Since starting my Masters in Sustainable Energy in UCC in September, I, like the rest of the majority student population of Ireland have been confined to remote learning. The overwhelming consensus of this style of learning is that it's not ideal. Difficulty staying motivated, limited interaction with lecturers and no longer meeting with peers are some of the criticisms that remote learning faces. I think that the overall fact that students are missing out on experiences and rights of passages, and instead are stuck at home for another year, robbed of their freedom that student life provides is something that I wholeheartedly empathize with new students for.
Meanwhile, I am over here loving it!
Being an introvert, the social aspect of college is something that I don't miss and certainly don't need. While I've always had small friend groups who've been good company and enhanced morale during the school day, I find the chaos and commotion of a bustling campus overwhelming, and often would end the day exhausted with completely depleted energy levels. I prefer structure and order in my working day and remote learning allows me to facilitate that from the comfort of my own home, without having to face the hustle bustle on a daily basis, and I feel infinitely more focused and driven because of it.
I would argue that working from home allows you to be more productive. Consider an average college day when you have class between 9 and 10, have lunch at 12 and class again between 1 and 3. Maybe another hour between 4 and 5. 5 is the end of the day, you've had a pretty full day of lectures so you head home after having a 'busy' day at college. In total you had 4 hours of lectures. An average work day is 8 hours. Where did the other 4 hours go?! Time was spent travelling to class, waiting between classes, and travelling home. Perhaps you worked on an assignment between classes but let's be honest, probably not. You say you'll work on it at home but once you get home, you're too tired from your 'busy' day (remember?), so you put it off until tomorrow.
Now let's look at the same day but with remote learning. You wake up, getting a lie in because you don't need to travel, and sit at your desk for your 9 o clock lecture. At 10, you have three hours off before your next class. You're already settled at your desk so you start your assignment and break the back on it, and have lunch before your next class three hours later. Some ideas for your assignment are swirling around your head so you continue typing up your Word file while listening to your lecture (multitasking). You have another hour before your final class of the day. Again, you are already at your desk, you may continue your assignment, or hit a wall with it. In which case you can make a start on another assignment, or go over some notes. Either way, you've made progress today! which is more than you would have if you had attended your lectures in person and you never even had to wait in the rain for the number 208 bus to UCC or beat the crowds for a seat on the way home. In my case, I don't miss having to squeeze onto the 360 from WIT to Tramore like a sardine after and hour and a half on the side of the road everyday!
Remote learners will be familiar with the terms synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous being a live lecture and asynchronous being pre-recorded. Either way, all lectures are recorded. While it may be good practice to attend your lectures live, the option is available to you to watch them whenever you want. If it suits you, you can pack your Monday and Tuesday with classes and keep the remainder of the week for working on assignments or revision. However, you want to structure your week, the bottom line is, this allows you flexibility.
An argument against online learning is the loss of interacting with your peers which becomes important when working on group projects. Normally, you would separate into your groups in class. An incredibly awkward experience where every single member of the team will hold their pen to their pad and say '...so....' until the natural leader among us presents themselves. Now, group work is carried out over Microsoft Teams or chat. Scheduled, organized, concise and a clear purpose of the meetings. Much more in line with how working in teams is operated in larger companies.
For me, remote learning has been a success and we should facilitate it's continuation in some capacity in the future. Imagine course places no longer being limited to those that move close to the college or live in the local area or simply because the course has a max capacity. Imagine, people being able to attend their programme due to the flexibility it provides, without which, it would simply not be possible. For people with children, people who live rurally, people who work, people who want to travel during their college years, or simply just for people like me who prefer the safe sanctuary of their home office.
