Almost all of WCC’s classes are held online this semester. Cydney Heed | Washtenaw Voice
By Cydney Heed
Staff Writer
Despite the best efforts of faculty and staff, virtual learning is still a struggle for many WCC students.
Key concerns cited by students include lack of engagement with course material and lower standards.
“It’s just online and in person, I don’t think you can ever get it to be the same,” said Cole Pulford, a Graphic Design Technology student.
In virtual classrooms, students have noticed some classmates leaving their cameras off and not interacting with their peers.
“People can just skip coming to class,” said Gabriel de Miguel, a digital video student. “And then if you’re going to be late or whatever, you can just Zoom in, leave your camera off, and go to sleep.”
Students also expressed that it can be difficult to stay motivated when they never see their instructor or peers face-to-face.
“I think it’s harder to stay motivated when you’re doing online instead of physically attending classes. Having the reminders in the classroom each day is better than just the announcements online,” said Jacob Kauranen, an economics major.
Pulford expressed a similar sentiment: “I don’t like online schooling because for me, it’s a lot harder to put myself in the work if I’m not with a schedule like it used to be.”
Freddy Villalobos, and incoming freshman, ended up dropping most of his classes out of fear that online learning would negatively affect his grades.
“I was taking four classes originally, 16 credit hours, but online school was really hard to learn…I know it’s hard on a lot of people, but for me, it was just too much,” said Villalobos.
He continued, “So I decided to withdraw from my classes and take the W grade instead of getting a bad grade, especially since I want to transfer to U of M. I don’t want to have those bad grades affecting my GPA.”
Now, Freddy is taking just one class.
“My original plan was to drop all of my classes, but my counselor convinced me to keep my English class,” he said.
Freddy is not alone is his decision to drop his classes and wait for more in-person learning options.
“One of the classes I dropped was math,” said Brandon Brefka, a film major. “The teaching wasn’t coming through as well, I felt like.”
Brefka and Villalobos are both hoping that the eventual return of in-person classes will get them back on track.
“For some of the more serious classes, I felt like I would have preferred having them in person or just waiting until they were in person,” Brefka said.
Students also acknowledged that even though the situation is far from perfect, WCC’s teachers are trying their best.
Pulford said, “They’re really nice, like, they’re trying their hardest.”
CJ Sadler, a media major, expressed a bit more hope than his classmates: “At first it was kind of chaotic because no one really knew what to do, but over time as people figured things out and kind of decided on a schedule, it kind of fixed itself, I guess.”
Others did note some positives to online learning, particularly the convenience of being able to attend class from home.
“My history is just online, no video, which I like. I like it just for the convenience of time and location,” said Brefka.