{"id":111070,"date":"2020-03-18T11:48:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T10:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=111070"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:47","slug":"media-researcher-etienne-auge-were-a-little-more-concerned-than-we-might-otherwise-be-because-of-my-wifes-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/03\/18\/media-researcher-etienne-auge-were-a-little-more-concerned-than-we-might-otherwise-be-because-of-my-wifes-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Media researcher Etienne Aug\u00e9: \u2018We\u2019re a little concerned because of my wife\u2019s pregnancy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Etienne Aug\u00e9 is a lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication. Like all lecturers, he has been told to work from home for the time being. However, the virus is not the only reason he is working from home.<\/p>\n

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Etienne Aug\u00e9.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

What is your work situation like at the moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard, but obviously it\u2019s hard for everyone. My wife and I are expecting our baby daughter to be born in three weeks, so we had actually planned to do as much work as possible before her birth. The way things are going, that\u2019s not really going to happen. But to be quite honest, we lecturers are better off than most people. Our wages will continue to be paid and we\u2019re fairly used to doing our work remotely anyway. We\u2019re lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there any lectures you can\u2019t teach right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was preparing to teach three courses, so I\u2019m having to improvise a little. For each of those courses I\u2019ve selected a few students I trust to give me feedback on the way I\u2019m planning to teach the lectures. Those students are highly engaged, which is great. But I do admit I\u2019m not a fan of blended learning (a combination of in-class and online teaching \u2013 ed.), because you do miss out on a lot of interaction and contact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018My wife and I are expecting our baby daughter to be born in three weeks, so we had actually planned to do as much work as possible before her birth\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Are you having to digitise things before being able to teach those lectures?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I used to work a lot with the Prezi presentation tool, but this is no longer supported by the university. As a result, I\u2019m having to redo all my old lectures in new software. At the very least I\u2019ll have 22 slides I can share with the students taking one of those courses. Other than that, things look set to get fairly complicated, because I generally set exams with open-ended questions, and that\u2019s kind of hard at present, from a technological point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is the university offering you the right kind of facilities?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think our support staff\u2019s response to the crisis was brilliant. They got together at once last Friday to see how best to help the lecturers teach online. I have to admit I don\u2019t use facilities such as remote desktop a lot. For the most part, I\u2019m doing my own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you more worried than you might otherwise have been because your wife is pregnant?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, my wife is concerned about how the coronavirus might affect her pregnancy and life after giving birth. But I do think the Netherlands is implementing proper measures. This country is well prepared for crises. But yeah, her being pregnant is an added ground for concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you taking any additional steps in order to prevent being infected?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I heard that half the Dutch population don\u2019t wash their hands after peeing, I felt that I was doing alright. We do go outside less often. We mainly go outside to buy groceries. Other than that, nothing much is changing. I think that, in terms of my being French, I\u2019m halfway between French culture and Chinese culture. The French don\u2019t understand what the hell is going on and are living life as usual, whereas the Chinese refuse to leave their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re only kissing one cheek now, rather than two?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laughs: \u201cI\u2019m sticking to elbow greetings for now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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