ST teaching in a Coronavirus world

[Jim Pickles]

No doubt you will groan to see this forum, our "nice space", infected by this topic, but I dont think its premature to raise it.

I teach a group of older people, who are for that reason more vulnerable and in danger of dying if they catch the coronavirus. Moreover some have had chemotherapy relatively recently and so will have compromised immune systems, and others have lung problems. It now seems that there is community transmission of covid-19 from people who are asymptomatic, and who have not been exposed to people who have themselves been diagnosed, nor who have just returned from a high-risk country (China, Iran, etc). So we have to assume that it could be anywhere, even if the risk is still low.

I want class members to be able to continue to come to class with confidence, and am therefore putting in place the following precautions:

1. No partner stretching and no other physical contact between class members.

2. Members asked to not come to class if they have a cold, and in particular if they are sneezing or coughing (droplets are a major way it is transmitted, and the symptoms could be due to covid-19). This also means that I will cancel classes if I have a cold.

3. Apart from that, we know the other main route of transmission is via touching contaminated surfaces, and then transferring the contamination to the eyes, nose or mouth. Class members reminded that once their hands have touched anything in communal spaces outside their home, they should treat their hands as "dirty" and keep them away from their faces in particular. I will have a hand sanitiser available* so people if they wish can resterilise their hands after handing over money at the start of class and before leaving (having touched things in the room, such as chairs).

I think this will produce an almost clinical level of sterility! If they choose to hug and kiss each other (some do) then that is up to them.

If anyone has any comments I'd be pleased to hear them, and maybe other people would like to consider using these guidelines.

*Of course this is running out in the shops. There are formulae out there on how to make your own, but the ingredients have run out too.

Jim.

[Jim Pickles]

I have now decided to cancel classes for the forseeable future. The risk to the students was small, but I want it to be zero, and the only way to do that is to not run them. I'm also practicing self-isolation as much as possible, to protect myself. It has been suggested that I put some follow-along classes online, and I may do that, although making a class video is more difficult by an order of magnitude from running a class, so I'll need to see how I get on. If I manage it, others will be able to benefit as well (if they're interested) and you'll all be able to see how I teach.

Jim.

[Pat (pogo69)]

22 hours ago, Jim Pickles said:

I have now decided to cancel classes for the forseeable future. The risk to the students was small, but I want it to be zero, and the only way to do that is to not run them.

That seems to be the way that most everyone is going, Jim.

I was looking forward to an Adventure Race this coming weekend.  The organisers put out an update last Friday, to say that it was still going ahead, with similar measures to yours - staggered starts, no registration (just pick up race bibs, pre-separated), no award ceremony, no handshake etc.

But by Monday, they announced a re-schedule to August.

Being an outdoor event, the risk was very minimal.  With the mitigation measures in place, you really only had to come in direct contact with your teammate.  But risk-averse has become the default, from which all else must prove itself.

22 hours ago, Jim Pickles said:

It has been suggested that I put some follow-along classes online, and I may do that, although making a class video is more difficult by an order of magnitude from running a class, so I'll need to see how I get on. If I manage it, others will be able to benefit as well (if they're interested) and you'll all be able to see how I teach.

I'm not an ST teacher, but that would be rad!

The universities etc are all scrambling to do what they can to provide similar.  Some content - workshops / labs etc - have no useful online/virtual equivalent, but everything else is being done thus.  Most lectures were already available online, but this often misses certain elements of nuance.

[Jim Pickles]

In relation to oneline content, I guess Youtube and Vimeo are going to get quite a workout soon, so I'd better get them uploaded quickly!

 

 

[Pat (pogo69)]

On 3/17/2020 at 12:40 PM, Jim Pickles said:

In relation to oneline content, I guess Youtube and Vimeo are going to get quite a workout soon,

Indeed!

There is much speculation as to whether the woefully inadequate NBN will be able to handle everyone simultaneously streaming at each other.

[Cherie Seeto]

I have put my classes online via Zoom. Learning curve is steep but it has become necessary to preserve my current only source of income. I have asked my clients to re-enroll at the normal rate. So far I have taught 4 classes.

My classes are usually 6 to 8 people. I personally invite them into a new meeting every time. They prepay, otherwise no invite. This allows me to control who can come in and I can mute their microphones. If I feel the need to record the class, I can and this is available on the upgraded paid version.The downside is that it is hard to watch every student and so I invite them to make comments from time to time. My clients have expressed a wish not to follow a video as they like the coaching model of being able to ask me instructions and questions as we practice.

I have also found Zoom to be great for 1-on-1 sessions. Private clients have been able to maintain their appointments with me. It’s not ideal but it’s been a good alternative when being face-to-face is not possible. 

The opportunity out of the current chaos of COVID-19, is that I have invited other teachers to join the class from outside Sydney. To see what others like to do and exchange ideas in real time is great fun. We haven’t had this kind of connection post training. We could also take this idea further and see teachers from the other side of the world on a regular basis without the need to travel.

 I would like to hear from others doing something like this. 

[Cherie Seeto]

 

[Nathan]

I haven't had the time to properly look through the content yet, but I ran across this potentially very helpful resource and thought it might be good to share it here for those considering classes/sessions using Zoom: Zoom: Support during the COVID-19 pandemic.