@cwmonty
Zoom call with coffee
JANINE SHUMAN
campus editor
TCC recently announced that campuses will continue with virtual learning during the May and summer semesters.
The announcement spurred conversation among the TCC community.
Adjunct math instructor Clifton Parrish recognizes the educational advantages of on-campus learning and feels ready to return to campus with precautions.
“Although my students performed very well last summer, I think there is a difference between a lecture and online courses and there is a cumulative effect of COVID restrictions on student and teacher psyche over time,” Parrish said. “I think it is time to persevere, safely, of course.”
NE dual-credit student Abrar Hammoudeh believes TCC is doing right by keeping its doors shut for the summer.
“They’re making sure that everyone including staff and students are safe,” she said.
TR student Maria Del Carmen Granados understands why TCC decided to extend these precautions through the summer.
“I think TCC is making the safest choice”, Granados said. “It’s hard to predict how the virus will be months from now, so I understand their decision to keep classes online.”
The online format posed many challenges for students who prefer a more personal approach to learning. Parrish said that students displayed disdain for self-paced programs such as MyMathLab and requested that professors resort to different methods.
“As a teacher, I kept seeing student feedback that preferred a more customized approach,” Parrish said. “I have created home-made online materials such as videos and online quizzes/exams, although they are not fancy, students in my courses greatly prefer it,”
The online platform has various technical errors, including grading inconsistencies that inevitably frustrate students.
Parrish speculates that students feel their education is more authentic when professors ditch the self-paced platforms and record their content.
“My conjecture is that part of the reason students like the videos is that students like to see “authenticity” in online materials,” Parrish said.
“My quizzes/exams provide practice versions, immediate grading, and I manually check and override the auto-grader with partial credit for minor obvious errors,” Granados feels that the only factor preventing her from favoring classes online is the lack of lectures, which she believes are immensely helpful to students.
“I don’t think that the professors have gotten lazy, it’s just sad they’ve seen that the students of the past didn’t utilize their live or recorded lectures, so now they’re not even trying to provide live lectures this semester,” she said.
Hammoudeh, who plans on taking classes at TCC this summer, believes the online platform drives a communication barrier between students and faculty.
“Professors are still doing lessons and lectures via video, but there is less communication between students and teachers,” she said.
Despite the many challenges in the virtual world, lots of students and professors feel uneasy about the notion of returning to campus.
When asked if she would feel comfortable returning to campus, Hammoudeh expressed her concerns.
“I would not feel safe at all,” she said. “While there are rules and guidelines to follow because of COVID-19, that doesn’t mean everyone will follow them correctly.”
