{"id":2878,"date":"2020-05-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/history\/?p=2878"},"modified":"2024-11-07T14:31:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T14:31:56","slug":"historians-in-lockdown-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/2020\/05\/20\/historians-in-lockdown-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Historians in Lockdown (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the first of two posts by our academic staff who share their experiences of working from home and adapting to the ‘new normal’ since the start of the lockdown. This post sees contributions from early career historian Micky Gibbard, Professor of Soviet History Melanie Ilic, and archaeologist\/modern European historian David Howell.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Howell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working in lockdown has been a\nfairly transformative experience. While so much of that which we do is done in\nfront of a computer screen anyway, teaching is a totally different\nconsideration. Digital learning is a distinct academic discipline, one which\ntakes years to develop experience and expertise in, it\u2019s not something that you\njust pick up and master overnight. So much of what we do in the History Team at\nUoG, depends on interaction, working together in the same space, sharing ideas\nand theories in communal settings – this applies to the office as much as it\ndoes to the classroom. Losing that element is huge. I\u2019m sure in time, we could\nall get to grips with digital learning, but it\u2019s not what we are used to,\ntrained for, or experienced in – so much of teaching now feels like starting\nfrom scratch (which it comes to delivery). In short, lockdown ultimately means\ndelivering the same work, but the work involved in getting to the point of\ndelivery is significantly more invested than it would be in normal\ncircumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, that doesn’t even\nbegin to deal with the practical, or impractical considerations of trying to\nwork and, more specifically, teach from home. Out here in Pembrokeshire,\neveryone in the household is locked down, including my daughters. Anyone taking\nany of my online classes, since lockdown commenced, will have at one stage or\nanother met my daughters, as they either stormed in during a live recording of\na session, or one was sat on my lap at the start of a recording because, well,\nbecause life is life, and in the home, life is not always respectful of\nscheduled session times. A highlight – having explained to my eldest daughter\nwhat I was teaching that week, she then wandered into a class and announced\n\u201cpapa, I\u2019ve drawn my very special Hitler for you\u201d…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
‘Nothing to see here’ – David’s home workspace<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is also the issue of\nexpectation versus reality. When lockdown started up, I said to myself \u2018this is\na great opportunity to nail a new article\u2019. For the first few days the research\nwas flowing, and the writing went really well. Then, over time, the writing\nquality began to drift, and the research lost focus. Being out of the academic\nenvironment, and the academic cycle, has meant my focus is shot. It might be\ndown to having produced two articles this year already, and feeling a little\n\u2018burnt out\u2019, but still, being removed from the normal rhythms of academia has\nmeant my wider work aspirations have suffered and stalled.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m grateful to be able to work\nfrom home – my wife is among the 120,000 high risk people in Wales who are told\nto be \u2018shielding\u2019 themselves. The government advice is intense: don\u2019t share\nkitchens with family members; don\u2019t use the same toilet as the rest of your\nhousehold; don\u2019t touch your children\u2026 Cards on the table, none of those things\nare happening, but it is good to be able to help keep her safe from wider\nexposure. Still, when the time comes to continue working in the way that we are\nused to, trained for, and, critically, enjoy, I will also be grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Micky Gibbard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a part-time hourly paid academic, my working situation is perhaps a little different. The days I am working for the university in all likelihood look very similar to the permanent staff in the department: replying to emails, negotiating new technology, preparing and delivering online class, and marking assignments. If anything, I’m fortunate in having less administrative responsibility than permanent staff and even more fortunate in not having dependants, with the exception of a needy cat. Working as an early career academic during the global pandemic has, however, come with its own unique challenges, anxieties and lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Micky’s ‘needy’ assistant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I’m not undertaking my day to day work for the\nuniversity, I’m doing one of two things: attempting to complete outstanding\nresearch articles or applying for new positions. The first of these is a\nchallenge academics nationwide, especially in the arts and humanities, are\ndealing with. Archives and libraries are closed and despite the positive aspect\nof paywalls being lifted on repositories like JSTOR, gaining access to archival\nmaterial is an impossibility in lockdown. The nature of a lot of my research,\ntoo, is in looking at the connections been people and place in rural societies.\nWhen leaves the realms of the early modern period, it involves getting out,\nwalking the land, and speaking to its inhabitants, which is also an\nimpossibility in the current situation. This means being creative with what\nmaterials I do have access to, thinking about new ways I can use them and\nqueuing priorities for when lockdown is lifted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second of these is by no means unique to early career\nacademics but will be acutely felt by those at the beginning of their academic\ncareers. The global pandemic adds further pressure on an already precarious\nacademic job market, which creates a not insignificant anxiety on future job\nprospects. This is something, too, that all students will be facing, and I’d\nencourage them to consider the diverse skill sets they have developed when\nlooking for future employment. In addition to the widely reported\nreinvigoration of community-building the UK is currently experiencing, it is\nthe skills and resilience developed in this difficult situation that might\nprovide us with some solace in the challenges that will be faced following the\ncrisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie Ilic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared to\nsome of my colleagues, I\u2019m probably in a relatively privileged position. I\ndon\u2019t share my living pace with any dependents or needy pets. My home computer\nscreen and desk set up is much bigger than the space afforded in the office I\nshare with Vicky, making online working easier to deal with. I\u2019m also in the\nprivileged position of having a whole room in my house turned over to a study.\nI have filing cabinets and loads of book shelves, with an extensive collection\nbuilt up over many years \u2013 though many of the books I need for teaching\npreparation and delivery are currently locked away at FCH. The only thing\nmissing from a really effective home working environment is a photocopier! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Melanie’s Workspace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The benefits\nof home working are obvious \u2013 certainly in terms of less time spent every week\non travel, which is a big saving for me (and the environment) because I live a\nlong distance from FCH. Although working from home can in itself be tiring, it\nseems to be less exhausting than being at FCH. Fewer interruptions to the daily\nwork schedule quite often mean that I can spend large portions of the day at my\ndesk, and until marking started to roll in this also meant that I could give\nsome attention to research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The switch to\nonline teaching has meant we have all had to get on top of the various tools\nembedded on Moodle that we\u2019ve never been trained how to use. Some of my\ncolleagues have mastered the art of these much more quickly and inventively\nthan I\u2019m ever likely to do. I\u2019m still at the \u2018one step at a time\u2019 phase and\nfeel pleased if I manage to add a new skill to my portfolio. We hold meetings\nonline, but we all now have to try not to speak over or interrupt one another \u2013\nand so this makes meetings more constrained and less spontaneous. There is a\nconstraint also felt in the delivery of teaching online, most obviously simply\nin not being able to see the faces of the people we are talking to, thus making\nit difficult to gauge the mood of the room. The online set up also makes it\nharder for students to interrupt the session and for a proper \u2018to and fro\u2019-type\ndiscussion to take place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\ndownside of working from home is that the traffic can sometimes disrupt my\nconcentration, but that hasn\u2019t been a problem during lockdown. My attention\nthis afternoon, however, was drawn away by the dulcet tones of the ice cream\nvan, a sound which I don\u2019t remember hearing since last summer. So, I\u2019ll be\ngetting my purse ready for when the van comes later in the week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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