For months, I have been working back in Romulus, Michigan, trying to get used to having a mask on and maintaining my distance at every waking moment.
Most of my summer classes were moved online. They were not lectures but classes where you worked high paced to learn and relay subject matter. Coming back to Ferris for a third semester, I did not know what to really expect for classes or life on campus.
As a person who is always using Facetime and Google Duo, I’d assumed this would be the same concept but with more people. I was wrong.
My issue started with virtual classes.
The first week at Ferris I felt very much like an introvert. I felt very awkward having to show my face in a box for over an hour while everyone else has their screen off and the teacher struggles to manage Zoom.
Doing presentations or talking at all felt very much like standing in front of the class with a note card doing a speech with a disorientated voice.
Like most students, I have been stuck behind a screen for most of my classes. Countless times I have wished things were back to normal and I were in a class rather than staring at a screen with 16 other students.
Doing further in the semester, I’ve gotten used to all these situations, but while adapting to this I felt like as I was living in a VR system. It brought me to think, did I really take in-person class for granted?
Virtual classes do save a lot on time, gas and energy. It is much easier being the stereotypical lazy college student by just staying in one place rather than going from building to building and making up excuses for why you were late.
As we all know this is a safe alternative to meeting in-person and taking a chance of getting sick. While virtual classes may be the only alternative for this semester, there are still a lot of things wrong.
I am a hands-on learner and it is hard to take multiple concepts you read and see in class and apply them in a matter of a week.
I also feel that many times I am teaching myself a subject more than a teacher. While having to balance multiple classes, it is hard when a teacher expects you to read a whole chapter and then expects you to know it like the back of your hand.
Virtual classes seem very fast-paced and complicated when you are taking many at the same time.
On top of that it is also very hard to keep track of multiple assignments. While we have Canvas, A planner or checking emails would be a good alternative. Many dates end up getting changed or fixed without even knowing.
Overall, I just think that face-to-face classes are much more settling. With the pandemic going on I understand we have the make the best of the situation.
Virtual classes are still a key to learning and getting things done. I just feel as if they put on more stress on students with the fast-paced work material. When in-person classes come back I will never take them for granted.