THE NEW NORMAL — The current situation of many students in the online classes setup, battling with slow internet connection, new apps, and more with little to no capacity. (Illustration by: Vincent Flores)
With the re-opening of classes during the pandemic being a hot topic to students and teachers nationwide, it is clear that virtual learning is here to stay (for the school year, at least) as Adamson University welcomed new and current klasmeyts onto the community last August 24th.
Aided by the university’s learning management system, Blackboard Learn, the students’ way of studying has been reshaped with the newly adopted flexible learning method, a combination of both synchronous and asynchronous learnings.
Of course, the opening of classes is not without expected difficulties as a technical glitch marred the first day of classes, rendering the students unable to access their accounts. However, this lasted for only a short period, as the system went back online after a few hours.
With the first week being unofficially designated as an “orientation week” for students new to the virtual learning setup, professors welcomed their students by explaining the fundamentals of their course subjects and taking the time to re-introduce the students to proper netiquette that they must observe.
Students also got to interact once again with their friends, albeit online after a long five-month hiatus on classes as well as get a taste of what having asynchronous learnings feel like, as their professors assign new tasks and activities. On a personal note, I was able to see the faces of my classmates while listening to a lecture, which almost made me feel like I was inside a real classroom (this time, sadly with more assigned activities)
Although, some students still clamor for the previous way of learning they were used to, longing for personal connections with their friends and professors.
A fellow klasmeyt, Pao Binasbas noted, “Iba pa rin talaga ang face-to-face na classes, kasi nandoon ang mga friends mo, masaya at may kasama ka sa pag-tackle ng different school challenges niyo.” For a course whose students are branded as a “COMMunity,” this is especially true as admittedly, experiencing things (good or bad) with your peers at the same time is one of the things that makes being in school fun and memorable.
For klasmeyt Andrea Bunag, nostalgia is the least of her concerns as she who found herself “almost at tears” during class due to her internet connectivity which requires her either go a few houses down to use a neighbor’s internet connection or sit outside her house in order to come by enough of a phone signal to use her mobile data.
It is not a secret that studying virtually is incredibly challenging and takes a bit of a learning curve to get used to yet while the first week of conducting virtual classes is hardly enough to tell what the future of remote learning will be, it still sets the foundation for what Adamsonians can expect throughout the rest of the semester— a new learning experience all done in front of their eye-straining screens.
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