Q: Now that everything's online, what does a typical school day look like for you?

Right now I think things are a lot more convenient because teachers upload their lectures on Blackboard. So I'm able to get to the classes anytime and I have access to all of my teacher’s PowerPoints whenever I need them. Taking notes is much easier for me now since I don't have to rush to take them by hand in class which is really great. Pretty much my school day is just a lot more flexible and more forgiving towards people's schedules which I think is pretty great.

Q: Since everything is online, are you at all worried about keeping up with your classes?

Not particularly. I don't know, it doesn't really feel too different from how I used to do work before on my own time. I think it's just more different now because I used to be more productive at night, but with my schedule now I have to be more productive during the day which is usually when I'm trying to sleep. So that's unfortunate, but other than that it's really not too bad at all.

"I think it's just more different now because I used to be more productive at night, but with my schedule now I have to be more productive during the day which is usually when I'm trying to sleep."

Q: With these online classes that you're taking, have your teachers done anything to make this process a little easier for you as a student?

Yeah. You know during the summer break there was a big session where all the teachers who we're more internet-savvy taught other teachers to help better them for these online platforms. Like a practice for teachers to record lessons and show them how to record because you know there's a lot of old folks teaching and some people who are even younger who aren't really that techsavvy. You know the programs themselves aren't really that intuitive, and a few of the teachers really needed a good walking through. I think there are also online sessions for students to fill in and contribute to these discussions. There was pretty active discourse between students and the school for what could be improved when schools were to start up back in the fall.

Q: For the platform that you are using, is it pretty straightforward as far as navigating it and understanding where your assignments are and whatever links you need to use?

That really depends on the teacher because each teacher has a different layout. I'm mostly using Blackboard right now. One of my teachers didn't even upload the syllabus really, they just pasted it in Blackboard so I don't have a Word document for it unless I were to copy it by hand, which overall I thought was really dumb. Like why would you do that? Not being able to have hard copies for stuff like syllabi kind of sucks.

Q: As far as your syllabi go, the assignments that you've seen, do you think the workload is about the same as in-person, or is it a little more now?

My online teachers are honestly pretty nice this semester. They’re all sympathetic to the various situations that students are undergoing at the moment.

"You know the programs themselves aren't really that intuitive, and a few of the teachers really needed a good walking through."

Q: As far as connecting with your classmates are you able to do that or have you done that?

Even when we were in person I never really connected with my classmates. I don't really like group work, whenever I'm in group work I usually have to end up taking initiative. Yeah, it's not really any more than before because I was not really interested in socializing with others.

Q: Say you have a question and you want to message your teacher, from what you've seen have your teachers been pretty responsive as far as getting back to their students?

Yeah, honestly the worst-case scenario with any of my teachers before was, you would ask them a question and they would digress in their answer and they don't necessarily give you the answer that you're looking for. But right now all of my teachers are responsive. Everyone is really on top of their emails and stuff like that. It's great, I've been pretty lucky. Mostly I feel like I'm taking advantage of the resources that are available to me. My teachers have always been pretty kind and smart people though, so.

Q: Have any teachers been having any trouble as far as getting online?

There have been some very minor mix-ups but nothing consistent. Worst I can say is, one of my teachers, she has self-identified as someone who is socially awkward, not being able to interact with the students like faceto-face it's kind of difficult for her. She feels like a radio host she says. She is definitely not a fan.

Q: Do you think that working online takes away that anxiety that in-person classes occasionally have?

I don't know, my anxiety usually doesn't stem from the other people in my class so much as for example ‘ am I raising my hand too much?’ And things like that which could trigger my class anxiety. If anything it's fine. Group work is more difficult though, the students don't tend to watch their emails as much as teachers do.

Q: Is there anything you want your school or teachers to implement in order to help you out as a student?

You know I don't think I have much of a situation where I have an excessive amount of needs that need to be met. I have a lot of time to be on my laptop and take care of my work. I don't feel like I can recommend much more consideration from them. Like they're recording lessons and uploading them and they watch their emails and that's the least that I can ask.