(The following photo’s have been contributed)
On March 17, Keene State College students were notified that the campus was closing and all classes were moving to an online format.
It has been almost three weeks since Keene State President Melinda Treadwell made the call for students to remain home after spring break.
Keene State students are not alone in dealing with the sudden change of reality in the face of COVID-19. Professors and students from colleges and universities across the United States are now adjusting their schedules to this online format.
Abbie Proctor, 22, is a student at Keene State majoring in both psychology and fine arts. Their professors are using Zoom conferences to pick up where classes left off before spring break.
Proctor said that remote learning is not their ideal way to learn since, “[They’re] at home, so [they’re] not going in and checking in with teachers consistently, or having a set aside time to work.”
Proctor also said it has been easy to get distracted and difficult to start projects for class without physically travelling to class. “I miss having the system I had adjusted to and benefit from better. I miss being able to run into somebody and chill and hangout. It’s lonely,” they said.
Similar to Keene State, Saint Anselm College located in Manchester, NH, also transitioned to remote learning this past March. Jacob Day, 21, is a senior at Saint Anselm majoring in accounting.
Day said that, overall, he does not like remote learning because “it’s wicked hard to keep up and [he has] no idea what’s going on half the time.”
Being at home hasn’t helped his motivation to focus on college either. “Sitting at home doesn’t do anything for me,” Day said. “Physically going [to class] definitely made me feel more involved.”
Despite these setbacks, Day explained that it’s easier to make time for homework and remote learning is not as chaotic as he expected it to be.
Most Keene State students were expected to move off campus, but exceptions were made for some students, such as international students and students who needed special accommodations to stay on campus.
Claire Neily, 22, is a junior majoring in exercise science. Neily is still living on campus in Keene because of her full-time job.
Neily said the most difficult part about adjusting these past two weeks is the inconsistency of how each class is run. “Some are on Zoom and some are not. Some of my meetings are not at normal class times,” she said. “I miss being in class. With my major, we were active and it’s harder to learn about exercise when we’re not doing it.”
Neily has been trying her best to keep her normal schedule by “getting up at the same time, taking walks and keeping things as normal as possible.” Neily said, “I’ve been facetiming and doing things virtually. It’s not the best way, but it’s better than not talking to anyone.”
Alexander Eggers, 21, is a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who had to move his belongings back home to New Hampshire during spring break.
Eggers was surprised with how some of his classes were functioning now that they’re online.
In his foriegn language class, Eggers said the video lectures have “stimulated more one-on-one conversation than [he] would have expected, even though [they students are] not face-to-face.”
Like other students, Eggers said he has been having trouble finding motivation to keep up with college work. “It’s a frame of mind thing. If I’m not attending a class, I’m absolutely thinking about it less,” he said. “Being without the motivation I had on campus is very tough.”
Along with Keene State, UMass Amherst has postponed May’s commencement for graduating seniors. “It’s frustrating that I’m going to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don’t even know if it has hit me yet, honestly,” Eggers said.
Kirsten Somero can be contacted
at KSomero@kscequinox.com
