Remote learning negatively affects the future teacher experience

for Ramapo Record

Leah Sylvester from eastern Pennsylvania used to feel motivated for her classes, where she would endeavor into her education major and learn more about her future occupation. She would wake up with ease when living on campus at Cairn University, and she would feel an excitement for learning and attending class, even as early as 8 a.m.

But Sylvester’s daily routine, due to the transition to online learning, has significantly changed. At times, she won’t leave her bed for her virtual classes, and she has depended on coffee to give her energy.

“I have a horrible attention span and sitting in the same room all day and only interacting via webcam is rough,” Sylvester, 20, said. “I have become addicted to caffeine again and gotten used to staying up late, even with a week full of 8 a.m. classes.”

As sophomore early education and special education major, this is a time where students like Sylvester should be starting to participate in fieldwork and looking for student teaching programs. But the onset of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic changed that for Sylvester and other education majors.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about one in ten college students in America are education majors or are planning to pursue an education field in their future career path.

This proves that the impact on education majors is national, as fieldwork and necessary student teaching training is getting cancelled, which will only make it harder for students to complete their requirements.

The difficulties that teachers and student teachers are experiencing is not surprising to Susan Patrick, the CEO of nonprofit Aurora Institute which supports schools and districts to transition to online learning.

“There’s a reason districts and schools take one to two years planning time,” she said to Education Week. “You can’t go from zero to 60 in 24 hours if you don’t have the processes and structures in place.”

The social distancing and quarantines have made fulfilling the student education requirements difficult and has affected their motivation in the process. It has also negatively affected teachers across the nation, especially those teaching in highly contagious areas such as New Jersey.

Teaching Hardships

The remote learning system has changed the view of many teachers and future teachers across the nation, as it has impacted the view of their jobs. Teachers are trying to remain positive during this stressful time for their students.

One of those teachers is Samantha Spaulding, a special education teacher at Triton Regional High School in Runnemede, New Jersey. Spaulding tries to maintain her positive energy through the video chats she has with her students.

“I believe my students are struggling to get motivated at home,” Spaulding said. “My students realized extremely quickly how they need the structure of the school day. They miss the face to face instruction, so I have been available to video chat and help them with assignments.”

Another teacher at Triton that has seen their students being deprived of motivation is Mary Jane Chambers, an American history teacher. 

“There is no way you can keep up the energy and the motivation without seeing your students, even if they know you well,” Chambers said.

As an Advanced Placement (AP) teacher as well, Chambers is now unable to host her organized study sessions that she would hold after school for the exam. The American history exam itself has also been moved to an online format and has been intensely shortened.

Many students studying education were stripped from the necessary clinical experience they were participating in this semester. However, because of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, none of this seems possible. 

Hannah Urban, a sophomore elementary education major at Rowan University, lost her chance at completing her fieldwork at a local elementary school. While she was pulled from the hands-on experience, Urban is still expected to complete the work, regardless of her inability to truly understand what is expected.

“While I was pulled out of my clinical experience for the semester, I am still completing the work I would have if I was going there,” Urban, 20, said. “I feel like my work load for each class has increased, and doing all of this at my house has been tough without being able to leave the house.”

Colleges Respond to COVID

Institutions, especially those along the east coast, are promptly responding to their students concerns.

Cairn University, a private institution in Pennsylvania, has already refunded their students for room and board at the beginning of April. The president of the university has also hosted a video call on Tuesday, April 7 for any members of the student body to join and ask questions.

While Rowan University is a public university in New Jersey and cannot offer as much immediate financial support for their students, they still manage to update their students on a daily basis, according to Urban.

“Our school was one of the first in the area to extend spring break in anticipation of the coronavirus, which I think was a good call for the safety of the university, the students, and faculty,” Urban said. “I find comfort in the fact that administration and professors put in the time to send us many emails to keep us in the know.”

But it seems that the less funding one’s college or university receives, the less information their students get. 

Chloe Baker, a sophomore early childhood education major at Camden County College, was shocked when her professors initially refused to give any information on the future of her classes.

“At first, a lot of the professors acted stubborn and even a little condescending when we asked if they had any information,” Baker said. “Since then, we have gotten emails regularly from the school and I feel as if they are doing a lot better at keeping us informed.”

She also explained that unlike the majority of schools across the country, her classes have not transitioned to the online video lecture option.

“My professors didn’t give my classes the opportunity to participate in online video call chats with them. However, I think that it would help my classmates and I a lot seeing that all of us are still confused on what’s going on in our classes, and we are already two weeks into our courses being online.”

Unteachable Lessons Learned

Students focusing in education, while deprived of the hands-on experience, are actually learning more about their future career with the examples set by their professors during this jarring time.

Sylvester notes that this sudden change has taught her how to be considerate and understanding towards a student’s unfortunate situation.

“Not all students have great home lives, and they were suddenly uprooted from their campus routines and have to go back home,” Sylvester said. 

“Some of my professors took that as now we have all the time in the world being home and gave additional assignments, but it’s important to keep in mind that every student faces a different situation and adding on a workload, especially in a time like this, is inconsiderate of that.”