Dinosaurs survived on Earth for more than 150 million years during the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods of the Mesozoic Era. Although there was more than one period of extinction, most scientists agree that an asteroid impact finally wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The impact probably kicked up so much dust that it blocked the sun, halted photosynthesis, and led to such a huge disruption in the food chain that everything that wasn't a scavenger or very small died. Contrary to what the Flintstones would have us believe, dinosaurs and humans never co-existed. In fact, humans did not appear on the scene until 65 million years later.
Nevertheless, a few genes must have survived in some obscure DNA broom closet because as the human race gradually became more civilized, human dinosaur clones began progressively springing up in academic institutions all over the world. My acquaintances in Spain include various academic dinosaurs, who teach in different universities throughout the country.
Up until now, the Spanish university system and many of its inhabitants have been tranquilly living in the hot steamy jungles of the Mesozoic Era, never thinking that the climate would change. Like their reptile counterparts, academic dinosaurs spend most of their time, hunting (for bibliography in the library), eating (in university cafeterias), or sleeping (hopefully not during classes). When they are not engaged in any of the previous activities, they communicate with each other.
A parallel can be established between the communication systems used by Jurassic dinosaurs and Academic dinosaurs. The sounds emitted by both species include the following: hoots and hollers (academic conferences), cracking sounds (giving lectures with an overhead projector), dance and song (celebrating a successful PhD or tenure exam), and even symbolic love calls made with showy plumage (recruiting students for their research group).
However, no species is eternal. As previously mentioned, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, the dinosaurs were finally wiped out by a meteorite. In the case of academic dinosaurs, over the years, their numbers have been gradually reduced by the computerization of the university as well as their refusal to evolve with the times. But, they are still not extinct.
Despite their lack of computer literacy, they have never felt threatened because they could always ask a colleague to help them out with computer-involved bureaucratic tasks, which are the most boring part of academic work. In classroom teaching, it was also possible for academic dinosaurs to ignore the computer and cling to their old ways. However, now they are in danger of extinction because the Covid-19 meteorite has suddenly arrived.
The work of teachers and professors at all education levels has been irrevocably transformed by the coronavirus. This is unfair because in no apocalyptic film, was anything ever mentioned about classes online. (It certainly was not an issue for Mel Gibson in Mad Max.) But now, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, it is an activity that haunts the daily life of a considerable sector of the population. From one day to the next, the government has expected all teachers and professors to suddenly become experts in online teaching.
This is something like expecting a cricketer to be good at baseball simply because both are games that involve a bat. That said, it is not impossible for players to adapt since both require skills that are essentially similar, but sufficiently distinct that a top player in one game would struggle (at least initially) to be effective in the other.
Like cricket and baseball, classroom teaching and virtual teaching are also similar in that both are teaching methods, though they have significant differences. Among other things, they differ in their respective teaching environments, type of student-teacher interaction, and how materials are programmed and evaluated.
For academic dinosaurs, one of the most challenging aspects of the brave new world of online teaching is the use of Zoom, the program most frequently used for teaching in virtual classrooms. For assignments, exercises, and exams, one must also be able to understand computer platforms, such as Moodle. Explaining teaching applications and platforms to dinosaurs is an almost impossible endeavor, something like explaining Physical Cosmology to a Flat Earther.
For an academic dinosaur, virtual teaching is limited to recording themselves as they read their lectures from their desk, and then having a friend post this recording somewhere in cyberspace where students can access it. A colleague of mine was upset that the university was closed because that made it impossible for him to record his classes in a real classroom (where he supposedly did his best reading). Such professors regard students as empty vessels, waiting to be filled with their pearls of their wisdom.
Just after the university notified us that all teaching in this semester would be online, another dinosaur acquaintance of mine, who has never used a computer in his life, decided that he could use his phone instead. He thus called each student and repeated the class to each one over the phone. The result was not a happy one, and he is now considering retirement.
Because of the coronavirus meteorite, still another Jurassic friend has been forced to buy a computer and to learn how to operate it. Her progress is very slow. By the time she finally learns enough to be able to use it for teaching purposes, the semester will have ended. These examples are just the tip of the academic iceberg.
However, this situation does not worry academic dinosaurs, far from it. They firmly believe that the Mesozoic era will last forever. They are convinced that this is only a spot of bad weather in the great ocean of Academia. The storm will soon be over, and then they will be able to return to their former life.
Unfortunately for them, this is not going to happen. Their world has gone forever. Even if the coronavirus magically disappears in the next few months, the university has woken up to the fact that academic staff and students can teach and learn in virtual environments. Online teaching also happens to be less expensive. Classes, meetings, PhD defenses, etc. can be held in cyberspace. Among other things, fewer real classrooms are necessary as well as staff to maintain them.
For the higher levels of university administration, it is a win-win-situation. For those of us who are digitally literate, online teaching has both advantages and disadvantages, but we can adapt and grow wings because that is what we have always done. In order to survive, some dinosaurs evolved from ground-dwelling bipedal theropods to small, winged flying birds. (The T-rex is the unlikely ancestor of the hummingbird.)
In contrast, academic dinosaurs, who refuse to acquire computer skills, are doomed because the Covid-19 meteorite has smashed their Jurassic world to smithereens. The fallout particles swirling around in the academic universe are microscopic pieces of overhead projectors, chalk blackboards, and paper textbooks. If academic dinosaurs wish to avoid extinction, they will have to learn to live in this brave new world.
