coronavirus – Bridget's Eng 200 blog

This week I’m going to write about how online classes are going, and how I feel about them. For starters, although it may seem like us students have a lot more time on our hands, we are also balancing many other things like living at home and learning remotely with family around always bugging us, not having the same resources available, oh and struggling with a national pandemic that is causing many people a lot of health issues and anxiety. Many of my professors start all their emails out with “I know this is a very stressful time for all of us” and then proceed with a to do list for the week of about 20 different tasks, since we have “more time on our hands”. This has really ticked me off not gonna lie, like we shouldn’t be given more work than we would have had on campus or be held to the same standards while teaching ourselves. I understand professors are stuck at home teaching their children and trying to balance their lives as well, and they seem to always say how stressful it must be for us students but then continue to add on to the stress. I’m just very unhappy with how it is going, especially since we aren’t given the same resources but are paying the same amount in tuition to not even have classes being tough by professors, and having to learn everything on our own. I am happy they put in place a pass/fail grading system though. I have heard rumors about potentially not going back to school in the fall, and I’m really considering taking a semester off then. I’m paying to go out of state to a in person college for more than just the classes but for my friends and the campus experience, and I don’t want to pay the same price to do online classes, and not be able to see my friends or even be taught by my professors. I’m just getting increasingly frustrated with online learning and I’m happy it will be over in two weeks.

This week’s blog post I’m going to be writing about how the transition from in-person classes and normal everyday living to remote learning and stay-at-home orders has changed my everyday life. Since Dayton has announced we will continue to have remote learning for the rest of the semester it has been super difficult for professors and students to figure out how to make their learning experience as normal as possible, but it has been a very tough transition. The one thing I am surprised about since I never thought the university would be willing to do this, is the decision to allow students to decide if they want to have a pass-fail grade or regular grades for each class this semester. This has alleviated so much stress off of me and my peers and makes it a lot easier to just try my best and not be worried about how my GPA will be affected. Other than that the transition has been a tough adjustment, to say the least. I live in a different time zone, so I have to remember all my due dates and class times are actually an hour early. Learning through zoom chats, or not even video chats at all just isn’t the same education we were getting before and I feel very unconnected from my friends, professors, and Dayton community. It is disappointing, and I understand the need for social distancing in order to flatten the curve, but I just wish there was still some sort of community intact or that Dayton was offering more than just a housing refund. I pay to go to school out of state for a reason and to have professors that I interact with every week. Our tuition goes towards more than just classes, it goes towards our rec plex membership, counseling services, the health center, maintenance, the library, facilities management, and so much more which we are no longer receiving being sent home. I just really hope Dayton tries to do good with their students and offer refunds for services no longer being provided or finds a way to be able to provide these things. Not everyone can waste that much money to not be receiving many of the things that help students keep on with their school work and support their mental health. I just hope the school figures everything out and does good by their students during this difficult time.

Tag: coronavirus

How I feel about remote learning

How Remote Learning is Going