They’re shit. Respectfully, you cannot convince me that online classes are equivalent to in-person courses. I am a full-time student and commuter. I signed up to be a commuter, and therefore want to be on campus when I can. So, when I realized that the second semester of my junior year, I would have all online classes except for one in-person and one on Zoom, I was confused. What do you mean some of the most important classes for my major are going to be predominantly online? What do you mean I am going to be learning how to teach literacy, as a future English teacher, without an in-person instructor or classmates?
       To be frank, I was and am still upset. I informed my advisor of such, but due to our small school and therefore limited class choices, I was pretty much stuck with five online classes in one semester—the semester before I start student teaching. I do not feel that I am receiving the same level of education that I would get if I were to have in-person classes.
       For instance, and this is all my own opinion, there is little to no instruction in online classes. Lectures are replaced by readings, professors explaining the material in front of the class are replaced with YouTube videos, and in-course dialogue is replaced by discussion posts. I do not understand how educators can believe that assigning readings and having students do assignments based off of them is equivalent to lectures and in-person instruction. For example, in one theology class I just withdrew from (for this reason), we had to read a collection of about 6 materials each module including journal articles, chapters from books, and data reports. We then had to reply to a specific prompt in a discussion post, reply to at least two other people, write a 1,000 word reflection on the materials we were to interact with that module, and do a reading quiz. It was a lot of work. And yet, I do not know how much I gained from the class. I needed to hear my professor’s thoughts and input to understand what exactly I should have been taking away from the course. That is what I mean when I say that instructors only assigning readings with assignments based off of them is not substantial instruction.
       And let’s be real, these assigned readings, reflections, and discussion boards are not. engaging. at. all. I have never thought, “wow, I cannot wait to read the three chapters of the textbook, read two articles, watch a video, and do a discussion post about them!” Never. Granted, homework in general is oftentimes just not engaging, but in-person discussion is (at least for me it is). When having a face-to-face discussion, I can organically bounce ideas off my classmates, read their body language, see how they physically deliver their ideas, hear their fluctuations in tone, and more. Also, in a classroom, the professor can read the room and rephrase the question, or ask a follow-up one, initiating more effective discussion. To learn, I need to hear it, see it, and ask questions in the moment. I cannot read about it, read about it, and then read about it. But this is what happens in my online classes.
       I love reading, do not get me wrong. I am a perfect example of a bibliophile. In fact, I am the president of a book club on campus. However, reading textbooks or academic material is a whole different story. I simply cannot learn by just reading about it. Some professors assign videos to watch as well, but that is still not the same as learning in a live classroom. Online classes do not appeal to multimodal learning the way in-person classes do. It is proven that “the combination of multiple sensory stimuli (e.g., visual, audio, verbal, tactile, and olfactory) in instructional content is known to promote cognitive performance, sense of presence, and learning engagement” (Luo, 2023). Live conversation and interaction, aka synchronous experiences, appeal to more of the senses than online activities like reading articles and completing discussion boards do. It all just ends up feeling like busy work. Therefore, I struggle to be engaged in materials that instructors of online classes assign, which leads to a lack of learning. (And I want to learn, so that is why online classes make me so upset.)
       Now, I am not knocking educators. As a future educator myself, I know it is most likely very difficult to teach online, and I respect all who have taken up the challenge. For instance, one of the things I imagine being difficult is making connections with students. Stanford has a comprehensive guide for educators on how to effectively run an online course, and they state how “teaching online may feel like you are ‘on’ 100% of the time, but that does not need to be the case” (“Ten Promising Practices for Effective Online Teaching”). As an involved student, I get a lot of emails and get easily overwhelmed by them. So, I am sure trying to cater towards your students online and possibly responding to emails all the time is a tough process. Short discussions before or after class turn into a three days’ worth email thread (ew). But providing opportunities for students to make a connection with their instructor, and classmates, is so important to productive learning, and online instructors have to find successful ways to do this. One way is for the instructor to reach out to students at the beginning and middle of the course to see how their learning environment is and what supports they may need (“Ten Promising Practices for Effective Online Teaching”). This is time consuming, I understand that, but it would make a major difference. I do not know how many of my online educators have gone through this process and have provided opportunities for engagement with them or my peers other than introductory discussion boards and posted office hours. I think it would have made a major difference if they had.
      And, hear me out, I know people will say that it is up to the student to make a relationship with their instructor or peers. Yes, it is important that students reach out and introduce themselves (I do this for every class), but, in my opinion, there needs to be a longer olive branch extended by online instructors to their students. The personal emails referred to before could be very helpful, as well as comprehensive feedback on assignments that show that a.) the instructor is thoroughly analyzing student work and b.) they care about you and your personal growth. Typically, I get a “Great work! You (insert rubric credentials) very well!,” or I have gotten a good grade with no feedback, or a lower grade with also no feedback (girl, this made me so mad, don’t do this to me). These kinds of feedback are not helpful to my learning, and do not allow me to get to know the instructor better. So, although online classes are a lot of work for instructors, I believe there needs to be more of an effort made by them to connect to their students and further instruction.
       As I said, though, I respect educators that teach online, and that is why I really don’t like (my Mom taught me not to say hate) when instructors solely use videos or materials written by other people to teach the class. I would prefer to be taught by the professor that has a degree in what I am learning. I understand that instructors use their own judgement and expertise to collect materials that they feel will instruct the students appropriately. However, I want to learn directly from my professor, not from outside materials. Although it is good to hear from different experts, I value the words of the professor (whom some of my money is going towards) more than a Youtuber named something like “Not So Wimpy Teacher” (true story). All of the online classes I have taken in college have relied on outside sources to teach me the material; whereas in my in-person classes, outside sources are used to supplement the instructor’s personal lectures. I want to learn in-person because professors seem to be more likely to teach based off of their own expertise and gained knowledge.
      Don’t get me wrong, I see the positives of online classes. They make learning more accessible to people of all different lifestyles, especially those who have children at home or are working. The flexibility of online classes is one of the main reasons that they are so popular today (Harvard Extension School, 2020). You can choose when to work on assignments and do not have to travel to a classroom, but still earn the degree that “traditional” college rewards you with. I also know some people who preferred online classes because they were easier, or they didn’t have to leave their dorm. But as someone who is enrolled as a full-time commuter student and wants to learn applicable material to my field, online classes are not it.
      And don’t even get me started on the price. Full-time tuition is roughly $40k annually for an undergraduate at my college without aid (USF Tuition and Fees). I luckily have received scholarships, but have had to borrow loans every semester, so the fact that I am paying the same semesterly tuition for these online classes as I am for my in-person classes is, I don’t know… dumb? Illogical? Doesn’t make sense? I need these classes to get my degree and become a teacher, so I will take these online classes. But it is sad to me that I am paying that much for classes that lack instruction and engagement, rely on outside materials and experts, and involve too much busy work, which all lead to me gaining about half the knowledge I would in an in-person class.
       Sometimes I truly worry that I will not be sufficiently prepared to be an educator because of the number of online classes I have had to take that cover content pertinent to my success. It is defeating. Because I am paying for a quality education, that will, naturally, put me in student debt, and yet I feel like the quality of my education has been lessened due to the online courses I have been enrolled in. But what can I do about it now except for…complain, obviously, and share my take on online classes. Which is: they’re shit.