Remote Learning – Perspective From a First-Year Student

Rachel Gomes, ’23

Now that most students have officially moved off campus for about a month now, our lives and our daily routines have completely changed as we move on to remote classes/learning for the remaining of the semester. 

As a freshman, this was never how I expected to spend my first year of college to play out. The spring season is an amazing aspect that the east coast has to offer and many of us are upset that we will not experience the spring weather until next year. For now, I have been enjoying the nice weather from my backyard while working on homework. I never thought my second semester of college would literally be spent at home doing my work. 

Most of my professors have been utilizing Zoom as their main platform for these online classes. Personally I like using Zoom as it’s really easy to use. Although, for many of my friends who live on the west coast of the US, waking up at 7am for what would have been their usual 10am class has been tough, from what they have told me. Most of my professors have been very understanding of this and record the zoom session for students to watch later who can’t make it to the live. There are functions such as ‘screen share’ so we are able to see our professors screen, whether it be a powerpoint or a reading. In my research writing class for example, we also use the break-out session to have a one-on-one/private call with another classmate(s) to discuss peer reviews or the readings etc.This is super helpful as we have the chance to talk to our classmates about our work or the reading that was due and receive immediate feedback.School switching to online classes? How to make remote learning easier

For me, it has definitely not been easy to keep up with the school work. For most students, our sleep schedule has been completely messed up and many of us are dealing with late and missing assignments. While most of my professors are making deadlines flexible, it can become overwhelming once you realize how many missing assignments you actually have. My main source of distraction has been social media and apps like TikTok or Netflix that have taken the place of time I would have been in class or at the Iwasaki Library. 

Remote learning has been a challenge for many and while we may feel unmotivated to complete our work, it’s important to remember that we should still finish off the year strong as we only have about two weeks remaining in this semester!

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