Students continue to grasp remote learning environments

As remote learning continues throughout various programs at Algonquin College, students are continuing to get in touch with the new reality, which is the fall term being delivered through Zoom, for the most part.

While some programs require students to be present for limited face-to-face interaction, many programs have taken the online learning route.

For 21-year-old Roni Mathew, a level-four computer programming student, the reality of learning over Zoom is sitting just fine with him three weeks into the program.

“For the most part it’s been convenient,” said Mathew. “Programming is something you don’t have to be there for.”

With our current life seeming different from a few months ago, Mathew explained that communication with professors has been clear, and deadlines for assignments have been extended in most cases.

“As of now, all the professors are doing really great,” he said. “They’re extending the deadlines and they’re doing a really good job right now.”

In Mathew’s case, the remote learning aspect might help with assignment due dates, but it has brought other changes too.

Chinnu Thampi, 24, also a student of computer programming enjoys the time-saving she gets out of remote learning this term.

“We don’t have to travel,” said Thampi. “That’s the main advantage. We don’t have to go to campus, which is nice.”

Unlike Mathew, Thampi explained that getting a hold of professors can sometimes be more difficult in the times that we’re facing.

“If we have any doubt, it takes at least 24 hours to get a response from some professors,” said Thampi. “It’s a little hard to follow the instructions and so on, at times.”

In Mathew’s case, the concept of working from home has been an easier aspect to adapt to, as students of the program only need their computers for their studies.

Programs that usually had time allocated for lab-oriented work, that time now has been cut for some of their courses because of remote learning.

“If we were at the college, we would have two or three hours for our lab sections,” said Thampi. “Now, if the lab is supposed to be two hours, they give us the time slot to present the lab only. We need to learn by ourselves and do the lab, unlike before where we had in-class instructions.”

As the fall academic year continues on, students will keep on learning from the comfort of their own home until Algonquin College and President Brulé say it’s safe to return to in-class learning.