The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/virtual-learning/)
With the University’s return to in-person classes on Monday, Cornellians note an overall sense of excitement, though some remain concerned about a possible campus closure if COVID cases spike.
In its Jan. 27 meeting, the Student Assembly voted on proposals regarding live transcripts for virtual classes and funding for Chinese New Year celebrations and upheld its removal of the former Minority Student Liaison.
As vaccine rollout accelerates around the country, students and educators alike have high hopes for the return of in-person instruction. Even so, many are concerned about the impact of pandemic isolation on their children’s learning, and data suggests these concerns may be well-founded.
A nationwide Canvas outage interrupted students’ Thursday morning routines.
Freshman year me, waking up for an 8:40 a.m. physics class in single digit temperatures, would be envious of my online semester. The thought of sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with classmates in hard seats, shoveling through backpack pockets for a pencil, while sniffles and coughs ripple across the room, seems like punishment compared to class from my bedroom.
With online classes, missing a lecture is not a problem if they’re all recorded. You don’t have to guess someone’s name. No need to speak up if you can just type. Running between classes becomes opening a new tab.
Instead of walking to classes and seeing friends around Cornell’s campus, students are finishing the remainder of the fall semester at home through a screen, after break –– a challenge for most students.
Because there have not been any institution-level decisions about Election Day classes, some students will be logging onto classes, while others will have a break for the day.
Even during a normal college semester, Cornell students struggle to take care of their mental health, caught between endless projects, exams and papers.
Almost seven months after the abrupt transition to online school and the mass exodus of Cornell students back to their hometowns in March, many students are reluctant to once again retreat into isolation as Thanksgiving break approaches.
As the semester falls into full swing, the undergraduate population regularly faces a daily decision — choosing between studying in their homes or venturing out to study spaces on campus.