ALISA OPPENHEIMER
Special to The Leader
We’re in week two of distance learning and I’m positive I’m not only speaking for myself when I say it’s been a struggle for us students.
Everyday I wake up with a full mailbox of emails to sort, homework, as well as classwork, videos to watch, virtual lectures, the list goes on.
Not to mention, being home brings on extra distractions and even extra stress for many.
So while we’re all pretty much consumed in trying to adjust, finishing all of our work and planning for the day ahead, it’s important to keep in mind that our professors are feeling and doing the same.
And just like we were all surprised and confused at the news that the semester as we knew it was over, so were they.
Dr. Shannon McRae, professor in the English department, said she felt “an unusual combination of ‘Oh s**t, what do I do now?’ and ‘This is absolutely the right thing to do,’” when she learned she would most likely be teaching from home.
“The English department had been discussing what to do during a meeting a few hours before the president made the announcement,” she said. “We had been very concerned for the students, and we were happy to finally have a policy and some guidelines so we weren’t faced with making individual decisions that would affect so many people.”
McRae is my professor for an English class called “Myth and Symbol in Literature,” and has been teaching our class with a combination of email, OnCourse forums, and virtual discussions on Google Meet.
This is similar to how I hear many of my peers’ classes are working.
But of course with teaching this way, comes various challenges.
“I enjoy playing with technology and learning to use new apps, but I prefer to take my time figuring out how things work, and we don’t have a lot of that,” said McRae. “Also, I’m more comfortable with text or real-life presence than with recorded versions of myself, so I need to get past that.
“And most important, about 90 percent of teaching for me isn’t content delivery, it’s seeing students’ faces and hearing their voices when we’re discussing something. There are fewer cues to be able to tell if students are connecting with the material or not, so I’ve had to try different approaches.
“Plus, not everybody has the same connectivity, or the same amount of time or focus to give to a class now that they’re away, so I’ve had to be mindful of workarounds so that everybody has access to lessons.”
Although some challenges are inevitable, we’re lucky to even be able to get an education from the comfort of our homes.
During this time, it can be impactful to think of the positives, and some of those positive moments for me include, receiving those video lectures from my professors, or even just being able to attend a class virtually.
These are things I probably took for granted before being forced to vacate our campus.
And in that same way, our professors can relate to this as well.
“I was so happy to see everybody’s faces and hear voices once I figured out how to use video conferencing apps,” said McRae.“But also, I really enjoy challenges, and having the chance to do my job better under unique circumstances, in a way, this is kind of fun. I don’t want to keep it up forever, but I am definitely not bored,
I have meaningful work to do every day, and I am very happy about that.”
So while we’re all trying to figure this out still, I think we should take into perspective that our professors are going through this with us.
“We really care about you,” said McRae. “We love students, and we love teaching — it’s what gets us out of bed every morning. We want you to be okay and safe, and we want you to know that we’re here, and we will do whatever we can to help you through this — and we will get through this.”