Tag: online learning

  • Not all Sunshine and Rainbows

    sunshine and rainbows
    Photo by rita peron on Unsplash

    Hello everyone! I hope you’ve had a good weekend. Happy Easter by the way as well! As I write this, I’m honestly very tired mentally. When I say this, I speak from an academic standpoint. This semester has been not been easy. As some would say, it really is has not all been sunshine and rainbows. There are a lot of good moments and I’ve had fun, but I’m getting really tired of everything.

    I’m tired of online coursework. I’m tired of communicating over long email chains with classmates and professors. If I never saw Zoom or Microsoft Teams again in my life, I wouldn’t be upset. I’m sick of not being able to interact with people in a manner where we aren’t concerned about social distancing or other public health protocols. More than anything, I’m so over going to school thinking I’ll be able to have more face-to-face interaction, only for things to be an absolute, unorganized disaster, resulting in me spending so much time in my apartment by myself.

    I’m not here today to write and complain about all of the sucky things about being a college student right now, but I also don’t understand why it seems to be ok to be a bit more disorganized and chaotic now. Take my chemistry lab for instance. We’ve had several labs canceled not because someone is sick but because the materials for the lab aren’t ready or haven’t been shipped yet. We missed the first week of lab because the professor and TAs weren’t ready to begin lab yet. I mean come on!!! You had all of winter break to prepare for this course and it’s not the first time this lab has been offered as a course. There have been several weeks in this lab, where something doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to or it doesn’t work at all and my TA throws his hands up in the air, laughs, and then says he’ll send some data over email and that we can all go home. Then why did I just waste an hour and a half trying to get something to work?? Why am I even putting any effort into this lab if it ends up with me sitting back in my apartment reading through a bunch of chemistry papers that I can barely understand to talk about something in a paper on a topic that my TA doesn’t even understand. Absolutely ridiculous.

    And I know, again, that this pandemic has been easy for no one. Again, it has not all been sunshine and rainbows! Things have changed so much and there are so many guidelines and regulations to follow and ensure safety and health of all. I fully understand that. I bet there are a lot of ways that the pandemic has affected how this chemistry lab that I’m in can operate. I think there comes a point though where you can no longer blame the pandemic on your inabilities to be organized and put-together.

    This class hasn’t been my only issue either. I feel like I really tried to be an optimistic and hopefully person about these classes at first, but I quickly came to realize that it was not going to be all sunshine and rainbows with two of my other classes… They have been horrible disappointments. It feels as if I’ve learned nothing. It feels like my professors try but all the words they speak have no true meaning. The thing that bothers me the most about this is that I pay for this. I pay a good deal of money for something so low-quality. It’s embarrassing and more than anything its frustrating! I was so excited for these two classes, developmental biology and chemistry of addictions, and I couldn’t tell you one really important or exciting thing I’ve learned in either class.

    Being online for most of my coursework and living alone (unless I’m just staying at home for classes) has been a very interesting experience and as much as I appreciate the alone time, it can be really hard sometimes. I’m pretty distracted most of the time, whether I’m working out or doing classwork or watching a show. It is hard though, when I’ve done all that I feel I can do for the day and I have no one to talk to and everyone is busy. I just feel lonely sometimes and that’s something I have not enjoyed one bit. We are social beings and being robbed of that has really taken a toll on so many of us. Sometimes I go on walks and it makes me sad sometimes to not even see another person on campus. Even just seeing another person can make you feel less alone, or at least that’s how I am. At least there’s someone else around, in your presence. And it’s so different to text a person or talk to them on the phone. Yes, it helps to know that another actual person is interacting with you but it isn’t the same as seeing them in-person. In my opinion, it’s the interactions that occur face-to-face that make things so much better and mean so much more.

    More than anything, I pray for better classes next semester with better professors and I pray for better days ahead. I’m really looking forward to spring break which starts next weekend and I’m thinking that will help with some of this burnout I’m feeling. I know I need some time to recharge and I’m sure a lot of you out there do too! I know that the world will not always be sunshine and rainbows, but I know that I can make the best of every situation I’m presented with and recognize that most of life is going to actually be pretty good. Life sucks sometimes though, and in these times you really just need to truck along and remember that things will be ok in the end. 🙂 Have a good week everyone. I’ll see you next Sunday.

  • Out of Online Classes!

    online classes
    Photo by Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash

    As of yesterday, my microeconomics class and my technical writing class are COMPLETE! Woohoo! Online classes are DONE! I still have my physics class to finish at my local community college, but I feels nice to know that my load just got a lot lighter.

    Eleven credits this summer may have been to big of a task to handle. I’m a bit worried that I’ll burn myself out for this upcoming fall semester. Considering that I will be taking seventeen credits this fall, I feel nervous about what my work ethic is going to look like. I’m a pretty hard-working person so I think I’ll be able to stay strong but we shall see. Haha, I bet you guys will hear about how all of that goes.

    Online classes are extremely helpful for people who can only make those work. Or for me, they’re helpful when you add a business minor to your load and still want to graduate early. Online classes are also cheaper than most classes you can take at a community college or university. Super convenient, let me tell you.

    One of the biggest things I struggled with in my online classes was actual dedication to the class. Of course I got all of my work done in a timely manner and to the best of my ability but it was hard to find the motivation. I never met either of my teachers (with the exception of a Skype call to my Econ professor) and I never met any of my peers. I personally really appreciate the personal connection that comes with physically being present in a classroom or lecture hall listening to a professor. I feel that I am more involved and present to learn the material.

    Another thing that I hated about my particular online classes were the mandatory, weekly discussions. Every week, there was some topic we were required to discuss with discussion group members. In order to receive credit for our discussions, we had to make a post that fully answered the question or questions, respond to AT LEAST two other classmates posts, and then interact with our peers based on responses we got. I was always really good about posting early in the week but oh my goodness, my peers were not. I would answer everything by Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday and wouldn’t hear back from ANYONE until Saturday. Discussions closed on Sundays and I honestly didn’t want to deal with all of that so late in the week, but I eventually just had to because some people are stupid and some are just big procrastinators. Thanks…

    Online proctoring for exams creeps me out too. WOW. The process is overkill. I had to be proctored twice for my Econ exams and both experiences with that were just horrendous. It’s creepy that another person can just hack into your laptop like that. I also didn’t appreciate that I practically had to be glued to my seat the entire two hours I took my Econ midterm and final. What if I was uncomfortable how I was sitting, huh? I also found it unnecessary that the proctor had to see my entire room to understand that I wasn’t cheating. I was even asked to take down a tennis tournament draw I have up on my wall from when I won regionals my junior year of high school. How in the world would they expect me to cheat off of that?!

    I understand the point of online proctoring, but as I mentioned earlier, the process and extremes to which these services have gone is a bit extreme. Sometimes I just wish people were honest and trustworthy and then we wouldn’t need these creepy, strange proctoring services. Oh well.

    Other than these couple of things I mentioned, I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to take a couple of online classes. It has been helpful to my college plans and allowed me to see another side of the academic world.

    More importantly though, here’s to a more true start to summer for me! Well, minus physics. But still! Have a good week everyone. 🙂