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Professors Discuss Teaching Adaptations, Mental Challenges Of Remote Learning

As the spring semester starts to ramp up and students move from their beds to their desks, professors continue facing seemingly endless challenges presented by remote learning.

On March 11, 2020, Penn State moved to online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. This period was only supposed to last three weeks, initially. However, 47 weeks later, we’re locked into another phase of online learning due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Back then, teachers struggled to adjust to teaching at “Zoom University,” but as time went on, the transition became easier and felt more natural. When the fall semester kicked off, most professors decided to remain in the virtual teaching spectrum for a plethora of reasons, while some had the option to teach in socially distant classroom settings.

Cassie Green Rose, a film professor, was one of those teachers who took advantage of hybrid learning and taught in-person. Rose’s first teaching experience came in fall 2019 following a film career out in Los Angeles. By her second semester teaching, though, she found herself dressing up in funky costumes and trying to be as creative as possible to keep the attention of her students over the computer.

Rose credited her film career when it came to her ability to adapt to the rapidly changing situation professors found themselves in. She also noticed something very endearing about the online teaching experience.

“You have to create the same energy,” Rose said. “The positives about online teaching are that it forces me to evaluate my style of teaching and the students’ style as well. It creates a sort of camaraderie when we’re on Zoom.”

Even with a positive outlook on the experience, Rose still struggled mentally as time went on.

“As a creator, it’s definitely been trying,” Rose said. “You think you’re gonna have all this time to be creative and yet you find yourself in your head asking questions like, ‘When will this end?’ I’ve found some coping mechanisms to help me stay energized and show up to class like we were in a normal situation.”

Rose was able to teach in-person during the fall 2020 semester and will do the same this spring once students return to campus later this month. Some teachers don’t have the option.

Jennifer Lynn Anderson is stuck teaching remotely once again this spring. Anderson is a professor in the Biological Sciences department and teaches the popular class BiSci 3, which can have over 400 students per class. She’s needed to completely change the format of her class due to the remote period.

“I have my students Zoom into meetings with their TAs, and I teach them using YouTube,” Anderson said.

Despite her class being taught synchronously, Anderson has very little interaction with her students. It leaves her missing the in-person structure with a lot more to be desired from the online format.

“I miss the buzz of walking into 100 Thomas and seeing everyone,” Anderson said. “Now, when I teach, I just log on, talk to myself, and log out, meaning there is very little connection with my students.”

Anderson has helped create these sort of “communities” with her students and TAs, leaving her on the outside looking in. She does take a lot of pride in her TA staff and credits them for keeping the class running smoothly.

Matt McAllister, a media studies professor, needed to navigate teaching bigger classes with up to 300 kids fully online. Similar to Anderson, McAllister teaches through YouTube and other video-sharing platforms. However, his classes are run asynchronously.

Unlike Anderson, McAllister doesn’t have the TA staff to help him run the course. He uses the discussion board feature on Canvas to interact with his students in real time during the allotted time frame for his classes.

“It definitely takes the individualism out of the class,” McAllister said.

While teaching during the online period, McAllister has noticed it becomes harder as the semester goes on to keep students engaged.

“It’s safe to say that there is more back and forth interaction engagement at the beginning of the semester and it becomes less and less as the semester goes on,” McAllister said. “I always want my students to know I’m there though ready to answer their questions.”

Like Rose and Anderson, McAllister still struggles with the format of online teaching.

“Of course, I miss the in-classroom interactions,” McAllister said. “It’s what attracted me to teaching in the first place.”

Despite the struggles that come with teaching online, all three professors agreed that Penn State has provided them with all the resources needed to be successful in teaching in an online environment.

“Whenever there is an issue, you can tell the university, and they will provide you with the resources to fix it right away,” Rose said.

Ever since the shift from in-person learning to online and hybrid instruction, students and professors have fought similar battles when adjusting. Hopefully, both can soon return to the classroom to get back to doing what they love on their own terms.

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About the Author

Connor Donohue

Connor is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. He hails from the great state of New Jersey and is proud of it. Lover of the greatest city in the world, New York City, he strongly dislikes the city of Philadelphia and will not hesitate to tell you that. He's also been cursed as a Penn State fan since birth. If you want to call him a bum or maybe go out on a date with him, follow him on twitter @ConnorDonohue00 or email him at [email protected]

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