Q: Since everything is online, what is your typical school day like?

So my typical school day, because of COVID, I mainly decided just to do online classes, that way I could pick and choose my schedule rather than mostly having Zoom classes. Most of my classes are online but when I have time, I just do mostly my school work.

Q: Right now the lecture you have, are they pre-recorded, or are they live?

They are live.

Q: How are they as far as being understandable and engaging?

Some of them are understandable but they lack those regular classroom opportunities to ask questions and everything.

Q: If you do have a question that you need a teacher to answer, do you email them or do you try to ask them when you're in these class meetings?

Usually, I'll either email them or I'll wait until the classes are over after everybody leaves so I can have an actual conversation with them.

Q: How are they as far as getting back to you on your answers?

This year I surprisingly have had really good opportunities with professors on getting back to me pretty soon. I mean usually within a couple of hours if it's within the school day.

Q: Would you say that now you’re having a little bit of an easier time getting those responses rather than in person?

Yeah surprisingly

Q: How has it been trying to meet people or contacting your classmates?

I haven't really worried about that so much. The times that I have, they put us into groups and so that is how I can communicate with them. I do have one upcoming assignment for that so I'm guessing it's just going to be a Google Doc that we’re just going to have to fill in the different answers rather than collaborating.

Q: Those groups they have you in, would you say that students there are engaging or is it more forced?

It’s pretty quiet and awkward.

Q: Would you say it's because you can't really tell who it is that you're talking to?

Yeah, it sucks. It's that and the teacher isn’t actually in there supervising, so some students will take it as a time to sit and do nothing.

Q: Now that the whole college experience is online, how has the experience changed for you?

I was never really into the party crowd. I mean I was just mainly hanging out with a couple of friends so it hasn't changed immensely, but I do know that people from different campuses across the U.S. have been kind of struggling with that or that it's affecting the sororities.

Q: As of now, has your university provided you with any resources to help with online learning?

So they mainly recommended going on campus and they have a tool called Seats where you can reserve your spot on campus if you don't have Wi-Fi connection. You can go there but as far as computer services, I haven't really heard anything besides tech support over Zoom if you have any technological problems. My Wi-Fi at home is kind of spotty but other than that I haven't had any problems.

Q: Have your teachers provided you with anything, like extra teaching resources?

I don't know if they necessarily have done it because of COVID but they have online resources posted to their Canvas website but it's kind of just similar to what I’ve seen in the classroom setting.

Q: As far as the actual material you're learning, is it easy for you to grasp, or do you feel like you're kind of teaching yourself at the moment?

There was one online class that I ended up dropping because it was just purely reading the textbook and then reading a supplementary article. I dropped it because I felt like it hadn't been transmitted properly because it wasn't actually teaching anybody in the class. So other than that I mean the material has been pretty simple.

Q: Have any of your professors had any tech issues as far as moving everything online?

There's one of them that's been having issues with the audio but I think that's just something we need to bring up more and it's also people not using their mics. I just think the teacher needs to be brought aware that it's his problem.

Q: A few people have told me that they're getting bombarded with syllabus information and homework notifications through their email, have you experienced something similar?

I kind of go off my notifications and go on Canvas every day so I don't really have to deal with that necessarily.

Q: How do you feel about your organization when it comes to online classes because if you're not careful, everything can get overwhelming?

I honestly think that this has just kind of opened my eyes that I like online learning a little bit better just because I have time to organize everything myself. So I think I'm pretty good about organizing my time well, I just kind of figure it out week-by-week based on my schedule.

Q: Right now would you say that your homework assignments are about the same or do you have more?

I would say it's about even.

Q: Have you had the need to ask your classmates for any help?

I've actually helped other people when they ask questions through Zoom.

Q: Overall would you say that online learning has been beneficial to you and in what ways have you overall benefited from this system?

I mean it just kind of gives me freedom to actually work and make my own schedule, that's amazing. I really like that about online learning, and other than that, I guess classes in-person kind of intimidated me and made me nervous whereas this one, there is more of a boundary.