Online learning is arguably the biggest adjustment present-day college students will ever have to make in their academic careers. We are faced with a completely new learning environment while expected to perform just as well as we did before. We have the same amount of work, in some cases more, and our course materials get more difficult each semester. Yet, as if course work wasn’t an obstacle enough, the university decided once again this semester to have both online and in person classes. They plan on having 10 weeks of in-person instruction, followed by five weeks completely online.
Can they stop trying to please everybody and do what’s right?
It is clear from last semester that in person instruction, no matter the guidelines, is unsafe and unsustainable. Following the student’s return, COVID cases in Albany County were sky high, despite extensive safety precautions on campus and rampant testing. Subsequently, in-person classes were abruptly stopped a week early and our emails were flooded with messages to return home immediately.
Does administration expect this semester to go better?
COVID cases across the country are much higher than they were in August, and it is unlikely students and faculty will be able to get vaccines by the time the semester starts. If anything, the consequences of spring semester in regard to health and safety will probably be worse than in the fall. Unless there are catastrophic changes between in-person instruction methods, I don’t there will be a good outcome.
Besides safety, one thing we could all benefit from in such uncertain times is consistency. After a semester of completely online classes I have just adjusted to the new format. I finally know my way around zoom, online discussions, and Honorlock testing. This hybrid of in-person and online classes will complicate the new learning environment my colleagues and I just adjusted to.
This decision means many students will have to move back to Laramie again—another obstacle in such uncertain times.
Besides, I’m kind of loving online learning. I’ve never had so much freedom; I finally have the time to get to my hobbies, make money, and sleep an adequate amount. I no longer have to trek across campus in 20-degree weather. Instead, I just log into Zoom. I also can better understand my courses being able to re-watch my lectures and go at my own pace.
Online learning clearly has its shortcomings. For some students, learning in an online environment is next to impossible and they miss the on-campus experience. However, no matter what the university decides for the Spring, there is no way learning will look like it did in 2019.
Yes, no matter how the university decides to approach classes next semester someone is going to be mad. But bringing students back is going to wreak havoc on the health of Albany County and cause more unrest in our already inconsistent lives—for the second time. Let’s wait to have in-person classes until the fall, University of Wyoming.
