If there is one thing that I thought I’d never say, is that I miss my 8:30 a.m. classes. To go even further, I miss awkwardly showing up five minutes late everyday, I miss tripping on a random brick, and I miss almost getting run over by a Lime scooter.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of our classes have been moved online, and most of us have returned home. At first, I was excited because I had started to feel homesick. But now, I want things to go back to normal so I can concentrate on my studies and get a better education.
To clarify, I am not criticizing my professors. They are doing their best to transition to an online environment suddenly. This is an unprecedented situation, and in my opinion, they are doing the best from what is offered.
In the past, I have had several online classes. However, they were balanced out with in-class lectures. However, now that all my classes are online, I find it difficult to learn, hindering my education as a whole.
One problem I have with online classes is that I find it difficult to focus at home. Studies have shown some people are more productive in certain environments. Personally, I like to study in quiet places like the library or the upper levels of Talley. In addition, I associate those places with working, which makes me want to be productive and complete my assignments.
But at home, I constantly hear my dogs bark, my parents yelling at me to do some arbitrary chore and my Nintendo Switch is just begging me to play Animal Crossing. Even when it is miraculously quiet at my house, I still associate the place with relaxation, which impacts my motivation to get my assignments done.
In addition, online learning lacks the interaction between classmates and professors. For most of my online classes, I have very little interaction with my other classmates. For example, in my philosophy class, we would have discussion groups where we talk about various philosophical ideas and how they apply to the real world. However, because the class is now online, I no longer have those discussions. This is a problem because studies have shown in-class discussions can help students retain knowledge and help with critical thinking, a skill that colleges teach us. With ideas and concepts that are abstract, students need to talk to one another to get a better understanding.
Plus, it is sometimes difficult to get into contact with the professors. While they are available, due to the nature of the pandemic, it’s difficult for students to schedule a meeting that is both suitable for them and the professors. This makes it difficult when a student doesn’t properly understand the material or has a question on an assignment because they don’t get that immediate feedback.
My last critique is the platform that most professors are using: Zoom. I. Hate. Zoom. Personally, I find the platform an awkward alternative to in-person lectures. Sometimes you can hear background noises from others’ computers, the internet lags and you can’t understand what the professor has to say, and who knows what insanity students put inside the chat.
Plus, that isn’t the only problem with Zoom, as there have been some security concerns recently. CNET has reported flaws with Zoom’s security, such as unauthorized parties eavesdropping into Zoom calls or hacked Zoom accounts having their credentials uploaded to various forms. Besides being awkward to use, Zoom could potentially lead to a security breach within the UNC System.
Now, I understand that this was a temporary solution to the pandemic and nothing can be done about it. However, from this experience, in-person lectures are the preferable way to go. They allow for interpersonal interactions that are difficult or impossible in an online environment. This may be a one-time thing, but hopefully students realize the importance of in-person classes.
