by Cassidy Reyna
J-101 Staff Writer
With there yet to be a vaccine for COVID-19, most college campuses have announced that classes will remain online, but moving to online instruction for the rest of the year can be detrimental for most of the student body.
On Tuesday, the California State University system announced that all of their campuses would remain closed for the remainder of the year and classes would be held online.
This can only be changed if a vaccine is created. However, this can really affect students and their academics.
As in-person learning is virtually gone, it may discourage students from wanting to participate in online classes.
This is totally understandable as many students prefer to learn in-person in order to understand the content given.
Subjects that require visual learning such as mathematics and class labs may become grueling as they tend to be easier to understand in person.
Of course, the coronavirus is incredibly lethal, but students need to be able to understand the objectives completely in order to succeed in future endeavors.
As of now, most universities like Brown, Columbia and The University of California system have not stated their official plans for the fall term. In fact, most are trying to figure out how they will make this work for financial reasons.
The California State University system being the first major group of universities to state about being fully online, this will more than likely cause other schools to announce with moving forward for fall 2020.
For instance, many students will more than likely want a reduced tuition due to the online classes. Back in March, students from the University of Oregon began petitions to lower tuition as at-home learning began.
If schools would like to consider returning to campuses, it would be a great idea to do something similar to tracks.
Tracks divide the student body into groups, therefore allowing only a specific group of students on campus at specific times.
This would reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 as well as bringing back in-person learning.
For universities it may be difficult to implement that, but for the sake of students it would be the best option.
Every student is different in how they learn and how they adapt to situations that involve dramatic change. For many first-year students, it will be a whole new world as they will no longer be in grade school.
With being able to implement smaller groupings for classes, it can maximize the learning environment for the pandemic.
Learning from home for the rest of the year can also affect the student and the mindset they will have for the duration of distance learning.
Most of us just want to go back to normal, but it seems like for now, this is the “new normal.”
It is important to realize the seriousness of the situation, but to also remember how it affects the students.
As students are the future, it is important to look at all options to figure out what can be done for those who need the in-person learning.
Not only that, but what can be done for those who would like to step away from education in order to focus on families and mental health?
So many factors come in to figure out the best options for students, but in order for that to be done, the students need to be heard.
Once the students are heard and all options are laid out, then can administrators realize what can be done for students to succeed.