Adjusting to Online Learning
Covid 19 was once perceived as a distant and unrelated challenge to some students who were studying in the UK when it was first mentioned in the news. A great number of international students decided to return home to stay close to their beloved, the rest chose to stay and tried to be prepared as the outbreak continues. Whichever decision was made, the mutual concern of all international students was for their continued education. There is not a greater worry for international students than the possible disruption of their academic journey given that it is a huge investment put into a search of a better future. However, as the pandemic was announced to be global, the University of Leeds campus has closed and from Wednesday 18 March at 6pm, all physical classes and assessments were cancelled. Nevertheless, the university is supporting our learning and has transitioned all their learning and teaching to be conducted online. While the current circumstances are undoubtedly difficult, it is important that we keep up with our education and that everyone finishes the year (and graduates) as planned! It’s also nice to have some structured activity as we stay home over the next few weeks. Take a look below at how we (current international students!) are coping with the transition to online classes:
Khoa Nguyen, MA Corporate Communications, Marketing and Public Relations
Like any other schools in Leeds, Leeds University Business School has been quick in responding to the global pandemic by shifting teaching to online. It was predicted to be a huge challenge as students were freaked out due to so many what-ifs: What if the connection at my place was not stable? What if I could not understand the delivered content in absence of physical interaction with the lecturers? What if there are too many distractions? However, with clear guidance and dedicated efforts made by all the teachers, the whole transition was a smooth and pleasant process.
Students were briefed carefully on the transition and many different online platforms were tested. One morning, we were trying out with Minerva blackboard and a few hours later, we got to experience Zoom with a completely different format. No issues took place and the lecture delivery was easy with the knowledge transferred in a better and more efficient way. It seemed like having a luxury private 1-on-1 lecture with your beloved professors, when you got to hear everything they said clearly and raised your questions freely by typing what you wanted to ask in the chat box or enabling a microphone and signaling the “raise hand” function. The seminars were even more exciting as students were randomly allocated in different groups and had the opportunity to speak with someone they had never talked before. The experience is so much fun when seeing the professor’s self-made background with the galaxy or experiencing the pause because someone left their mics on and everyone else could hear everything they were talking. There is always the possibility where a student logged in and just took off, but witnessing the tireless efforts of our teachers, everyone seemed to be more engaged than ever and had a good time studying and interacting virtually with their friends and lecturers.
Corina Gunawidjaja, BA Digital Media:
The School of Media and Communications transitioned to online lectures in the form of recorded podcasts, group work meetings and drop-in office hours through either Zoom and Skype. Scheduled seminars continue to take place using Blackboard's Collaborate Ultra, an online interactive session platform available on Minerva (our student portal). While the school have had to cancel all practical workshops, my tutors have uploaded various tutorials as well as assignments to do from home to keep us engaged with the module content. The school has also stated that all assessments (excluding formal exams) for second and third-year students will continue as planned. The staff at the school are committed to ensuring that students are not disadvantaged by the current disruptions. Within the past two weeks, all my module leaders have made changes to our assessments to make them more achievable and/or moved assessment deadlines to give us enough time to complete them given the current circumstances.
However, most of my assessments under the Digital Media course require practical resources only available at the university. This includes various filming equipment, computers at the media labs, as well as creative software like the Adobe Creative Cloud. The campus’ recent closure means that I won’t be able to access these resources remotely. Fortunately, everyone at the school has been working hard in supporting us to ensure that we finish each assignment to the best of our ability. Just recently, the IT team at the university were able to negotiate terms with Adobe to allow students to use Creative Cloud Apps off-campus until the end of May. The school has also provided software alternatives for professional editing that are free to use. All tutors are always available by email and remotely assist us however they can with practical and technical support.
While I found transition to online harder than expected, especially with practical classes, I have managed to find ways to make sure I stay motivated to study. As the lines between home and work start to blur, I always clean my desk before a study session so I don’t get distracted by the various knick-knacks I have lying around my table. I also like to keep in touch with my friends and course mates as we try to finish the year one day at a time.
Suhaib Arogundade, MSc Environmental Engineering and Project Management:
In the School of Civil Engineering, students have since been taking lectures online using different media like Microsoft Team and Collaborate. I also did a group presentation online with our video on and both the lecturer and other students in the class can see the group presenting while equally sharing the presentation slide with everyone using the “share screen” feature in collaborate software. So far, I have received an extension on some coursework and we have been informed that exams will also be done online with a detailed modality on how this will work to be shared soon. Regarding my dissertation, since laboratories have been closed and all international travels and field trips have been cancelled by the university, students are now modifying their dissertation topics in conjunction with their supervisor to move to desk-based work while maintaining the engineering angle to their work. Overall, I will say things have been relatively the same except for the physical interaction amongst my peers which is missing, but we try to have frequent video chats!.
Anastasia Stephanie Angelica, BSc Food Science:
Since all of my assignments and lab sessions were complete before online class started, students in the School of Food Science and Nutrition do not need a lot of interaction with the lecturers at the moment. Hence, some lecturers uploaded last year’s lecture capture to Minerva ( our student portal). Some lecturers, however, prefer to interact with students using Blackboard Collaboratel. This platform enables students to listen to live podcasts, ask questions via video call or chat functions, or see a live lecture. I enjoy the a “raise hand” button as well so the lecturer can be made aware if any student wants to ask questions. By doing this, you will not interrupt the live lecture or podcast. All lectures and podcasts in our university are recorded so we can have the flexibility on accessing the lecture at their convenient time, especially since some international students have gone home and therefore experience a time difference. Before the lecture, we always receive an email to inform us how the lecture going to take place (if it is going to be live, or they just upload last year’s lecture). As a second year undergraduate student, some of the exams will continue but only 2 of my 5 will take place. Therefore, I dedicate 4-6 hours per day to study or listen to lectures related to the original 5 exams.
I returned to Indonesia last month and since the time difference between here and the UK (6 hours now that it is summer time), I always catch up the lecture the day after the live lectures have began. I study in my home, sometimes at a desk in my room, sometimes in the living room with the rest of my family. I try to mix my study style by making lecture notes of on-going lecture then combine both lecture notes and learning material into one summary note which will be used for exams revision...this way of learning and studying is an adjustment for me in Indonesia, but we are all getting there 🙂
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While the University of Leeds is committed to supporting all students through this very difficult period, health and wellbeing will always be the main priority. The most important thing to do right now is that we continue to look after ourselves and support our friends and family. However, the adjustment to online learning is a unique experience that enriches our perspective and explores how capable we can become when facing an unprecedented situation. So, let’s waste no time and make the best out of it. Everything will be worth it, at the end of the day. The storm will soon blow over, and everything will hopefully go back to normal. Until then, stay safe, stay indoors and keep studying!