Interviewing college students from New Jersey, Florida, and Kansas regarding their stance on remote learning and how COVID-19 has changed higher education outside of California.
Written by Danielle Flores and Valerie Chavarin
In this new post for our series on the effects of the coronavirus on people’s everyday experiences, we interviewed students from three states in the US: New Jersey, Florida, and Kansas. As the cases in the United States continue to increase, daily operations and regulations seem to differ amongst states. While social distancing is a recommended practice everywhere, states such as New Jersey have approved the reopening of public schools if the proper guidelines are followed. However, the reopening of college campuses has been a grey area as universities, such as University of Alabama and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who moved to open saw a rapid increase in cases soon after. Until there is a clear way to enforce social distancing and prevent outbreaks in colleges, it appears that remote learning is now the new default.
Students vs remote learning:
We asked Maddie, a student at Polk State College in Florida, regarding the nature of her current classes. She let us know that while she herself is “only taking online courses,” her school is in fact offering “a small amount of them [as] hybrid (half online/half in person).” It is interesting to note that Polk State College is not the only Florida institution to offer hybrid courses. Kiersten, who is currently attending Saint Petersburg College, relayed to us that “a majority of the classes [offered at her school] are online this semester with a few exceptions.” When further questioned on these exceptions, she described them as “very random”, explaining how her “anatomy lecture isn’t online but [her] anatomy lab is.” Despite the decision of both colleges to offer some in-person classes, both Floridians agreed that schools should not reopen and instead stick to remote learning until cases have begun to decrease and the situation is better controlled.
Students are Adaptable:
Like the California students we interviewed in our previous article, remote learning is seeming to be a challenge regardless of the state students live in or the school they attend. In the case of Tajah, a student at Rutgers University–Camden in New Jersey, the hardships of remote learning go beyond simply adjusting to the new format. “Because of my home situation at the moment, I have to travel to a neighboring city in order to have wifi access so I can attend class. So it’s been harder in that sense,” she shared. In our last post, some students described positive aspects to remote learning such as the accessibility of their TA’s and professors, a point which was once again expressed in these new interviews. However, a huge challenge about remote learning is finding an environment in which one can learn. Something that may not be as easy for some as it is for others. For students such as Tajah, online classes are not ideal, but they are forced to make do with what is available for them and find new solutions that will enable them to continue their education.
But it seems that some schools are doing their best to ease the transition by simulating an “at-school” feel for their students. Sierra, a student at Kansas Wesleyan University shared how her university is taking part in this, “our school has set up cameras in the classroom, so that if needed, a student who is remote can still attend class as though they were physically there.” Unfortunately, while schools are still adjusting to online classes, communication still poses a problem for students. For Kiersten, this comes in the form of lack of resources that impede on her ability to properly grasp the material being taught. “My college talks about different resources available to us, but there’s little to no information on how to actually access those resources,” she said while expanding on the matter.
The change in school learning:
The aspect of “school-life” such as being a part of a club, internships, or even working has been changed drastically by COVID. A “school life” is much different than a “home life” when one is in college mostly because students are involved in much more and network with many different people they might not have if they were home. Kiersten said “I lost my job and had to move back home” and now she’s back working at her family’s company 6 hours away from her school. Whereas Tajah, said that “being online for classes has allowed me to feel more comfortable with having to get a job” however she still is worried about the possibility of overworking herself. From our interview we concluded that all of their “school lives” have changed in one way or another and for those who already had a job or internship this detrimentally hurt them financially and socially.
Education in new settings:
While Kiersten decided to move home and do remote learning from the comfort of her own room, this time during quarantine also allowed her to think about how “moving back home did help [her] realize that where [she] lived before was too expensive” and she decided to finish college from home. However, Sierra who is originally from California and attends school in Kansas made the decision to go back to campus because most of her classes are in person. In order to ensure her safety as well as others she said, “being from California, I saw how quickly COVID could spread in highly populated areas so with this in mind I made the decision to change my rooming assignment to no longer live in the dorms.”
Full Interviews follow
Background
Name: Tajah
Age: 21
Major: Childhood Studies
School: Rutgers University–Camden
State: New Jersey
General Questions:
1. Is your school going remote for the rest of the year, and how do you personally feel about that decision?
My school is remote for this semester as far as we know. I believe they’re making decisions on a semester-by-semester basis. Although doing classes exclusively online is a bit difficult, I’m okay with it because it’s saving me money on commuting and giving me free time at home.
2. What have you had to do to adapt to online classes? Do you feel like you get the same level of education online as you with online classes (difficulty, available help, accessibility to professors etc)
Because of my home situation at the moment, I have to travel to a neighboring city in order to have wifi access so I can attend class. So it’s been harder in that sense. Also, I used to be able to get into the flow of the semester without having to write assignments down. Now, I need a planner in order to keep up with work because it feels like all five of my classes are happening at the same time. I feel like I’m mostly teaching myself the material and taking a lot of shortcuts because of my shortened attention span.
3. Do you think that COVID and remote learning has affected any other aspect of your “school-life”(such as work, internship opportunities, networking, clubs etc) and how?
Being online for classes has allowed me to feel more comfortable with having to get a job. But at the same time, I worry that I could be overwhelming myself because online school is already mentally hard to keep up with and school is no longer compartmentalized by a location- school is always with me in a way.
4. Do you plan to remain home or are still hoping to live near campus? What were some deciding factors you considered when making this choice?
I’ve always lived off campus, but looking at my peers’ experiences with housing these past four years and specifically this semester, I think a lot of people work better immersed on campus and the decision to go online has affected their work. For the people who do get to live on campus, daily health procedures could definitely impact their day to day lives and make getting an education harder.
Personal Question:
Has your state discussed the idea of reopening universities around you?
My state has opened some colleges for in-person instruction. Specifically, my university is holding some classes in person due to the nature of the class (labs, studios, etc.). A popular college in my state has already had to shut down due to students contracting the virus. I’m not sure how things are going to proceed.
Background
Name: Kiersten
Age: 19
Major: Health Sciences with a specialty in Physical Therapy
School: Saint Petersburg College
State: Florida
General Questions:
1. Is your school going remote for the rest of the year, and how do you personally feel about that decision?
A majority of the classes are online this semester with a few exceptions. And the exceptions are very random in my opinion. My anatomy lecture isn’t online but my anatomy lab is? However, most of the in person classes are offering an online counterpart for those that can’t go in person so that’s nice. I think it’s safer this way and I don’t think colleges should be opening but I also really miss in person classes.
2. What have you had to do to adapt to online classes? Do you feel like you get the same level of education online as you with online classes (difficulty, available help, accessibility to professors etc)
I’ve never taken an online class before and none of my classes have ever had anything to do online other than submitting assignments to a dropbox so having to learn how to do everything online was very difficult. It’s also a lot harder for me to motivate myself to actually sit down and get my work done since there’s nothing really forcing me to not procrastinate. I don’t think i’m getting the same level of education at all. My teachers have done their best and I think a lot of it is suitable for most people but I am a very hands on learner. Using my anatomy lab as an example: in class the teacher would talk about different organs, point to them on models, and have model organs to pass around the class so we could really understand what they look like and how they work. Online, i’m watching youtube videos and doing matching exercises and I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of the learning experience I need. My college also talks about different resources available to us but there’s little to no information on how to actually access those resources.
3. Do you think that COVID and remote learning has affected any other aspect of your “school-life”(such as work, internship opportunities, networking, clubs etc) and how?
Yes for sure. Before COVID, I was living in South Florida with my best friend 20 minutes from my school and i worked at a bookstore nearby to my school. Since everything shut down, I lost my job and had to move back home. Now I'm 6 and a half hours from school and i’m working at my family’s company. On one hand this is great because I really missed living at home and it’s nice to not have to pay so much in rent but I miss being on campus.
4. Do you plan to remain home or are still hoping to live near campus? What were some deciding factors you considered when making this choice?
I had to move home and it’s likely that I’ll switch to a college closer to home after this semester because moving back closer to my school just isn’t as realistic anymore. I think COVID and moving back home did help me realize that where I lived before was too expensive and not realistic for where I'm at in my life so I kind of had to re-evaluate and I've decided to stay closer to home until I finish college.
Personal Question:
Has your state discussed the idea of reopening universities around you?
I don’t remember hearing anything about the idea of reopening universities. I know I was left wondering whether they were opening for a while and then suddenly my friends were just going back to classes. Even my own college didn’t give us a for sure answer about reopening or not until about three weeks before classes started.
Background
Name: Madison Oliver
Age: 19
Major: Undecided
School: Polk State College
State: Florida
General Questions:
1. Is your school going remote for the rest of the year, and how do you personally feel about that decision?
Most courses are online while a small amount of them are hybrid (half online/half in person). Personally, I am only taking online courses. I think making classes remote is the best way to slow the curve, especially being in one of the states with the highest amount of cases.
2. What have you had to do to adapt to online classes? Do you feel like you get the same level of education online as you with online classes (difficulty, available help, accessibility to professors etc)
I have taken online classes before so I haven’t had a huge problem adapting to them. Personally, the hardest part for me has been time-managing between school and work. I do think it is harder to contact and receive help from professors online than it is in person.
3. Do you think that COVID and remote learning has affected any other aspect of your “school-life”(such as work, internship opportunities, networking, clubs etc) and how?
Personally, I have had to learn new time-management skills in order to balance between working a 9-5 retail job and maintaining my grades through online school.
4. Do you plan to remain home or are still hoping to live near campus? What were some deciding factors you considered when making this choice?
Personally, since I am currently at a community college, I live at home still so this question doesn’t apply to me.
Personal Question:
What is your goal for after college and how has covid affected you achieving this goal?
My goal was to transfer to a university next fall, though now not knowing what the future may hold due to COVID, I may not be able to as soon as I had hoped for.
Background
Name: Sierra Martinez
Age: 21
Major: Biomedical Chemistry
School: Kansas Wesleyan University
State: Kansas
Career Goal: Histologist/ Med Technician
General Questions:
1. Is your school going remote for the rest of the year, and how do you personally feel about that decision?
My school as of right now will remain on ground for the rest of the school year. Although they are taking a lot of precautions to insure there is not spread and remaining in the “KWU bubble,” there are students that are still students getting sick and passing it onto other students because they don’t want to miss their sporting events or can’t afford to miss class because their program has no back-up plan which is not right for the rest of us.
2. What have you had to do to adapt to online classes? Do you feel like you get the same level of education online as you with online classes (difficulty, available help, accessibility to professors etc)
Our school has set up cameras in the classroom so that if needed a student who is remote they can still attend class as though they were physically there. I personally have had classes that were remote for a couple weeks and the teacher just teaches it from home like a normal class. I do feel as though, online learning is a more lazy way to take classes especially with my more advanced classes because no one is actually interacting with the teacher and most likely on their phone or even one kid in my class who plays video games during class. Although the work is somewhat easier than before, actually learning and obtaining the information is much harder than going to physical classes. As for my teachers being available, they seem to be more available than usual because if you are not able to meet with them in person they are willing to meet on teams or even some teachers have requested that you simply call them or text them on their personal cell which has been nice.
3. Do you think that COVID and remote learning has affected any other aspect of your “school-life”(such as work, internship opportunities, networking, clubs etc) and how?
I was supposed to be interning at the hospital this semester in the hospital but due to COVID, students are no longer allowed to intern until further notice. So the only way you can get on-hand experience at this point is to get an actual job at the hospital, which is what I had to do in order to get the experience I needed for grad school. But with that in mind, having to find stores to buy scrubs for work was a hassle because most of the stores are either not open or closed before I get out of lab. As for bars and clubs, because Kansas is a lower risk state, all bars are open to the public and only require you to wear a mask to enter the building which is the same for most clubs, some not even requiring a mask at all. Partying has been limited to small gatherings at people’s houses due to the rule that if caught with more than 10 people, who are not all on your team, you could be suspended from your sport and even in some cases expelled from the school. Many sports have also implemented the bubble rule by not allowing players to travel to high risk cities such as Wichita who have higher cases than the rest of the state. The school has been trying to conduct more on campus activities to motivate students to stay on campus versus traveling out of the city.
4. Do you plan to remain home or are still hoping to live near campus? What were some deciding factors you considered when making this choice?
Being from California, I saw how quickly Covid could spread in highly populated areas so with this in mind I made the decision to change my rooming assignment to no longer live in the dorms. Instead I have chosen to live in a house near campus for my own safety and limit contact with other students since some students who are put into quarantine by the school are put into the empty rooms in the dorms until they show symptoms. Plus, even though students have been instructed to wear masks around the dorm and limit gatherings, I couldn’t tell you how many people I’ve seen not wearing masks or having small parties in their dorm rooms.
Personal Question:
Being a student-athlete, what is one thing COVID changed for you that might not affect others?
First of all, athletics are now required to wear masks almost at all times during physical activity and try to maintain 6 feet apart at all times. This also limits the spaces we are able to practice and work out since most sports are occupying the given spaces. Also, being part of a spring sports means that there is no guarantee that we will have a season so it is basically a waiting game to see if COVID will affect our season or not.