By James Cirrone

The first week of online learning has wrapped up, and according to teachers and students, has had both its successes and shortcomings. 

Matt Phillips, a freshman economics and computer science major, had mostly negative feelings about the move online in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He said Zoom is easy to use, but that the platform is prone to inappropriate distractions.

“My econ professor held a Zoom discussion for all 280 kids in the class, and he was met with profane distractions and multiple curse words and a half naked dude dancing to electro-pop music,” Phillips said.

Any positive aspects of online learning should be disregarded, Phillips said, as the negatives far outweigh the benefits. For instance, he said since all classes are online and pass/fail grading has been instituted, he feels far less motivation to do a good job on his school work. 

“Classes feel optional but really they’re not, and ever since pass/fail grades were instituted I’ve had this nagging thought in the back of my head that I could just not do anything else for the rest of the year and still pass all my classes,” Phillips said. 

Julia Epstein, a sophomore elementary education major, said she shares Phillips’ decline in motivation now that classes are online. 

“It motivates me more to actually be in class, rather than have to plan out when I need to listen to the lectures and when I need to do the work,” she said. 

Epstein had never taken an online class before, but one of her professors, Montserrat Guzman, made sure every one of her students was prepared to move online. 

“Our last day of class…we went over Zoom and [Guzman] taught us how to use it,” Epstein said. “She was really good about getting a schedule out to everyone and working with all the students.” 

Epstein conveyed that the negatives associated with virtual learning still outweigh the positives. She felt that the transition to online classes forced her to plan out her schedule, which is tougher than just going to class at the same time every day. 

While Epstein aspires to be a teacher one day, this crisis has prevented her from getting hands-on experience as an educator. 

“One of my classes was going into a classroom to volunteer and help teach, and that one you can’t really transition online,” Epstein said. “That’s been really tough for me because I really enjoyed going in and working in the classroom.”

Epstein acknowledged that the coronavirus has changed the way teaching is conducted. She has sympathy for professors at the university who she said are doing their best with what they have. 

“This definitely isn’t… what they wanted to do either,” she said.

One professor who’s really felt the brunt of this quick transition to remote learning is Dr. Robert Chiles, a history professor.

During one of his last in-person lectures before students vacated campus, Chiles said that if a teacher doesn’t get a “rush” every time they get up to teach in front of young students, that teacher should no longer teach. Dr. Chiles said he misses that rush.

“There’s something thrilling about being able to work with students and share something that you care about and are passionate about,” Chiles said.

While he said he’s sad that he doesn’t get to teach in person anymore, Chiles said he also thinks that the university made the right decision in sending everyone home. To offset this sudden change, he’s trying to record his lectures with the same amount of passion in order to give his students a comparable experience.

“I can still provide a high quality historical education,” Chiles said. “I still can provide high quality, high energy lectures.”

Dr. Chiles has taken an extra step by setting up a backdrop to record in front of. He continues to wear the same snappy outfits in his online lectures that he would wear to class on an ordinary day. 

Dr. Chiles said that you can’t beat teaching in the same room as students whose reactions he can gauge to see what’s working and what’s not. 

“You can sort of read the students’ faces and what they’re passionate about,” Chiles said. “You can make sure that the material is framed in a way that’s going to capture people’s interest.”

Even though he can’t deliver as dynamic a lecture when talking to a webcam, Chiles is optimistic that things will eventually return to normal.

“I’m very thankful that we have adequate technology that I can carry on. And we will carry on. I will carry on.”