First Week Back. What to Do?
The online classes started this week. This new reality strikes and makes us all feel less motivated to continue. I just had my first online class via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (a.k.a. the Skype of Blackboard,) and it took 30-40 minutes for the professor to set up and get online. The whole situation made me want to drop the class and the semester altogether. From what I heard on group chats from other classes and comments on Facebook, I’m not the only with such an issue. But I don’t think dropping classes and giving up is a solution. We are taking this the wrong way.
Yes, we are probably witnessing the start of a new recession-era, but the only thing that we can control is our actions. We can’t control the pace at which the world is changing as of now. The only thing we can do is cooperate. We are already trying to stay in our homes as much as we can. Some people, such as grocers and pharmacists, have to break quarantine and go to work. However, it’s a different case when it comes to students. The University is giving us all the tools they can to help us to cope with this situation. Faculty are just as frantic as we are. Students already know how to use Skype, Blackboard, Zoom, and turn on the projector. Most professors don’t, and just like with the Covid-19 situation, the only thing we can do is cooperate. Here´s what can be done:
- Follow a schedule
There are a lot of people that are already organized enough, but for the majority of us that just collected paperwork and had random notes on a notebook, a new plan has to be set into place. Most professors (if not all), will continue to use the schedule laid out in their syllabus to upload classwork and homework, or to do video conferences with students. Use this time. Some professors will just upload the work to the blackboard and give you a due date. Attend your online courses and use the same time schedule to complete your work as though you were present in the classroom. Usually, you had to spend the time you had in class listening to the lecture and then spend additional time outside of class to do the homework. With no lecture, you only have to do the work. Do it. Professors and lecturers are moving in the same direction when it comes to adapting and creating a new schedule.
Dr. Jose A. Rodriguez from the Creative Writing program says that this is a new challenge for him too, and he will try to keep the classes as normal as possible.
“My main goal in transitioning to online is to maintain a level of consistency,” said Rodriguez. “By holding to a routine of timely emails with clear instructions for students to avoid disorientation as much as possible, especially given the historically challenging times we’re living through.”
2. Wake up early
This is one that gives me a hard time too. For sure, there may be some students that do wake up with the rise of the sun. But, if you´re not an early riser, then now is a good time to start. Even if you’re not going anywhere (which is something that you should already be doing if you´re able to,) try to follow a good sleep routine. Why? To avoid depression. According to depression.org.nz, during times of stress and unease, a good way to self-help is to “get back into your daily routine, by doing little things like showering, making your bed, hanging the washing out. Choose one thing to start with.” The most normal way you can continue with your life, the better.
3. Email your professors.
We are all in the same boat. Professors are trying their best too, even if it doesn’t seem like it. I´ve seen comments of students complaining about how professors are not being understanding about the whole situation. They ask students to do task such as, do activities out of school, attending events when all events have been canceled (especially now that the Cameron County is closing their doors on Wednesday.) But professors are also having a hard time trying to manage the transition in the middle of the semester too. A good example could be Dr. Jean Braithwaite from the Creative Writing department who spent his extra week taking online courses to use in her classes.
“The extra week was a lifesaver,” said Braithwaite. “I enrolled myself in 3 training classes this week also, 2 from COLTT and one from the Center for Teaching Excellence. I also just did a huge amount of experimenting on my own, with Panopto and Zoom.”
Braithwaite also contacted students that didn’t reply to the emails that she sent out for them to reply to in order not to fall behind on work. Braithwaite quoted Oscar Keyes, author of ZOMBIE Survival Guide (Zoom and Other Multimedia Basics for Instruction and Education), for us to understand that faculty are trying to do it right.
“You are not going to become an online education expert overnight. Give yourself permission to be bad at this, and be kind to yourself.”
The best thing we can do is to cooperate and do the same. Share all of your doubts and concerns with your professors and keep with up your emails.
The only thing we can do right now is to do what is expected of us: to continue and work as we always have. Right now, we must try to finish what we started and not let our worries and fear overtake us. Trying your best is better than not trying at all. Just think, do you want to retake one, two classes? This sudden change may be difficult but it is doable if we take it one step at a time.
