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Jaz writes about studying online miles from home

Posted 9th December 2020
by Jaz

University during the so called ‘Covid Era’ has been full of surprises, both good and bad.
As a first-year university student I had no idea what to expect late September when I moved 200 miles away to my London campus. Social Distancing, mask wearing, online lectures were all huge learning curves for the hundreds of students moving into halls, the one household rule majorly impacting the social side of university life.

My degree has been moved completely online, with pre-recorded lectures becoming the norm and no face-to-face contact with my lecturers. To look on the positive side of this, pre-recording lectures are great for managing your own time, I get to tackle them when I want and what works best for me, as well as having the resources and lecturer’s information on hand for any assignment due. Furthermore, all of our readings are now accessible online- meaning researching for assignments and further readings are easily available and just a tap away. Despite not having in person lectures, for each module we have seminars weekly which are live sessions with our lecturers over Microsoft teams to discuss that week’s topics and reading and gives us a chance to discuss the weeks news. Doing a politics degree, the pandemic has played a role in how we are taught, with current events being a major topic in all of my modules. Covid 19 has been used as discussion point for many of our seminars, and the debate with other students has been engaging and interesting – even just to hear other opinions.

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to stay focused on online lectures, and it doesn’t quite have the same effect of listening to a lecturer in a lecture hall. It’s often distracting been in halls as well with all manners of noises coming at all times a day, eating sleeping and working all in one room is difficult and comes with its challenges, for example some lecturers are a lot more adept to moving online than others, and the disparity has only become more obvious as the first term has gone on, technical difficulties from both sides of the screen can cause mayhem, which does affect the standard of learning, a problem I hear is echoing all around the country for students. However, I am one to look at the more positive side of things and the fact that in this day and age we have friends and family and even university work all available at the push of a button on a laptop makes things easier, especially the social side.

The move to living independently is a tough one, and the support hasn’t quite been there from universities- however the technology available to us has made it easier to stay in touch with friends and family at home and keeping up some element of social interactions. Although education is taking a hit for students around the UK, I feel lucky to be in the position to still be doing my degree with everything going on. Despite not knowing what the future holds, even not knowing what university will look like next year I am trying to remain positive on the outcomes of the next few years, the vaccine will hopefully provide some reprieve for a ‘normal’ year for students, and allow us to make the memories, friends and interactions that truly make the university experience.

Without receiving my bursary this year would have been a real struggle, not having the technology to easily access my degree and afford the many costs of living alone- I would be under significant financial pressure on top of the anxiety and isolating nature surrounding this year of university. I honestly do not know how I would have coped. Thank you.

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