Communication and COVID-19
What the University of St Andrews can do to improve its communication of COVID-19 guidelines.
Our unfortunate reality this semester is that all classes may stay online and the 2021 graduation ceremony could be cancelled. Sally Mapstone’s most recent email on 28 January stated a final decision regarding the remainder of the semester will take place the week of 8 February. Such emails are sent by the University to provide constant updates on COVID-19 guidelines and changes to campus life. They also regularly post on Facebook and Instagram and update the University website to be as transparent as possible. So why are students still unsure of what’s going on?
The issue is not the University’s lack of communication, but the clarity of their information. The emails sent by Sally Mapstone can only be compared to my old high school essays, 80% fluff and 20% content. Inconsistencies between St Andrews’ COVID-19 policies and those of the Scottish Government force students to question what’s legal. We respect the precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of our friends and family, but it would be great to fully understand what they are.
Also, the University needs to take a hard look at its decision-making. Students recognise uncertainty surrounding the pandemic makes life difficult for University staff, but it might be best to finalise a decision and then fix it when the time comes rather than making us guess what they might do. St Andrews students, many of whom are international, have suffered. We’ve been flying blind this past month, literally and figuratively, and many either regret coming back or regret staying home. Travel plans were cancelled and then rescheduled, students flew to school and then back home, and many feared being stopped at borders because information regarding travel to the UK was so disorganised. All-in-all, it’s frustrating.
One student, Chris Anderson, even took matters into his owns hands and created Mapstone Condensed, a Facebook page that shortens Sally Mapstone’s emails and makes them easier to understand. What started as a joke with his flatmates became a helpful tool for St Andrews students, including myself. When asked if he believes the University can improve its communication of COVID-19 guidelines, he replied:
‘Definitely. Even just since the page [Mapstone Condensed] started up, there’ve been countless mistakes and omissions in the University’s communication of guidelines. The COVID-19 code is obviously useful for some things, but communication about coming back to St Andrews has often been very unclear. I also work at the Asymptomatic Test Centre, and at the start of this semester we had quite a few people coming to get COVID-19 tests when they were supposed to be quarantining. The University’s webpage initially said that all students should get a COVID-19 test as soon as they arrived in St Andrews, when it should have been made clear that quarantine is a legal obligation; that a COVID-19 test does not exempt you from quarantine; and that it’s illegal to leave your house during quarantine, even for a COVID-19 test. I have a lot of respect for the Principal’s office, the University’s Communications Team, and everyone else involved, but there’s still massive room for improvement.’
The purpose of this article is to mention the University’s mistakes and where they can do better. The University can improve their communication of COVID-19 guidelines and ensure that their policies align with those of the Scottish Government. Voicing their decisions with stronger language in emails will prevent confusion among students. It’s necessary that the University learn from its past mistakes, because events seem to repeat themselves. But in the grand scheme of things, Chris mentioned that ‘on an individual level, the University is just a bunch of people trying really hard to make things happen in really awful circumstance.’ Safe to say, he’s right.
The University has corrected their mistakes in some ways. Academic mitigation was reintroduced for the 2020-2021 academic year to help those affected by online classes. Sally Mapstone repeatedly attached links to informative websites in her emails, the most recent being a link directing students to the University’s ‘Return to Teaching Guidance’ and the Scottish Government’s updated FAQs page for students returning to campus. It’s amazing how little aspects like this can make such a large difference.
If you have questions regarding the Scottish Government and the University’s current COVID-19 guidelines, please see the links below! Feel free to also visit Mapstone Condensed at https://www.facebook.com/mapstonecondensed
University of St Andrews COVID-19 information
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/coronavirus/semester-2/
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/coronavirus/
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/coronavirus/students/
Scottish Government’s COVID-19 guidelines
https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/
Im thankful for the blog article.Much thanks again. Cool.
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon every day. It will always be helpful to read through articles from other writers and practice a little something from their web sites.
A big thank you for your blog. Awesome.
Thanks so much for the article post.Really thank you! Awesome.
I have observed that over the course of constructing a relationship with real estate proprietors, you’ll be able to come to understand that, in every single real estate financial transaction, a commission amount is paid. Finally, FSBO sellers really don’t “save” the commission. Rather, they try to win the commission by doing a strong agent’s task. In this, they invest their money and time to conduct, as best they are able to, the jobs of an real estate agent. Those obligations include revealing the home via marketing, showing the home to all buyers, making a sense of buyer emergency in order to prompt an offer, preparing home inspections, taking on qualification inspections with the loan provider, supervising maintenance tasks, and assisting the closing.
Everything is very open with a precise clarification of the challenges. It was truly informative. Your site is very helpful. Many thanks for sharing.
hello there and thank you for your information ? I?ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise some technical issues using this website, since I experienced to reload the web site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and could damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for a lot more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon..
Muchos Gracias for your blog. Fantastic.
stromectol canada stromectol drg – ivermectin 2ml
lasix furosemide lasix water pills for sale – lasix pills
I really enjoyed this article, thanks for creating it. I’ll be back for more. See ya again!
Preserve in mind that punters can wager in-individual at all 4 racetracks in the state.
wireless wand massager[…]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated data, nonetheless actually really worth taking a look, whoa did one particular learn about Mid East has got a lot more problerms also […]
Muchos Gracias for your post. Keep writing.
Your style is really unique in comparison to other folks I have read stuff from. I appreciate you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this blog.
lisinopril recall water pill hydrochlorothiazide
I’d like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this blog.I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts by you later on as well.In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own, personal blog now😉
Thanks-a-mundo for the post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
I think this is a real great article post.Really thank you! Cool.
Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through many of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m certainly delighted I discovered it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back often!