By Gabriel Howard —
Colleges across the nation are now months into their fall semester. While some have failed to welcomes students back, the University of Louisville is one of many schools that has had a successful reopening.
With a low positivity rate of 1.94%, campus has been a relatively safe place for students to come and learn. And for those who don’t want to come to campus, distance education is a viable option for some.
With this in mind, how have the students felt getting their education in this new look form of university?
Taking a look at students from various majors and schedules, their experiences during this semester seem to all have different trajectories.
Junior business major Tristen Bromagen said he has had an up and down experience up to this point.
“Coming to campus was something I never expected given how last semester ended,” Bromagen said. “I really liked that they opened campus back up. I felt like I might never be back in the classroom.”
But Bromagen said that online learning has been a struggle for him.
“Online classes simply aren’t for me. They don’t feel fully engaging and leave me wishing that I could be in a classroom,” he said.
Such a feeling is something that a lot of students might be able to relate to. While others couldn’t agree less.
With online classes being charged the same as in-person or hybrid courses, a lot of students have decided to steer clear of going to campus. Instead they have opted for online instruction, getting an education from the comfort of their own residence.
Sydney Broadway, a senior of the college of education has had a different experience in the virtual environment.
“Learning my classes online is actually helping me prepare for when I have to teach my own classes online in the future,” Broadway said.
She continued to point out how online learning has been more beneficial than the classroom because she has more resources to learn and gain a better understanding of what she is learning.
“The extra time we have to work and learn in the online courses helps me way more than I expected,” Broadway said. “I’m starting to wish I had always taken classes online.”
No matter the choice, it seems while some students love having an almost entirely virtual experience, others dread having it stare at the computer screen for hours upon end. It would be safe to say that the experience of virtual learning is a bit of a mixed bag.
File Graphic // The Louisville Cardinal
