If you’re living in 2020, you may find these truths to be self-evident: that all people have been staying in, that they are endowed by the US government with unalienable general confusion, and that amidst this, they can do nothing but float through life with a distorted sense of time, banana bread recipe in hand and TikTok dances in mind.
Everyone’s familiar with the drawbacks of pandemic life. It’s been deeply unsettling for many Americans including college-aged students. They’ve been left out of legislative plans and largely expected to just figure it out. Zoom fatigue strikes unexpectedly, professors continuously lament the hibernation of in-person classes, and people still can’t figure out how to unmute themselves or share their screens. At some point, something’s got to give, right?
CofC junior Middle Grades education major Emily Kaht thinks so. When asked what she would change about online classes, she said, “the negativity.”
As a junior education major at CofC myself, I was interested in Emily’s thoughts about online learning, the effectiveness of the practices she’s seen in her own classes, and her feelings about the future of online classes.
Change is the only constant here in 2020, so it’s only fitting that the meaning of “online classes” is being redefined among students. Before COVID, online classes were assumed to be asynchronous and independent. Now, Emily explained, “we have to know if we’re meeting on Zoom, how often we’re meeting on Zoom, and if we’re meeting at all.” “Online class” now seems more flexible and as if it has a pulse. This shift in perception excites students about the possibility of online class expansion.
Contrary to expectation and popular opinion, Emily noted that e-learning has improved the quality of her work. Having fewer opportunities to socialize has drawn Emily’s attention to her work’s quality. She reflected out loud that, “You know, I have a couple of jobs, but like, what else am I doing? … You’re not, you know, doing anything where you’re going out and about. So, like, what else do you have to do except for do your work?”
Additionally, Emily expressed a sense of pressure “to pick up slack a little bit and prove that I’m still trying in these classes.” Although this could be viewed as a negative sentiment, Emily finds that the pressure encourages her to do better in classes and put more effort into them.
Emily said she’s actually quite fond of online classes and hopes to see more at the College moving forward, even post-COVID. The new flexibility and reimagination of online class in combination with higher quality work is what drives that desire. Emily responded that she’s “definitely more open to more classes being online” when asked what she thought about implementing more online classes in the future. “I really like the fact that there are classes online now.”
What may come as a surprise to many readers is what Emily hopes to see change surrounding online education: “[Something] that I don’t want to stick around is the negativity that has come out of online classes from professors and teachers in general.”
She’s found that professors bemoan what could have been, often apologizing for online class and lamenting in-person classes’ hibernation. Students and faculty alike hate COVID, but at some point, Emily says, we’ve got to accept what we’re working with and move past it. The nostalgic attitude and negativity towards online classes “doesn’t really help anybody…that does not really motivate me,” Emily explains.
As an education major, Emily is sympathetic towards the challenges teachers and professors face in moving towards new delivery methods. However, Emily feels students have largely done their part in adapting to the new normal and wants to see professors’ mindsets shift as well. While Emily’s broad ideas about online education are shifting positively, she said of her current online classes that “we don’t have online lectures. We don’t have anything. There’s no personality like there should be teaching literacy.” This, Emily thinks, is where the biggest changes to e-learning must happen.
Find a lightly edited transcript of my interview with Emily below to find out more about one college student’s shift in attitudes towards e-learning throughout COVID.
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Hannah: Has your time studying literacy affected your educational philosophy at all, and if so, how?
Emily: You know, for my project, I read the educational white paper and it was interesting to realize that school isn’t a universal thing. Being literate isn’t a universal thing. There are people living who don’t know how to read and are fine with that. And that’s just very interesting to me, because they’re literate in other things, they don’t need to know how to read because they’re literate in their culture. But I think that knowing the difference between, like the types of literacy has definitely opened my eyes and realizing that literacy is not just reading and writing. Yeah. But also like knowing how to do something well.
Hannah: Do you see any elements of what we’ve learned [in ENGL 316 in your classes]? Do you see any catering towards different literacies in your own classes?
Emily: So a couple of my classes are just very straight forward to the point, like here’s the work, do the work, hand back in, get your grade. There’s not a lot of back and forth there. That’s just kind of like, can you read this? All right, good. Now we’re moving on. But for one of my specific classes, I definitely see [the professor] catering. He’s constantly asking us any questions and concerns. ‘What do we know about this? Does everyone understand?’ And that’s kind of him making sure that everyone is literate in this topic that we’re going over. Yeah, he’s not going to move on until he feels confident that all of us could explain this to someone else. Yeah. It shouldn’t be just because we’re online… a lot of teachers have kind of abandoned the idea of like teaching and are just like, here’s a worksheet.
Hannah: Interesting, so you think your classes have become a lot more like self taught?
Emily: Yeah, yeah, a lot of them have. I have three classes that barely meet like we both like so far this semester. And everything else is like we don’t have online lectures. We don’t have anything. There’s no personality like there should be teaching literacy.
Hannah: Yeah, do you see a divide in your classes about, like pandering towards digital literacy or just like literacy in general?
Emily: You definitely know that some teachers hate being online. You can definitely see they hate being online. Not only do they hate being online, but they don’t know how to be online. I remember last semester during spring, I had a teacher who before we knew that we were going to be sent home for covid was like, I have a flip phone and that’s it. Like I don’t use an email. So don’t expect me to. And we were like, OK. And then when we went online, I remember all of us being like, what are we going to do for this class? And then he would just post videos of him teaching, but it was like a video from his flip phone. And then he would be like “does everyone understand?” and we’d be like, no, and he’d just move on. And so there are definitely some teachers that hate being online, like they’re so discouraged from becoming digitally literate that they just didn’t try at all. And that was definitely difficult when our only choice was to become digitally literate, right. Yeah, and there were some teachers that were like, I’m just going to drown and I’m bringing my students down with me.
Hannah: Yeah, I think a lot of teachers still are even being like that and just having, like, a super negative attitude towards being on Zoom.
Emily: And it’s like, well, that doesn’t really help anybody. Going on to zoom every day and going, well, I wish we are in person, but we’re here, that does not really motivate me to want to be in your class.
Hannah I know. Well, my next question is, how is your time studying literacy affected the way you view your own literacy practices, especially as a college student?
Emily: It’s made me a lot more aware of them. I didn’t think about being literate when you’re not learning about it, you’re just kind of like this is something I do. Yeah, you don’t think about the fact that you can read. You’re just like I can read. You know, you don’t think about all the brainpower that goes into it and all the different modems that go into having to be literate. Yeah, but definitely as you start to study it more, you see it a lot more in your life. And I see myself catching myself being like I’m reading right now. Yeah, a lot more. So your idea of [literacies].
Hannah: Exactly, but, in a word, your idea of your own literacies has expanded.
Emily: Yeah.
Hannah: Could you elaborate on the ways your literacy has changed over time? And that can be either like from when you were a kid or like covid.
Emily: So I would say definitely pre-covid I took online work a lot less seriously than I did in person work because the professor could see me and so I’d be like, oh, the professor sees me doing work, then they know that I’m trying in their class. And so I don’t need to try as hard for online stuff. But since coming online, I’ve definitely had to pick up slack a little bit and prove that I’m still trying in these classes, even though they’re online. I definitely see a difference in the way I was writing pre and post covid and the fact that I’m writing a lot more, just like in general. I used to be happy doing a discussion post that was like three sentences and being like, OK, I made my point like, I don’t need to write anymore. Now I feel as though I should be writing a lot more and I’m enjoying writing a lot more because I know what to be writing about. So I think those are my two major differences.
Hannah: Yeah, that’s a really good point. I think I’ve also kind of been seeing that and I don’t know if it’s just because. Like, it’s something that happens when you get older and you progress in your college career, but it’s like not as satisfying to just. Like half a– everything.
Emily: And you’ll half a– an answer and then not get full points on it and then you’re like, Oh, look, I can’t get away with this.
Hannah: So more on that. How has your attitude towards and ability to use technology changed since covid? So let’s focus more on, like, your attitude towards it.
Emily: I’ve always been someone who uses the computer a lot and uses it to my advantage, that hasn’t really changed. But I think my attitude towards this is going to sound really bad. But towards plagiarizing has changed a lot more. I would be so willing to copy and paste into my writings and stuff like that because I was so used to half a–ing and I was like, it’s whatever. Like no teacher will figure it out, blah, blah. And then as I’ve gone further into covid, I’m like, why am I halfing it? Like, what do you have to do? Like write your paper. If I caught myself doing that, I’d be like, I’m going to snitch on you. [E-learning] has definitely changed my attitude on my quality of work like what else am I doing? You know, I have a couple of jobs, but like, what else am I doing? Like, you’re not going out with friends. You’re not going to the bars. You’re not, you know, doing anything where you’re going out and about. So, like, what else do you have to do except for do your work? Yeah. So I think that’s how my attitude changed.
Hannah: I like that, yeah, so what elements of online learning would you like to see stick around after covid or are there any that you really wish don’t stick around?
Emily: I think that we should make more classes online. Even though [CofC] said they couldn’t do it, every single class to be offered online. Now, our idea of what online classes were pre and post COVID are very different. Our idea of a pre-covid online class is just asynchronous, you get all your work and you do it throughout the semester. Now we’re assuming that if it’s an online class, we have to know if we’re meeting on Zoom, how often we’re meeting on Zoom and if we’re meeting at all. I really like the fact that there are classes online now for our major. Right. So I’m definitely more open to more classes being online. Things that I don’t want to stick around is the negativity that has come out of online classes from professors and teachers in general. I understand your frustrations, but we’re the ones you’re catering to. Like, we’re going through whatever you just have sent to us, we still have to do it to our full capacity. And so I have hated the negativity that has come out of being online. How about we realize that we cannot change what is going on and adapt to it? I understand it’s a lot of work. I know. Yeah, I think that that’s that’s like the major thing.
Hannah: I completely agree. I mean, you still have to take it for what it is and still see the positives of it, because I still like online classes, I still want my classes to be online next semester. Yeah, but it doesn’t help when your professors are like, oh Zoom sucks. And it’s like, well, it’s fine, we’re all fine.
Emily: All right, well, after our interview was a lot longer than it was supposed to be, it was only supposed to be 30 minutes and our’s was like 45.
Hannah: All right, well, I’ll send you the transcripts whenever I get it. Goodbye, friend. Great chatting with you.
Emily: Goodbye!