Swine flu

There is an increasing amount of attention around the world being put into how to maintain continuity of teaching in universities if a country becomes so seriously affected by Swine Flu that institutions have to close. On this page we try to collect references to key articles.

In summary, there has been a lot of hysteria in the press and media, which universities have tried to counter.

Experts (for example at the PPP SIG) advise that - in the still unlikely even that universities have to close (though it has happened in some countries in the southern hemisphere) - those universities will cope best who already have systems (VLEs, podcasting, social networking etc) in place to deliver and support e-learning at scale; but that it is too late to install systems to do this in the next few weeks - if only because of the staff training and support needed. Podcasting (including lecturecasting) is one of the ways that are useful but not the only or even the best way to use podcasting, especially in institutions with no tradition of using this approach.

References

The references have the most recent at the top.

1. With podcasting, online chat rooms, Florida's universities prepare for swine flu, Click-2-Listen, By KIMBERLY MILLER, Palm Beach Post, 27 August 2009 - http://www.palmbeachpost.com/health/content/local_news/epaper/2009/08/27/0827absentee.html
2. Don't panic: sector in state of readiness over swine flu: Universities prepare contingency plans as UUK calls for 'sense of proportion', writes Hannah Fearn, Times Higher Education (UK), 20 August 2009 - http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=407844&c=1
3. Teaching the quarantined (at University of Michigan), Inside Higher Ed (US), 19 August 2009 - http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/19/flu
4. Schools urged to stay open during flu outbreak, MSNBC, 7 August 2009 - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32328425/ns/health-swine_flu/
5. ORT Argentina's Virtual Campus is not to be sneezed at: Thanks to ORT Argentina’s Virtual Campus thousands of ORT high school pupils have kept up with their studies in spite of the Government’s closure of the country’s schools to contain the swine flu epidemic, World ORT News, 29 July 2009 - http://www.ort.org/asp/article.asp?id=830
6. Universities prepare plans for flu outbreak - in Leicestershire, Leicester Mercury (UK), 29 July 2009 - http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Universities-prepare-plans-flu-outbreak/article-1204361-detail/article.html
7. Universities may cancel freshers' week over swine flu: Officials draw up contingency plans to postpone activities and close parts of campus if pandemic peaks at start of term, Guardian (UK), 23 July 2009 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/23/universities-prepare-emergency-swine-flu-plans

Related databases of advice

1. ELATE, the Emergency Preparedness wiki - http://elatewiki.org/index.php/Emergency_Preparedness
2. PPP SIG Wiki, Keeping in touch by podcast during the Swine Flu pandemic - http://podcastingforpp.pbworks.com/Keeping-in-touch-by-podcast-during-the-Swine-Flu-pandemic
3. flu.gov: Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Institutions of Higher Education - http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/higheredtoolkit.html

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