Thanks to the recent campus closure, professors have been given the option to either move their classes online or to different facilities off the main campus. These professors didn’t have much time to make their decisions and needed to tell the students what was going to happen within around 36 hours to spare before classes were expected to resume.
This tight turnaround caused confusion for both faculty and students, as many were trying to balance holiday travel, family plans, and ongoing semester workloads.
Many professors have mentioned that the adjustments have added unexpected stress, making this period the most challenging part of the semester, and maybe even their careers.
Tom Discenna, a Communications professor, expresses his concern with students who are displaced by the interruption after having to figure out where to go and what to do for the extended Thanksgiving break and turning around to dorms still being closed and classes being moved elsewhere.
He also had to decide to move presentations for projects to a video format instead of being able to have in-class discussions on projects that students have been working hard on. The shift not only changes the format but also changes the energy and interaction that these presentations bring to the classroom.
“It feels a little like the pandemic in that we are all moving quickly to make the best of a bad situation,” Professor Discenna said.
This shows how professors are just doing their best to accommodate students and themselves to finish out the semester.
Then there are professors who teach courses that need to be in person, like Professor Christie DeSano, who teaches American Sign Language.
She finds it difficult to move a class like ASL online, but is thankful for how technology has evolved, and thanks to platforms like ZOOM and Google Meet, she is still able to teach her students signs.
But it proves to be difficult when she has assigned students a signed song presentation project, where students learn to sign at least 30 seconds of a song that they chose.
It is difficult for her to be able to properly assess the students when they are on her screen and not in person.
“ASL is a full body experience, one which uses the hands, face, and entire body to portray meaning,” Professor DeSano said.
She feels for the students who were not able to show their hard work to the class after working all semester to understand the language to the point of being able to sign a song.
There are so many more professors who teach hands-on classes that were forced to move to an online format, or even off campus to different facilities.
As the semester finishes up under these circumstances, both students and faculty are learning to adapt in real time. For many, the transition has been emotionally and academically exhausting, but it has also shown how committed the campus community is to keep learning moving forward.
Professors like Discenna and DeSano are doing everything they can to preserve the quality of their courses despite limitations.
