(Ottawa – August 20, 2020)
A survey conducted by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) shows that the pandemic has significantly increased the workload and the stress level of academic staff across the country.
“Post-secondary staff moved overnight to ensure education continuity for millions of students this spring. The pandemic created a set of new challenges that needs to be understood and addressed to ensure quality of education this fall,” explained CAUT Executive Director David Robinson.
Amongst the key findings of the survey, a majority of academic staff from universities and colleges are working more than before COVID-19 with almost one-third working more than 10 additional hours per week. A total of 84% of respondents reported somewhat or much higher stress levels due to the pandemic, balancing work and dependent care, challenges with teaching and research, and job insecurity.
Other survey key findings:
- About 1 in 10 have seen their work eliminated or reduced since the pandemic;
- 68% of respondents are worried about the challenges of remote teaching;
- Two out of three are researching less or not at all due to the inability to hold or attend conferences, dependent care responsibilities, inability to access labs or offices, not being able to conduct in-person research, and increased teaching demands;
- Only 1 in 4 feel that they are consulted before decisions that affect them are made; and,
- Respondents identified safe childcare, more access to mental health services, and technological assistance among the resources most needed.
“Academic staff are worried about their students, their research, and their jobs. It is not clear how the concerns about remote teaching, research and jobs at universities and colleges are going to be addressed without more government and institutional support for post-secondary education,” added CAUT President Brenda Austin-Smith.
CAUT surveyed 4,300 academic staff from all provinces between May 13 and June 12, using crowdsourcing data collection. The findings offer valuable insights on the experiences of participants.
Two symbol types do most of the work in a modern slot beyond the standard icons. Wilds fill gaps in a combination, while scatters ignore the line structure entirely. Knowing which is which makes a paytable considerably easier to read.
Substitutions, Sticky Wilds And Feature Triggers
Expanding wilds stretch to cover a full reel, walking wilds shift position each spin, and sticky wilds hold their spot while the reels around them turn. Anyone learning these mechanics can Bet Portal and read how individual games implement them. Scatters usually do not substitute for anything, so their role is to pay directly and to open the bonus round rather than to complete lines.
| Symbol | Function | Line Dependent |
|---|---|---|
| Standard wild | Substitutes | Yes |
| Expanding wild | Fills a reel | Yes |
| Scatter | Pays or triggers | No |
- Wilds complete combinations, scatters usually do not
- Expanding and sticky wilds behave differently from standard ones
- Three or more scatters commonly trigger a feature
The variety of wild mechanics is largely a matter of presentation, since the overall return is fixed whatever form the features take. Knowing what each symbol does simply removes the guesswork from a spin. Choose games whose features you enjoy watching, decide a stop point in advance, and treat the bonus rounds as part of the entertainment.