Dear Zoom University — Q&A Sessions are not Classes
By: Cameron Bose
Tags: Students, Online Learning, College, Covid 19, Education

Dear Zoom University — Q&A Sessions are not Classes

Academics in the midst of a pandemic

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

The idea was simple: in March 2020, due to a global pandemic, nearly every university in the US decided to move to remote learning and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Students then had a choice: stay on campus, more or less alone in their rooms, or move back home, which would be cheaper, and even if more emotionally challenging it would be significantly less financially challenging. Most opted for the latter, some for the former. Those that opted to go home returned to the same family dynamics they had faced in high school. Though not specific to college students, domestic abuse rates spiked as the world stayed indoors. This was not, by any means, intended as a permanent solution, but as universities announce the second full semester of online learning, the light at the end of the tunnel is looking further and further away.

Between being forced back home, blamed for the continued spread even as the US government attempted to force a reopening in Fall 2020, and being disproportionately disrupted by the pandemic, college students are going a bit nuts.

Oh, and that’s not even mentioning Zoom University, one of the most frustrating aspects of being a current college student.

Haven’t heard of Zoom University? Consider yourself lucky. From classes that used to be held in lecture halls of hundreds to lab sections that were as small as 20 students, Zoom replaced every human interaction that used to be commonplace to college students. While it is understandable that the methods of learning have to be largely replaced, the replacement is abysmal. Here are just a few of the ails of the new system:

Unstable Schedules

At the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, it was expected to be a normal semester barring the fact that few if any students would be on campus. Dangling a tantalizing glimmer of hope, some universities announced that they would be holding hybrid classes in Fall 2020. When students got to campus and realized that this meant they could optionally attend 1–3 classes over the course of the semester, living arrangements had already been made and it was too late to plan for a fully-online schedule. No big deal, the university has already charged for housing while denying refunds.

This also wasn’t the only surprise: rather than a full semester, universities also announced that classes would be canceled after fall break in an attempt to prevent students from going home, spreading or contracting the virus, then coming back to campus. How they would do so when all classes are being held online is a grand old mystery. Either way, the expected schedule and modality of classes were disrupted from the day students set foot on campus, which leaves both students and professors on the back foot, constantly trying to adapt to changing rules and expectations.

Altered Course Content

When the semester started, educators faced a number of daunting questions: How do we hold lab sessions? What should homework look like? Will we still be expected to provide the same level of value for the students paying the same tuition for online classes?

The answer to all of the above: just don’t do it.

Lab sessions are recorded and posted, homework is either announced as optional or just not assigned (tests become higher-stakes and higher-stress), review sessions have become Q&A sessions, and the value of making both professional and personal connections in classes has all but disappeared.

As a college student, I can attest that all of this has been incredibly disheartening.

This morning, I logged into an Organic Chemistry lab for which attendance was reiterated to be mandatory just to be told that the class had become a Q&A session since all the material had been posted for me to do on my own time. If this was the way they were going to do it, why was I required to wake up at 8 in the morning?

For Physiology, homework due dates were announced to be nonexistent then changed to be one week after each assignment’s announced due date a week later. Confused? So am I.

A variety of classes announced review sessions for their exams, then backtracked and said there would be no review session and instead intended to field questions. A Q&A session is not a review session, those are called office hours which are already required by the university. Want to go to “office hours”? Good luck finding any regularity in scheduling, and have fun sifting through all the different Zoom links.

The Life of the (Nonexistent) Party

Even beyond academics, social life on campus struggles to resemble what it once was. More discouraging than disappointing is the number of parties occurring on campus, despite an ongoing pandemic. Accounts advertising parties have already cropped up and been shut down, but can you really blame the freshman class? Imagine being on your own for the first time, moving across town or across the country to get an education and make something of yourself, just to deprived of everything from going to class to making friends. Imagine offering a college experience to new students then immediately denying them any semblance of a college experience. Public health is paramount, but try to proffer college students some level of understanding. Shut down the parties, wear a mask, but don’t only blame college freshman for a global pandemic. What exactly did universities expect when they said they would hold in-person classes?

Zoom University

So, welcome to Zoom University, the only college any student is really attending at the moment. Tuition rates have stayed the same, morale has dropped, and so has most students’ motivation. College is supposed to be a time of newly-discovered independence and self-discovery through academics and connections both personal and professional. That has now been flipped on its head, with universities offering a shell of what they used to. Could this have been avoided? Yes. Are we stuck with the current system? Also yes. Given that, colleges and universities need to be transparent with their students. Don’t pretend to offer the same services at the same rate then pull a 180. From the beginning, state what will happen, however disappointing, and then follow through with it. Your students will thank you for it.