College students come to grips with learning choices

As US colleges and universities roll out plans to reopen this fall－online, in-person with social distancing or a hybrid of both－amid the coronavirus pandemic, students are making their own choices about how to proceed with academic learning in a whole new world.

Those who value face-to-face interactions have opted for in-person learning despite the risk of infection, as Daniel Park, a junior at the University of Texas at Dallas, or UT Dallas, has chosen to do.

Park, from Houston, has chosen to take two classes in person.

"They are professional sales classes. I thought it's very important to be able to engage the teacher in what we learn. Unlike other classes, in sales you have to talk to people, make networks and relationships, and get to learn the etiquette of business. That's very hard to do in a virtual environment," Park said.

Last semester, Park participated in a virtual sales competition and found it a completely different experience from everything he had learned in person. "It just doesn't work in a virtual environment," he said. "The potential risk of COVID-19 was outweighed by what I could learn."

Park said that because he's not around his parents or any other high-risk people, he feels less worried about the coronavirus even though he views it as dangerous and said he would get nervous if someone nearby started coughing.

He said he has no plans to attend any large parties but will hang out with a few close friends occasionally and maintain his gym schedule.

Valerie Teoh, a sophomore at UT Dallas, will take all her classes online for the coming semester even though she lives in Dallas.

"All of my professors opted for online teaching only, so all my classes are automatically online. Personally, I would choose online learning-only anyway because it'd be a little safer," Teoh said.

Concerns on class quality

Despite her preference, Teoh acknowledged that online learning suffers in quality based on her experience last semester after her school, like others in the country, went completely online after lockdowns began in mid-March.

"Online learning is harder because there is more of a disconnect between the teacher and you," Teoh said.

"It's much easier to ask questions and interact with your teacher in person in real time than watching a recorded lecture. Also, you can interact with your classmates better."

The social interaction is what is missed most by Wang Zhiyu, a Chinese student at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Wang, a sophomore, said he's happy with the measures the school has taken: single-occupancy dorms, student virus tests twice a week, daily health screens and social distancing.

Wang is eager to return to school to enjoy some semblance of campus life. Like Teoh, he finds online learning inferior to in-person learning.

Wang said the biggest impact of the coronavirus is the lack of a normal social life on campus.

He also said he'd like to see the school offer some tuition discount because of the diminished college educational experience.