College Students in Remote Instruction
Since the COVID-19 crisis exploded, most colleges in the United States have stopped in-person teaching and turned to remote instruction. We watched videos of lectures and used Zoom in sections. We completed assignments and took exams online. Everything is different and the remote instruction even becomes a new challenge for college students. After a quarter’s experience of remote instruction, I discovered some benefits and costs of remote instruction from the perspective of international students.
This crisis helps people see many benefits of remote instruction. First, attending lectures and sections becomes easier and more convenient for college students. Students no longer need to spend 10 minutes walking to different lecture halls and they can utilize that extra-time on other study tasks. Second, if the lectures are provided in forms of video or audio recording, students will have a chance to review lecture contents later. This characteristic of remote instruction enables students to overcome the time conflict of courses and it also increases students' capability to adapt to hard courses. Third, the remote instruction allows more availability and accessibility of professors and teaching assistants, no matter in forms of office hours or emails. Through Zoom meetings, Instructors are able to hold office hours just at home, so they can have a more flexible schedule. In my history class, when I had some questions about my essay or writing assignments, I scheduled a zoom office hour on the next day through email and then I could discuss the course contents and my questions efficiently.
However, the disadvantages of remote instruction are also explicit. The most significant disadvantage is less sense of participation in classes. In the in-person instructions, lectures and sections were not only places for students to receive knowledge, but also opportunities to communicate with instructors and other students. The remote instruction reduces many such communications and some sections even switch to the form of forum posts. The boring study tasks like listening to videos made many students feel unwilling or resistant to study. In comparison to on-campus study environments like the library, home is not a motivating study site for many students. On the other hand, technical issues of remote instruction burdened college students. Because almost no university had a complete system for remote education previously, the technical issues are unavoidable. Many students were disturbed by connection problems in online exams, which will make them feel uncomfortable and nervous in exams.
International students may be the population that was affected most by the COVID-19 crisis. Many international students who went back to their home country have met some problems with remote instruction. As some sections kept fixed-time Zoom meetings, international students in other time zones may need to attend sections at 3 am every week. Moreover, technical and internet issues became more severe for international students, especially Chinese students. Many of my Chinese friends hope the crisis could pass completely and they really want to go back to campus and continue studying. The remote instruction discloses some advantages of online teaching, like convenient online office hours. However, the disadvantages are not ignorable and the motivated environments of college are really significant. Many international students look forward to going back and studying on campus!
This crisis helps people see many benefits of remote instruction. First, attending lectures and sections becomes easier and more convenient for college students. Students no longer need to spend 10 minutes walking to different lecture halls and they can utilize that extra-time on other study tasks. Second, if the lectures are provided in forms of video or audio recording, students will have a chance to review lecture contents later. This characteristic of remote instruction enables students to overcome the time conflict of courses and it also increases students' capability to adapt to hard courses. Third, the remote instruction allows more availability and accessibility of professors and teaching assistants, no matter in forms of office hours or emails. Through Zoom meetings, Instructors are able to hold office hours just at home, so they can have a more flexible schedule. In my history class, when I had some questions about my essay or writing assignments, I scheduled a zoom office hour on the next day through email and then I could discuss the course contents and my questions efficiently.
However, the disadvantages of remote instruction are also explicit. The most significant disadvantage is less sense of participation in classes. In the in-person instructions, lectures and sections were not only places for students to receive knowledge, but also opportunities to communicate with instructors and other students. The remote instruction reduces many such communications and some sections even switch to the form of forum posts. The boring study tasks like listening to videos made many students feel unwilling or resistant to study. In comparison to on-campus study environments like the library, home is not a motivating study site for many students. On the other hand, technical issues of remote instruction burdened college students. Because almost no university had a complete system for remote education previously, the technical issues are unavoidable. Many students were disturbed by connection problems in online exams, which will make them feel uncomfortable and nervous in exams.
International students may be the population that was affected most by the COVID-19 crisis. Many international students who went back to their home country have met some problems with remote instruction. As some sections kept fixed-time Zoom meetings, international students in other time zones may need to attend sections at 3 am every week. Moreover, technical and internet issues became more severe for international students, especially Chinese students. Many of my Chinese friends hope the crisis could pass completely and they really want to go back to campus and continue studying. The remote instruction discloses some advantages of online teaching, like convenient online office hours. However, the disadvantages are not ignorable and the motivated environments of college are really significant. Many international students look forward to going back and studying on campus!
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