Friday Fragments, Nov. 13th

A day of concerns: Faculty & staff burnout, and more critiques of online proctoring.

What I’m reading…

The Pandemic Is Dragging On. Professors Are Burning Out. I honestly almost didn’t want to read this latest installment of burnout anecdotes from the Chronicle, because I anticipated another article offering solutions like, “find time to connect with colleagues” and “practice self-care.” Solutions, well-meaning though they are, which place the onus for feeling better and doing better squarely on already-burdened shoulders.

At first, she thought everything would work out if she just got up earlier…Now professors across the country are treading water, feeling overwhelmed and undersupported, and wondering, like Rutuku, how long they can hang on.

I am concerned - as I wrote a few weeks ago - that as instructors and staff are asked to do more to be flexible and support students, the weight of that flexibility and emotional care will continue to rest on the same over-burdened shoulders that have been told to practice more self-care. At some point in the very near future, there will be no more room on our collective shoulders.

"Burnout & Stress" by Hangout Lifestyle is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Washington Post printed a strong critique of online proctoring with their article published yesterday, Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic. Now students are fighting back.

ProctoU’s CEO claims that their system “flagged 247,000 ‘confirmed breaches of integrity’ — or about 6 percent of their 3.9 million proctored exams.”

I don’t know how much money institutions are paying these proctoring companies - Proctorio admits that some schools have been charged as much as $500,000 for a year of service - but I can’t imagine that it’s worth investing that to catch such a small number of “integrity breaches,” when that money could be invested in helping instructors create better assessments. Imagine what your institution could do to improve student learning with $500,000.

For more reading…I’ve previously shared resources about technology & academic integrity, concerns with requiring students to turn on their cameras, and summative assessment alternatives. And the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project has a new report out, Snooping Where We Sleep: Invasiveness and Bias of Remote Proctoring Services.

I’ll try my best to focus on more uplifting news for next week…Happy Friday the 13th!