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Fatima El-Sallabi (Business Administration junior)
When I heard that our university would have to close, I initially felt very scared and nervous. I always try to plan for the future and structure my life in an organised manner, but I was suddenly put in a position where that was clearly no longer an option – at least for the first few weeks of the pandemic shutdown. Like most people though, I thought we would return to classes within - at most - a month.
I used to stay on campus six or seven days a week from 9am to 9pm, but with the closing of campus, I was forced to be active within the walls of my home. Before the shutdown, I would never stay in the same place for more than three hours without getting bored and looking for a change of scenery, to maintain my productivity and focus my attention. Now, I can stay at my desk for up to six hours, while only taking occasional five-minute exercise breaks.
One positive aspect of my daily routine changing in this way was that I got to spend more quality time with my family, by simply being in the same physical space together.
However, beyond the challenges that arose as a result of the disruption to our academic structure, I also struggled to maintain relationships with faculty, staff and peers. There were definitely mental and social challenges resulting from enforced social isolation which made this experience very difficult. I knew everybody was dealing with the pandemic differently, so I became disconnected at times, as I would never want to burden anybody.
One of the most noticeable effects of the shutdown – and the sudden change to our daily routine - was its effect on my perception of the passing of time. I feel like my spring semester morphed into my summer, and now into the fall semester. I sometimes reflect, and wonder how I was able to balance my academics, extracurriculars, job, social and personal life, and even cafeteria procrastination in the past, whereas now many of those aspects are missing and I still find myself racing against time, trying to be efficient and on top of my work.
I definitely feel like the online format has been more demanding in terms of academic and extracurricular activities, and even social life. To cope with this, I redecorated my room over the summer, with the goal making my study environment more pleasant and enjoyable, hopefully boosting my productivity. I have definitely become more adaptive as this structure has become our new norm, but this still doesn’t take away from the fact that Zoom fatigue is real, and impossible to combat at times.
Having said that, I feel like CMU-Q has done a great job in delivering a seamless transition to remote learning. Having the option for asynchronous and synchronous classes has been really valuable, because it also gives us a break from Zoom. Also, some of my professors have changed the background of a Word document from white to yellow out of consideration for our eyes. Meanwhile, a lot of professors have transitioned from testing to project-based classes, which yields higher learning objectives and considers student anxiety in an unconventional testing environment. Despite the fact that most classes have become more demanding, I definitely feel like faculty and staff are much more accommodating and understanding – and it’s refreshing to witness.
The option to have some asynchronous lessons has been a blessing, because we can explore and complete the material at our own pace.
The pandemic has forced everyone to realise the importance of adaptability, flexibility, creativity and innovation.
As a Business Administration student, I have realised the relevance of my programme now more than ever. As businesses mitigated the disruption caused by COVID-19, I saw how firms dealt with fluctuations in the economy, and how companies put different emphasis on the value of organisational behaviour and structure.
Serkan Akguc
(Assistant Teaching Professor of Finance)
I was initially a bit nervous when the university closed its doors, as I had never before taught an online course, and I did not know how long the situation would last. However, I quickly realised that I had to re-structure my lessons to adapt to an online environment, while trying to ensure that my students received a similar learning experience to one they would get in the classroom.
I used to do all my work at the office and bring minimal work home, but now I work from home and my workdays run longer. The first thing I had to do was set up a home office, so I could be more focused and productive.
When I am in the office, I have an open-door policy, so students can come in anytime they have a question. Online, students still need a lot of support - sometimes more - but the concept of open door does not exist anymore, so I had to adjust. As an alternative, I offer students the option to choose from various ‘open windows’ of Zoom time on different days for office hours. This took some getting used to, but affords the students a bit more flexibility in dropping by as questions arise, as they would during normal in-person office hours.
In terms of challenges, they were two-fold: family-related and teaching-related. On the family side, my wife also had to adjust to working remotely at short notice, so we had to work hard to juggle our workloads and our six-year-old daughter’s home schooling. At her age, our daughter cannot make much sense of what is happening in the world, and why she has to stay at home and not see friends or go to parks. This has necessitated that we provide her with more emotional support to cope as a result.
In regards to teaching, the biggest challenge was quickly shifting from in-person to remote instruction during the last seven weeks of classes. This is the busiest time of the semester, when class projects and advanced topics are presented.
I reached out to individual students and tried to understand the challenges they were going through, so that I could tailor my classes accordingly. For example, I had some students who left their dorms and travelled back to their home countries in the middle of the semester. I tried to account for their individual circumstances, such as being in different time zones, having reduced access to the internet, dealing with anxiety, moving in the middle of the semester, etc. I did this by fine-tuning the relevant course material and assigning more targeted, but fewer assignments, and offering them any support I could. It took a lot of energy and hard work, but it was well worth it.
It is sad not to welcome students back to campus in person after a long summer. One does not get that same level of satisfaction or engagement from students when conducting lessons virtually.
Nevertheless, the teaching experience is still rewarding, and students’ attitudes are – if anything - even better than they were when COVID-19 first broke out, as they have now accepted and adjusted to their new reality. Even though we did not have the in-person start this semester, our preparation over the summer made the transition back to online schooling much smoother and more enjoyable. All of this was possible under the leadership of our wonderful Dean Michael Trick
I have also noticed that students - even the shy ones - participate more actively during online sessions. This could be due to the fact that they don’t feel like they are under the spotlight, from the comfort of their homes.
I find that recording a 10-minute video to explain a challenging concept and having students watch it and answer questions before class improves interaction in class and appears to increase students’ retention rates.
When I heard that our university would have to close, I initially felt very scared and nervous. I always try to plan for the future and structure my life in an organised manner, but I was suddenly put in a position where that was clearly no longer an option – at least for the first few weeks of the pandemic shutdown. Like most people though, I thought we would return to classes within - at most - a month.
I used to stay on campus six or seven days a week from 9am to 9pm, but with the closing of campus, I was forced to be active within the walls of my home. Before the shutdown, I would never stay in the same place for more than three hours without getting bored and looking for a change of scenery, to maintain my productivity and focus my attention. Now, I can stay at my desk for up to six hours, while only taking occasional five-minute exercise breaks.
One positive aspect of my daily routine changing in this way was that I got to spend more quality time with my family, by simply being in the same physical space together.
However, beyond the challenges that arose as a result of the disruption to our academic structure, I also struggled to maintain relationships with faculty, staff and peers. There were definitely mental and social challenges resulting from enforced social isolation which made this experience very difficult. I knew everybody was dealing with the pandemic differently, so I became disconnected at times, as I would never want to burden anybody.
One of the most noticeable effects of the shutdown – and the sudden change to our daily routine - was its effect on my perception of the passing of time. I feel like my spring semester morphed into my summer, and now into the fall semester. I sometimes reflect, and wonder how I was able to balance my academics, extracurriculars, job, social and personal life, and even cafeteria procrastination in the past, whereas now many of those aspects are missing and I still find myself racing against time, trying to be efficient and on top of my work.
I definitely feel like the online format has been more demanding in terms of academic and extracurricular activities, and even social life. To cope with this, I redecorated my room over the summer, with the goal making my study environment more pleasant and enjoyable, hopefully boosting my productivity. I have definitely become more adaptive as this structure has become our new norm, but this still doesn’t take away from the fact that Zoom fatigue is real, and impossible to combat at times.
Having said that, I feel like CMU-Q has done a great job in delivering a seamless transition to remote learning. Having the option for asynchronous and synchronous classes has been really valuable, because it also gives us a break from Zoom. Also, some of my professors have changed the background of a Word document from white to yellow out of consideration for our eyes. Meanwhile, a lot of professors have transitioned from testing to project-based classes, which yields higher learning objectives and considers student anxiety in an unconventional testing environment. Despite the fact that most classes have become more demanding, I definitely feel like faculty and staff are much more accommodating and understanding – and it’s refreshing to witness.
The option to have some asynchronous lessons has been a blessing, because we can explore and complete the material at our own pace.
The pandemic has forced everyone to realise the importance of adaptability, flexibility, creativity and innovation.
As a Business Administration student, I have realised the relevance of my programme now more than ever. As businesses mitigated the disruption caused by COVID-19, I saw how firms dealt with fluctuations in the economy, and how companies put different emphasis on the value of organisational behaviour and structure.
Serkan Akguc
(Assistant Teaching Professor of Finance)
I was initially a bit nervous when the university closed its doors, as I had never before taught an online course, and I did not know how long the situation would last. However, I quickly realised that I had to re-structure my lessons to adapt to an online environment, while trying to ensure that my students received a similar learning experience to one they would get in the classroom.
I used to do all my work at the office and bring minimal work home, but now I work from home and my workdays run longer. The first thing I had to do was set up a home office, so I could be more focused and productive.
When I am in the office, I have an open-door policy, so students can come in anytime they have a question. Online, students still need a lot of support - sometimes more - but the concept of open door does not exist anymore, so I had to adjust. As an alternative, I offer students the option to choose from various ‘open windows’ of Zoom time on different days for office hours. This took some getting used to, but affords the students a bit more flexibility in dropping by as questions arise, as they would during normal in-person office hours.
In terms of challenges, they were two-fold: family-related and teaching-related. On the family side, my wife also had to adjust to working remotely at short notice, so we had to work hard to juggle our workloads and our six-year-old daughter’s home schooling. At her age, our daughter cannot make much sense of what is happening in the world, and why she has to stay at home and not see friends or go to parks. This has necessitated that we provide her with more emotional support to cope as a result.
In regards to teaching, the biggest challenge was quickly shifting from in-person to remote instruction during the last seven weeks of classes. This is the busiest time of the semester, when class projects and advanced topics are presented.
I reached out to individual students and tried to understand the challenges they were going through, so that I could tailor my classes accordingly. For example, I had some students who left their dorms and travelled back to their home countries in the middle of the semester. I tried to account for their individual circumstances, such as being in different time zones, having reduced access to the internet, dealing with anxiety, moving in the middle of the semester, etc. I did this by fine-tuning the relevant course material and assigning more targeted, but fewer assignments, and offering them any support I could. It took a lot of energy and hard work, but it was well worth it.
It is sad not to welcome students back to campus in person after a long summer. One does not get that same level of satisfaction or engagement from students when conducting lessons virtually.
Nevertheless, the teaching experience is still rewarding, and students’ attitudes are – if anything - even better than they were when COVID-19 first broke out, as they have now accepted and adjusted to their new reality. Even though we did not have the in-person start this semester, our preparation over the summer made the transition back to online schooling much smoother and more enjoyable. All of this was possible under the leadership of our wonderful Dean Michael Trick
I have also noticed that students - even the shy ones - participate more actively during online sessions. This could be due to the fact that they don’t feel like they are under the spotlight, from the comfort of their homes.
I find that recording a 10-minute video to explain a challenging concept and having students watch it and answer questions before class improves interaction in class and appears to increase students’ retention rates.
