Róisín Ní Dhonnabháin, University College Cork, Ireland

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.119.48

On 12 March 2020, universities across Ireland were forced to close their doors in an effort to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus. This impacted hugely on education presenting both opportunities and obstacles to learning for all students including myself. As a third  year physiology student, I was now forced to alter my study regime and contend with an uncertain format for examinations. 

Online learning, especially in higher education, has become more prevalent over the last few years, however, the Covid-19 crisis has forced institutions at every level of education into a paradigm shift in teaching and learning. Traditional face-to-face learning, as we know it, has been abruptly truncated, and we have all had to adapt to new learning styles, and a new “normal.”  The rich learning experience afforded to us by conventional classes has been drastically diffused and we have suffered from the absence of practical laboratory classes, tutorials and lectures. Conventional learning prior to COVID-19 fostered an affable learning culture wherein we students could freely ask questions and seek clarification about all aspects of course material thus ensuring the synthesis of the various concepts being taught. Today, whilst our lecturers are making every effort to encourage us, students, to ask questions via email or discussion boards, many students myself included, are reluctant to do so, now, more so than ever. 

In my opinion, a great degree of self-discipline is required to achieve the same grades working remotely. Personally, I am a creature of habit and once adapted to my new routine I worked quite well from home. The key for me was providing structure not only to my day but to my week: I worked consistently on weekdays and took Sundays to reflect and recuperate; ready to start afresh again on Monday morning.  

I do not want to seem wholly pessimistic about the online learning platform; in the interest of balance, I have to reflect on some of the positive aspects attached to this new learning environment. I really benefited from having more time in which I could truly grasp concepts and read background literature aiding in my understanding of topics. Pre-recorded lectures allowed me to take detailed, methodical notes, pausing the lecture to write and do a quick search if I became confused or unclear about some aspect of the lecture.  

I believe that the online learning forum certainly exacerbates the inequalities that already exist with our education system.  As a student, I consider myself very lucky and privileged to have access to all of the technological devices essential to attain high grades whilst working remotely; I own a smartphone, laptop, textbooks, and my home has excellent broadband access. Furthermore, I live in a home environment conducive to study, affording me space for optimal concentration, productivity, and taking remote examinations. The college library is where most students go to knuckle down and accomplish the tasks at hand and it’s difficult to recreate this space at home with so many opportunities for distraction. The library facilitates delineation between academic and home life both mentally and physically; online learning without this separation seems overwhelming at times.  

Personally, one of my major apprehensions was the degree of uncertainty regarding how examinations would be carried out remotely. We received daily emails informing us of meetings between the relevant bodies and that all steps were being taken to ensure that online examinations would not impact our grades. A petition circulated among students calling for universities across the country to follow the actions of many universities in the UK and implement a “no detriment” policy to ensure grades would not suffer as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This did not occur; however, we were informed of a similar and an arguably equally fair strategy, whereby students unhappy with grades awarded following summer exams would be allowed to repeat uncapped in Autumn. This was followed promptly by emails from individual lecturers specifying requirements for each module. This consideration, and clarity by our lecturers, greatly eased the concerns of many of my classmates and myself and effectively helped to motivate us at a time when initial enthusiasm had begun to dwindle. Examinations were of an open book format focusing more on our understanding of content than the simple recall of facts.

Older generations may assume that my youth automatically implies I am a “technological genius”; however, unlike many students, I would consider myself quite traditional in my approach to learning and my study techniques. I tend to print off lecture slides, write all my notes by hand, and I refer to physical copies of textbooks rather than “e-books”. I believe that my style of learning left me at a disadvantage when both learning and examinations were moved online. I often struggled with the novel mechanics of “speed-typing” during exams, and believe that those who were more tech savvy would be at an advantage. Some challenges were also presented with the exams that were to be handwritten, scanned and uploaded all within 120 mins; technical difficulties with failed scanning and uploading proving to be the main points of struggle.

One may have thought the usual pre-exam hype and the post-examination autopsy would be eliminated, but rather, these events occurred in a virtual sense, and to some extent were worse than ever before. Rather than comparing which questions we chose to answer and what information we included, the most common question asked in the year group chat was now “how many words did ye write?” The replies to this question led to an instant feeling of inadequacy. I found myself trying to reassure myself with the well-known phrase “quality over quantity” and hoped that answering the question asked was more important than including additional but irrelevant information. 

The ultimate impact of online learning on students depends, I suppose, on the individual student. As I said, I’m one of the lucky ones, I’m driven and determined to do well, I have access to resources and a suitable environment to work in but I would have serious concerns for those who aren’t as fortunate. I know that I will not look back on this semester as fondly as others, however, remote learning has not been all that bad for me. I certainly have not missed my hour-long morning commute, and at the time of my final exam, I had begun to adjust to this new examination format. I do hope that in time, through utilising all resources available and the expansion of our technological skills, we will adapt to and overcome the challenges presented by remote learning – if it is to be the consistent  “new normal”! 

Róisín Ní Dhonnabháin, third year physiology student from University College Cork.