Online Courses–The Pain
Spring session students are about half-way through the term – – Winter 2020 college students have received their marks by now, or soon will – – high school students are in the final crunch – – decisions are being made about September – –
We’re all a few months down the road toward the new COVID-19 normal, whatever that might be. For all students, “new normal” this September will almost certainly involve online classes. It’s a good time to reflect on just how that has played out so far, and what we can anticipate. Over the next several weeks, I’m sharing my own experience and reflections, and what I’m hearing from students.
Today, let’s get the negatives out of the way, because we’re going to be thinking about them in any event. We miss a lot from social distancing, not just educational aspects. The gym. A running buddy. Group walks. Sports. Picnics. Just plain being around people. Community participation and celeration. Family celebration.
Particular to our education, however, the primary negative is often fearful anticipation. No doubt there are indeed some real losses in moving from a physical to a virtual campus (some pluses, too, but that’s for a later post).
However, what is anticipated can be planned for, so here’s the list of both real and anticipated minuses:
- the intellectual challenge of classroom debate and discussion
- classroom interaction with other students and the prof–the talk, the inside jokes that you all kind of get because you were all there
- being around people–research shows we’re mentally and physically better off at all ages when we have human connection
- groups for studying, groups for projects, groups for political action, groups for coffee, groups for partying, groups for just hanging out
- the library
- one-on-one sessions in the prof’s office
- labs
- on-campus jobs
- being on campus–a sense of community
- being on campus–a sense of personal identity as a student, a member of the campus community
- extending a social network, be that career interest, romantic interest, or just building friendships.
Yes, these are realities. This is not a happy list. It looks pretty much like the downsides of office jobs across the world right now, as a matter of fact.
And like offices across the world, campuses, high schools, and students are dealing, with varying degrees of success. I’ll be sharing some of the workarounds, some of the solutions that are evolving.
But next blog I want to outline some of the pluses that people are finding–advantages that the virtual campus has (such as saving money). Let me know your experience after these first months–I’ll share them in future blogs [email protected]