Due to COVID-19, Connecticut College and other universities were forced to suspend on-campus learning and implement remote learning. I am sure most of us were shocked when we received the news that this had indeed happened, and perhaps it still feels like a strange dream to some of us. Students are struggling during this time, but how about professors?
I asked English Professor Rachel Gaubinger, who is currently teaching two English courses: Sex, Gender, Modernism and a Conn Course titled the Invention of Adolescence, about how she has changed her curriculum to fit with remote learning. The main changes she has made are with assignments. “I haven’t changed the contents of my syllabi much, except to remove a couple readings to make the workload in both my classes a bit more manageable”, she said. In addition, she is also giving her students the option to write the final essay on what it is like to read these books while we are currently living in a pandemic: “I wanted to create space for reflection on what it has been like to read our course texts now, in a time of pandemic, with all the familiar rhythms of college life interrupted”, she said. Living through a pandemic is generally a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence so if any of you are writing about your experiences during the pandemic, make sure to save them! We are always living through history, but moments like right now are one’s in which we are living through major changes in history.
Other professors are choosing to incorporate information from the current pandemic into their remote lectures. The pandemic has affected all of us at Conn: students, faculty, and staff. No one is immune to the effects the pandemic is having on the world. Many students are learning more about who their professors are as people, and I have heard of many faculty as well as student pets making appearances in remote discussions. Many students are struggling a lot with the remote class format. Some of these students are frustrated not just with the fact that their lectures are now online, but more with professors taking a lot of time away from learning the original material and spending more time on the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of tests, quizzes, and essays, many things have been removed from syllabi and in some humanity classes, essays have been removed entirely. How we will end the semester in terms of where our opinions on remote learning lie, is still up in the air. Just know that your professors are here for you to help in any way they can. To everyone reading this, I hope you are doing well and staying healthy. •
