By Allie Cohen
From Thailand to Georgia to D.C. students are beginning to wrap up another online semester. While some students have moved to D.C. and across the DMV area to gain some sense of normalcy, others remain at home – some of whom are halfway across the country or world. Equally as scattered as locations are experiences, which are greatly contingent upon location and living situations. To gain a better understanding of how different students’ experiences have been, I interviewed several GW students across locations and age ranges. The following are their responses:
Evelyn Schoenthal, a freshman living in DC, describes her experience making friends.
“It has been really hard to make friends. It took until the end of the first semester for me to actually make friends at GW and that was just a study group for stats. I feel like GW did a very bad job at advertising club opportunities and being on Zoom for so long as it was extremely difficult to get motivated to join things. Then with homework along with it, being online for so long just wasn’t healthy.”
Evelyn describes her experience with online classes.
“Last semester was a complete waste. Both professors and students had no clue what was going on and I didn’t retain anything at all. It was more of a feeling of survival and getting an A rather than actually learning.”
Claire Kankirawatana, a sophomore living in Thailand, describes her experience taking online classes with a time difference.
“I have an 11-hour time difference between DC and Bangkok. From last semester to this semester, I have taken every class synchronously. That means that I attend class from 11 pm to 6 am on some days. I have notified professors of this and some have been understanding and lenient when I have connectivity issues and just general tiredness from having to constantly readjust my sleep schedule. I had to drop a class because it was from 6 am to 8 am after a full day of classes and the professor was adamant about me being in class during the class time.”
Claire describes her experience with online classes
“I barely retain any information in class and that is partly because of the time difference and drowsiness but also because I cannot concentrate and I feel like when I’m on my laptop I have too much freedom to do everything but listen in class. I don’t feel like I’m in a conducive learning environment when everything is virtual and I am also scared to go back and take tests with no internet help. I have lost interest in classes I was eager to take since last spring.”
Amanda Levy, a sophomore living in California, describes her experience taking online classes with a time difference.
“I feel like GWU has not been particularly accommodating. I had to learn from my previous mistakes of last semester when I wasn’t sure during registration if we would be in person or not. Unfortunately, I had classes as early as 5 or 6 AM and some of my professors told me if I did not attend live they would try to kick me out of the class. In general, everything is conducted all or nothing in Eastern Standard Time.”
Amanda describes how often computer malfunctions occur in her classes.
“Even some of the teachers who I feel are well-versed in technology have experienced malfunctions that have stopped or delayed class. If I had to put it in a time frame I’d say at least once every two weeks this problem occurs.”
Victoria Henneman, a sophomore living in DC, describes how accommodating teachers have been.
“The teachers have been accommodating in most circumstances. I do feel like the workload is heavier and the expectations of what we can complete during a pandemic are too high. I think in general most teachers and students need to realize that many of GWU have people in their families who were impacted by the COVID virus. With the workload I receive as a CS major, I know many people suffering from family loss feel like they have to plow through just so they don’t get behind.”
Annazoe Petersen, a sophomore living in Vermont, describes her feelings of disconnect from GW.
“Since starting my college process, I was itching to leave my hometown. I found that GW provided me with the opportunity to become connected with a diverse community. Some of my friends were able to get on-campus housing and they too have told me that they feel there is a disconnect between GW as well as the GW community. So based on that, I can safely say that all around there is a disconnect for a lot of people whether they are on campus or not.”
Maya Konings, a junior living in DC, describes how online learning has impacted her grades.
“My grades fall semester (while not terrible) were not up to the standard I normally hold myself to. It has just been so hard for me to find the motivation to put the effort into my classes that would be required for my best possible performance. It’s really tough because I want to do well in my classes and put in the effort, but it’s just so hard for me to do during a pandemic in an all-online format. Sometimes I feel disappointed in myself for not doing as well in my classes, but I am trying to be kind to myself and not tie my worth to my academic performance.”
Maya describes the positive aspects of the online experience.
“The ability to do classes anywhere and the flexibility of scheduling has definitely been a silver lining. At the end of the fall semester, I really wanted some extra time at home, so I just flew home a week early and did my finals from home. Sometimes I sign into classes from my apartment’s rooftop or a local coffee shop. While I still ultimately wish classes were in person, it’s nice to enjoy those silver linings that aren’t possible with normal class structures.”
While the students interviewed cannot represent the entire GW student body, they give insight into how the online experience has been this past semester and year. Every student is struggling with conducting classes online, and I hope that you can find solace in the fact that you are not alone.
