With another semester of schooling halfway over, both professors and students are still adapting to the BlendFlex model. However, how can teachers instruct engagingly and use hands-on activities when most class work is done remotely?
As a communication major with a digital media production concentration, most of my courses have not been deeply affected by BlendFlex learning. However, I’ve noticed other majors are facing instruction in completely new ways. Labs have been moved to virtual meetings and hands-on instruction that was paramount to understanding the course are summarized in a five-minute video shown over Zoom. COVID-19 has forced so many students and teachers to change the way they learn and teach, and the quality of education stemming from this is nowhere near the same.
For majors of all kinds, semesters have been filled with virtual labs and demonstrations to make up for the rigorous in-person tutorials done in previous years. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to learn skills proficiently in an environment such as this. Professors that were once able to be at your side are now miles away on a screen, doing their best to give you the best quality education they can while also feeling stressed. Imagine a professor trying to move their entire curriculum to a virtual setting, including all of the in-person labs or, scheduling labs in attendance rotations. It seems so challenging to teach this way, let alone comprehend what is being taught.
Not only do professors and students have to worry about changing the ways they teach and learn, but they also have to worry about lack of available resources for these modified activities.
For example, in my graphic design class, we are required to purchase Adobe Suite, which includes programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for all of our assignments. Before the pandemic, graphic design students were able to use classroom computers with the programs downloaded and available. We had the advantage of using these hands-on resources for free while having the instructor there for help. Now that we are online, students have to choose between going in-person on a rotation schedule or staying at home and purchasing Adobe Suite. Even with the student discount, these programs can be expensive, and some computers simply do not have the capacity to run them.
Engineering majors are trying to build models from supplies found at home. Science majors are trying to complete experiments from home the same way they would have in an in-person laboratory. Marine biology majors are learning from a computer screen while they should be physically alongside the marine life they wish to study. Hands-on activities, no matter the major, are being forced to change and not for the better. These rigorous assignments are what prepare us for the world outside school. I cannot wait to attend classes in-person once again and see first-hand all the hands-on experiences NSU has to offer.
