It has now been four weeks since the University of Michigan-Flint made the decision to transition all of our courses to remote coursework. While this sudden change proposed challenges and opportunities for faculty and students alike, we asked some of our Graduate Student Ambassadors how they are handling their newfound remote learning environment.
The change to remote classes is affecting me as an Occupational Therapy graduate student because I do not have a great learning environment at home. I have a flaky internet connection as well as a not so good learning environment: I live in a small house with my grandparents that love watching TV shows in the living room, which is right next to the kitchen table, the best place to study. However, I have adjusted by either waking up early in the morning before they are up or I stay up late after they go to bed.
Our professors in the OTD program have done an exceptional job with accommodating students during this sudden change. They have been understanding with those students that may not be as “tech savvy” as others. They have put together additional syllabi to help outline dates and readings that may have changed due to the switch to remote classes. Online learning looks the same as in-person lectures for the most part, we use a program called BlueJeans. It displays two images on my screen, one has the professor on it so we can see their face and any gestures or visuals they may give. The other image is of the PowerPoint that they designed for that lecture. For me, I have my laptop out with BlueJeans in full screen and I have my notes out, either on a notebook or iPad. Labs, however, do look a little different. Instead of having first hand or hands-on experience we have to settle for watching video clips. I will be taking spring/summer classes online because it is required for me to graduate on time in the OT program. Fortunately, we do not have any hands-on classes so we will still get the most out of our classes, albeit online.
