good for the COVID situation.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#438

Post by kennxfl »

generationP wrote: post #144

> Undergraduates who live in an MIT residence or fraternity, sorority or independent living group (FSILG) must begin packing and departing this Saturday, March 14. We are requiring undergraduates to depart from campus residences no later than noon on Tuesday, March 17. This is strange. Isn't the travel they are forcing quite possibly a cure worse than the disease? And are they really expecting students (many of them…

>In what way are dorms worse than personal homes for diseases anyway?

They would be liable for not taking action against the Virus. Personal homes are much safer especially because all movements and interactions are accounted for. In a dorm, that's basically guesswork at best.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#439

Post by Keverw »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #194
Keverw wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard something like that before, like I guess there's states (maybe most of them?) where you can't use your dorm room on your driver license for some reason. Which seems annoying if you moved across the country and don't intend to return home. or your renewals conflict with other dates when far away.

Massachusetts considers out of state students as residents eligible for jury duty so maybe they should enjoy some more protections in exchange for the public service.

Yeah I heard that, I think they are the only state doing that. If you live there 50% of the year. Sounds kinda a odd thing to do if they aren't domiciled there, but I guess the locals support it. Was reading a random forum thread and sounds like they use more college students than local.

I was researching about domicile before Since the full time RV/digital nomad life interests me and looks like people decide on South Dakota, Texas and Florida or use a friends or family address even if they don't really live with them, and probably the only family member who's stable and I'd trust handling my mail isn't that computer savvy to scan them for me and security concerns - so going to a friendly state and paying a provider makes sense if you are going to get rid of all your stuff and be a nomad.

Kinda seems like discrimination in a way though. Some couple who retired sold their house and bought a RV and ran into issues with their state's DMV, so they had to hurry up change to a friendly one, but I guess their former state loses out more then they did anyways since they saved a lot of money since the new state has no income tax, and cheaper registration and insurance. Then homeless people or abused people escaping from their partner or family can struggle to get all their documents. I guess some DMVs were telling elderly people their birth certificates were no longer good and they had to buy new ones and wait.

Then also seems a form of voter suppression, some county in Florida said people who are homeless, living in a van, rv or boat wasn't allowed to vote. I'm a fan of one person, one vote though but seems like they need a better system for IDs. Also wouldn't surprise me if some workers would give you trouble for printed bank or credit card statements since so many people are paperless... Oh the DMV is such a annoying place, I think maybe could be right below going to the dentist. I know both Texas and Florida have online renewals every other renewal too, so sounds like when moving maybe factor in the DMV along with other things. Then Texas even offers online driving school too where you can take your permit test online even, so they seem maybe one of the more advanced states.

Still have that dream of full time travel though but building up passive income online would be needed, right now I think I rather focus on a startup and find a city I'd love like maybe Austin or Miami, warmer, focus on being happier - then travel a few weeks a year which would be way more vacation I have now.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#440

Post by jedberg »

mygo wrote: post #336
WalterBright wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have flunked out of Caltech without constant "troll sessions" with fellow students in the dorm helping each other understand the homework problems. If I was in that situation today, I'd prefer the semester be outright cancelled and replaced with a summer semester.

Not to mention that many students will lose study time dealing with the move, and may likely end up performing poorer than they would have otherwise. I hope MIT really does take this stuff on a case by case basis. The student who can relocate and be back on their feet in a day will be at an advantage compared to the student who takes longer to settle from the shuffle.

Hopefully everything is graded on a curve to at least minimize the performance effects
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