Q: What does a typical school day look like for you?

I do have classes twice a week. One is in person and then I have three others that are online.

Q: And how are your online classes being structured right now?

They use a program called Blackboard and it’s on the university website.

Q: Are your lectures in real-time or do they pre-record them?

They pre-record them.

Q: Do you find your pre-recorded lectures understandable and engaging?

I find that in-person classes are more so.

Q: Are you using any outside resources to help you learn the class material?

They do provide some links through the university library but that's about it as far as any other resources.

Q: The lectures that you’ve had so far, do you find them difficult since you're learning on your own?

Yeah because I guess there's no organization. Everything is just kind of put out at the beginning of the week and then we're just kind of on our own for the rest of the week. Instead of us being able to break it down as if we're going in-person, we're just kind of having to balance all of this homework and then figure out on our own how to organize it all.

"Everything is just kind of put out at the beginning of the week and then we're just kind of on our own for the rest of the week. Instead of us being able to break it down as if we're going in-person, we're just kind of having to balance all of this homework and then figure out on our own how to organize it all."

Q: I know other people have said that they have professors who aren't really that tech-savvy, have you run into that problem at all?

Yes. Because everything is online, communication isn't all there. We’re able to email them, but they're not able to respond quickly enough or they're not able to actually understand what the online issue is versus if we were able to explain to them in person. We're not able to explain to them what we see on our end of the computer, so then they aren’t able to understand what kind of issues we’re struggling with.

Q: Have you been able to speak with any of your classmates?

Yes, I have.

Q: And how do you go about connecting with them?

It’s all usually through the phone. Nothing is really done through the school's online program. I guess with the Blackboard program we do our own group chats, get each other's phone numbers and emails, and then do our own FaceTime meetings like that.

Q: Would you say it's a little intimidating reaching out to your classmates since you don't really know who they are?

Each class we are given a list of the student names, so we don't exactly know how old they are, who they are, or if they're even tech-savvy. Overall, I’d say yes.

Q: And are you still being assigned group projects at the moment?

We are.

Q: And have you had any issues with that so far?

So far no because I've had other students that I know, but I do know that others have run into problems with that because they don't know who it is that's in their class. Some people who are older aren't able to work their computer or their phones very well.

Q: Is there something you wish your teachers would do to help you out with your classes?

I think offering more online tutoring or just being able to join more meetings at a certain time instead of giving us just the freedom to get together with other classmates. I guess I just need to have set times for meetings so I can be able to choose whatever time is available.

"I feel like even without online lectures, teachers already have a difficult time getting back to people, but now they have so many more emails because everything is online and everything gets lost in that sea of emails."

Q: It sounds like your teachers are just kind of giving you everything I saying good luck.

Yeah, they just kind of threw everything out there and I think it would have been better if they told us like ‘these are the time and dates you guys can join a WebEx meeting’ or whatever. Like having some type of program instead of just saying ‘if you need help email me’ because we never know when we're going to get a response. I feel like even without online lectures, teachers already have a difficult time getting back to people, but now they have so many more emails because everything is online and everything gets lost in that sea of emails.

Q: Is it difficult for you to have to do everything in the same space?

Yeah not being able to go to public places where there is Wi-Fi has been really difficult.

Q: Since most of your classes are online, are you worried about your assignments getting out of control?

A little yeah.

Q: It seems like right now you're experiencing a lot of trial-and-error with your classes.

Yeah, I feel like right now because it's the beginning, it’s kind of working for them, but I think after a while it's not going to work. I'm not entirely sure how much staff is on campus but I know for students in-person classes are at a 25% capacity but I'm not sure about the faculty.

Q: Are there any other concerns you have?

I think right now the Blackboard program that they're using has been working, but I know when the whole country is using the same program, they do have glitches and things like that. Usually, teachers are understanding about it but I don't know if they need to switch programs instead of just sticking with one or two that they know students are having issues with.