Living during a global pandemic has been a very strange experience, and with that, the Spring 2020 semester has not been anything like what I imagined my second semester of college to be. As a college student, COVID-19 has not only had an impact socially in self-quarantining, but also mentally and emotionally in having to adjust to living and learning at home rather than a college campus. Learning during a global pandemic is vastly different than learning during a "normal" time due to taking online courses and living at home, all while social-distancing and taking precautions to stay healthy.
With the quick transition from in-person classes to online learning, I have faced many challenges in continuing my academic endeavors at home instead of on campus at the University of Maryland. One of the greatest difficulties in being a student in this situation has been time-management and staying focused. It is much easier to sleep in late, watch Netflix, and let the asynchronous lectures and assignments pile up. Another difficulty has been keeping up with the heavier workload of online courses. Many of my professors have been assigning more assignments and projects online than we had in-person, and I have found it overwhelming to try to meet due dates. I am falling behind in classes that post three or more asynchronous video lectures per week in order to meet deadlines in other classes. This choice of which classes are "more important" for me to keep up has been a difficult one, but is has been the only way I have been able to stay somewhat on-track.
Another challenge I have faced is in the learning itself. This semester, I took ENES100 - Intro to Engineering Design. Before this turn of events, my team and I designed an Over Sand Vehicle (OSV) to complete various mission objectives. However, the switch to online learning did not allow us to continue our project, so we never got to see our design come to life or compete against other teams in the final competition at the end of the semester. Instead, we have been doing various smaller projects. While still hands-on, these projects do not compare to the OSV project in terms of their difficulty, opportunities for collaboration, or opportunities to explore new fields and gain new skills. In addition, I took BIOE121 - Biology for Engineers Laboratory. Being at home, students obviously do not have access to a lab or equipment to perform the scheduled experiments. My professor was kind enough to write new experimental procedures and assemble at-home lab kits for each of her students so we were still able to do experiments at home. While the adapted curriculum and activities were much better than performing virtual or simulated experiments, I missed out on the opportunity to learn how to use certain lab equipment that I may need to know how to use in the future. Although I am still learning in online classes, I am not able to have the same experiences I would have had on campus with in-person instruction.
Since I have been taking online classes for over a month now, I have had time to adjust and learn what works well for me and what does not in terms of learning. One thing that has worked well for me is attending synchronous Zoom lectures instead of watching the recordings later, as it has helped me avoid falling behind. Another thing that has worked well for me has been keeping a detailed digital calendar and paper agenda. Blocking out time in my day to complete certain tasks has provided structure to my otherwise structureless life, and writing down every assignment I need to complete has helped me keep track of due dates and exam dates. Given the parameters of social distancing, one improvement that would help me, as a student, learn in this situation would be incorporating collaborative activities and a way to communicate with peers during class. My online experience this semester has been largely independent and individual. Many of professors have not made an effort to translate the group discussions and activities we used to do during in-person classes to online learning, and I have found myself missing the collaborative environment of UMD.
With the high probability that the Fall 2020 semester will be online or involve some degree of online learning, it is important to reflect on my online learning experience during the Spring 2020 semester. If I were to have another partial (or whole) semester of learning at home again, there are some aspects I would like to see done differently. For example, I would like to see the workload more representative of the workload of in-person instruction, rather than an increase in assignments. In addition, I would like to see more opportunities to collaborate with my classmates as opposed to strictly independent activities. Personally, one thing I would do differently is try to follow my "normal" daily routine that I had/would have had on campus in order to create structure in my life. Another thing I would do differently is seize the opportunity to get ahead of my work and assignments during quarantine, which would alleviate the stress during midterms and finals.
Although this has been a strange semester and life will not return to a state of normalcy for quite a while, reflecting on my experiences has been very beneficial to coping with the current state of society. Whether next semester is completely online, partially online, or in-person, I feel more prepared to face whatever challenges come my way and accept change. I am hopeful that things will improve in the near future and that we can resume life as it has always been, but until then, I am trying to accept social distancing and caution as the new "normal".