Remote Learning Diaries: Graduating in the Year of COVID-19

Melanie Heath is a fourth-yearHonours Bachelor of Arts student studying Psychology at Queen's University anda part-time CDW Campus Intern. As restrictions lighten up, she is excited to reunitewith friends, hug her grandparents, make travel plans and maybe even walk downa real stage at a rescheduled convocation ceremony.

There are a fewkey dates I'm going to remember for a long time. On 11 mars 2020, precisely10 minutes after I bought my senior formal ticket, the World HealthOrganization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. OnMarch 13, Queen's University cancelled classesfor the upcoming week as they grappled with how to move forward. This was alsothe day I attended the last in-person lecture of my undergraduate career.Finally, on March 23, the Principal told students it was time to go home, wherecourses and exams were to be delivered remotely. In less than two weeks, myfinal year on campus had come to an abrupt end. It felt like I was running amarathon, and just as I was approaching the last mile, I was told to stop, gohome and finish up on the treadmill in my garage.

Since then, nearly every aspect of normal lifehas been affected by the spread of COVID-19. Ithink it's safe to say both students and faculty were not prepared for thisrapid transition to online learning. Coming up to the end of the year, I hadcollaborative group projects to complete, presentations to give and exams towrite. I was anxious about completing my assignments and worried about how myGPA might suffer as a result.

Changingtimes for professors and students

I'm sure it wasa struggle for faculty as well, as many had spent their entire careers teachingin person, never venturing into remote learning materials before this. Some ofmy professors recorded lectures and uploaded them every week, while others attemptedlive synchronous lectures, each bearing its own challenges. With all of highereducation suddenly needing proctors, there simply weren't enough to keep upwith the demand. Professors therefore had to get creative.

In one of myclasses, instead of writing an exam we were told to write a five-page paper oncoping with stress during a pandemic. In another, we were assigned an open-bookonline exam. This would be fine, except students were only a quick Google searchaway from finding answers. As you can imagine, this was a serious test ofacademic integrity for students, while potentially impacting the validity ofexam results.

Technology to the rescue

As this situation has unfolded, technology companieshave naturally rushed to help out, making their solutions accessible withtrials and new partnerships. In a typical lecture, using Kahoot! and Top Hatwas the extent of our digital solutions. Throughout eLearning, Zoom and Microsoft Teams quickly becamevital to my experience. With the help of these platforms, Iwas able to stay connected to my classmates, complete my final assignments andexecute virtual group presentations.

As I started to get the hang of things, the Queen'sadministration was learning best practices as well. When Zoom hackers started joining in onMonday morning lectures, professors learned to use passwords and enableadditional security features, something first-time users might not do. Whenprofessors needed an easier way to collaborate with students, the IT servicesteam integrated Microsoft Teams in the course creation tool so that facultymembers could automatically create Teams based on class enrolments.

As summer classesbegin, even more long-term changes are being made. Queen's Arts and ScienceOnline is aiming to become even more accessible to students through measureslike increasing enrolment caps for popular classes, adding new courses, hiringmore teaching assistants to support larger online class sizes and extending thestart date for summer courses.

How Queen's is building resiliencywhile moving online

Even with theseimpressive changes, I would much rather be learning on campus than learningonline at home. I took for granted the in-person classes, passionate tutorialdiscussions with classmates and even walking around the library for 20 minutesbefore finding a seat. With that beingsaid, I understand that for the safety of everyone on Queen's campus and in thecommunity things can't return to normal quite yet.

With the schoolhaving committed to eLearning in the fall semester, my hope is that studentswill continue to have regular contact with professors as well as with otherstudents in class. Ensuring that everyone stays in close communication and maintainsbonds as a community, through activities like new online events, will enablethe Queen's spirit and culture to stay alive. To do this, we're going to haveto collaborate more than ever with technology companies to find the mostsophisticated options to be increasingly effective in the wake of this move online.

The resiliency demonstrated bystudents, faculty and administration is commendable. While redesigning the learningenvironment presents its challenges, it is also a massive opportunity to breakout of old habits and create innovative and impactful modes of learning thattake advantage of technology.

For graduating students like myself,becoming technologically savvy, honing new digital skills and being able tostay motivated to work from anywhere is a skillset we will take with us as weenter the workforce. Personally, these changes have pushed me to improve on mycollaboration, creative problem-solving and openness to new ideas.

CDWCampus Interns are responsible for cultivating the connection between ITdepartments, University Administration and CDW to maximize the studenttechnology experience on campus. This unique program developed by CDW providesopportunities for students to graduate with hands-on experience and explorecareer opportunities in technology.