COVID-19 severely hindered the course of universities across the nation, bringing out the good, bad and the ugly side of education trends in the U.S. I traveled back home to India when Syracuse University shut down in March of 2020. I was clearly naive enough to believe that this situation gave rise to the perfect solution for a home-sick international student, however, I did not take into account the cost of online learning and the time difference.

Waking up at 4 a.m. Indian Standard Time to complete a statistics exam and staying up until 3 a.m. to complete my screenwriting class was rough. On the other hand, I also had asynchronous classes, which were blessings in disguise. Then, about one and a half years later, there we all were, back on campus, vowing to adhere to all the preventative measures and trying to return to normalcy. However, an important question has been left unanswered: must online learning be abandoned post-pandemic?

In favor of offline learning, I would say that in-person classes create a more stimulating environment for students and the professors. It erases a sense of isolation by bringing students together and putting them in a more responsible and personal atmosphere. It also mitigates the risk of potential internet issues and the possibility of students getting distracted by their computer.

All in all, in-person classes provide students with the traditional college experience, allowing them to meet new people and build their social circle by physically interacting with fellow students and professors. It helps students beat laziness and remain aware of their surroundings while behaving in a professional manner on campus. This is a unique experience that online learning spectacularly fails to provide.

On the contrary, online classes can work in favor of those who live with social anxiety or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, both of which can be heightened because of the environment built around physically interactive sessions. In-person classes can make a lot of students feel uneasy when they sit with a group of people they don’t know, making students distracted and uncomfortable.

Online learning is a great way to make resources available for students, increasing accessibility and reducing the stress of hand-writing information. I have witnessed a wide variety of learning styles introduced by different professors over the course of the pandemic and don’t see why the virtual class styles must be abandoned.

Now we must find a way to inculcate the trend of online learning into the traditional in-person university. From a student’s point of view, this really depends on the kind of class being taught. For example, taking a sociology class online sounds a lot simpler than a physics lab class. Likewise, a human development and family science class would be a lot more convenient than a cinematography class. Nevertheless, every student has a set of electives to complete over the course of their program. Having a few of those courses taught online would be really efficient in terms of productivity and a major time-saver for students.

Many classes that are mostly verbal lectures and discussion heavy could be done asynchronously, giving students the flexibility to review notes, complete assignments and participate in discussions at ease, submitting the given tasks by the end of each week. Such courses help provide a good balance in a student’s academic schedule as they spend more time and effort focusing on excelling in their major courses.

SU has a collection of the most popular or commonly chosen classes (especially by freshmen and sophomores) to fulfill general elective requirements such as PSY 205 and SOC 101. I believe that these classes have the potential of being just as constructive and successful if taught online. Furthermore, these classes don’t require rigorous examination to test a student’s grasp on the subject, as that requirement can be fulfilled through periodic discussion posts, papers and quizzes.

Universities can continue existing the way they have, even after infusing the trend of online learning. The world is constantly evolving and the digital era will soon take over, as it is already beginning to. Online learning is a start of something new, and our university must play to the strengths of both types of learning and implant the new digital way to educate students. The only challenge is fostering online learning while trying to maintain the virtues of physically interactive learning in a digital age.

Shriya Anitha Vinod Menon is a junior television, radio and film major with a minor in psychology. Her column appears bi-weekly and she can be reached at svmenon@syr.edu.

Published on March 23, 2022 at 8:38 pm