In person classes are not the same as they used to be

Flipping from different learning styles has affected the learning of college students.

The first quarter back on campus after a year of online class has had its ups and downs. Don’t get me wrong, being back in person has been nice being able to actually interact with people in person, but I did not expect this quarter to feel so challenging. The number of times one of my professors would come into class and could just tell how exhausted we were and give us a pep talk of  “you guys got this” happened many times throughout the quarter, the first time it happened was about week four. 

Even though we are trying to get back to what normal was before COVID-19 the mental, physical, and emotional effects that COVID-19 brought are still affecting everyone. Now imagine having all of that on your plate and then adding in going back in person for school. This  adds other concerns and hoping the people in your class don’t get exposed which could lead to you being exposed. This was something that has run through my mind many times this quarter on top of the stress of completing school work, jobs, and a small social life. 

Not only was the stress of coming back on campus stressful for everyone but on top of that the learning environment that we are in is completely different. No longer are we rolling out of bed 10 minutes before class in our bedrooms learning off a screen and trying not to interrupt classmates while in fuzzy pajama pants. We now have to manage time for driving, finding parking, making it on time, and wearing actual clothing. It does not seem like that should be a huge issue, but when you haven’t done it a year it can be hard getting used to it again. 

There is also this issue of having a variety of students who have had different college experiences. For some, this is their first quarter on a college campus, but yet have already been in college for a year. Some are coming right out of online high school which really can’t prepare anyone for an in person college experience. A few others like me have experienced the before, during, and after pandemic school experience which all had their positives and negatives and are drastically different from each other. We are all coming from different backgrounds of learning and trying to mend all those together to try and make the college experience a good one is hard.

Being in college is hard and doing it during a pandemic is even harder, and this is something that all college students are trying to overcome. Sydney Jackson, a student at the University of Maine wrote an article similar to this one and the biggest take away from that article was “The grace that was provided during the last year and a half needs to continue as students go through this difficult transition and try to regain the lives they had before COVID-19.” Just like how we were given time to adjust to online classes and able to decide if we wanted grades to be numeral grades or pass/no pass, we should still be able to have that option now. The transition that we went through moving online we are going through the same transition again going back in person, and getting used to that is going to take time. 

If you had a hard time this quarter you are not alone, I myself struggled throughout this quarter from things that pre COVID would have never done to me. Not only us as students but professors are also going through this transitional period with us, and giving them grace during this time is also important. Taking care of yourself is top priority, learning from last quarter and applying what did work for you and applying it this quarter to hopefully make this quarter run more smoothly.