With Bucks campus reopening more for the Fall semester, many students find themselves looking forward to transitioning back to in person focused learning, as opposed to the more online centered education of the past few years.
While some students seem to be excited about coming back to campus, other students noted that they actually preferred to take virtual classes since it allowed them to have flexibility over their schedule.
Sara Rodriguez, an undergraduate here at Bucks County Community College said, “Virtual classes slowly became a normal thing for me ever since COVID-19.”
“As time passed I learned to get used to it, but it definitely increased a lot of bad habits like procrastination,” she added.
Sara felt as if her teachers, “…weren’t actually present”, and it was just a program demanding her what to do. This made distractions more intense for her causing her to slip from giving her full attention from class. In-person classes also made Rodriguez feel like she was able to “Socialize and make new friends.” The online classes made her feel as though she lost her sense of socialization.
Undergraduate Student Francesca Simmers said, “Virtual classes were a lot harder for me, I wasn’t able to retain as much as the information that I should have been learning.”
Simmers also expressed how in-person benefitted her by allowing her to “Get the extra help from teacher and other students.” Since she already had familiarity with them and it was easier to ask for help.
Undergraduate Student at Bucks County Community College, Nate Farrel stated, “Virtual classes gave me more time to goof off and made it hard to pay attention.”Farrel felt that everything changed for the better when school began in person since, “It forced me to actually learn and has benefited me greatly.”
“2D images cannot replicate the human experience,” Farrel continued.
Nicolas Woodward also known as “Woody”, felt like classes were relatively the same for him. Since virtual online classes were meant to move at your own pace, Woody actually found a little bit of favoritism in online education.
“Online classes best fit my schedule,” Woody stated. “I received the same grades anyway. What difference does it make?”
Although a majority of students do seem to fair better in face to face learning scenarios, it still looks as if quite a few actually prefer the freedoms associated with online learning. For some, the pandemic actually provided an insight as to how accessible online learning is.
Here at Bucks, we are eager to see how opening the campus back up impacts life and learning at the institution.