Despite new hope for in-person classes this fall, students and instructors alike are still struggling with online workload demands in the final stretch of term two.
For a full year now, UBC students have been studying online. The university transitioned to online classes on March 16, 2020 and has continued with instruction mostly online through to the second term of the 2020/21 school year.
Many students and faculty have experienced workload increases during the past year of online schooling. The students The Ubyssey spoke to said the number of discussion questions and written assignments has increased this year.
Fourth-year theatre and psychology student Madeline Montgomery believes that while increases in the number of written assignments have been done with good intentions, she’s now at the end of her rope.
“I really think that the best approach would have been to just proceed as normal [with the workload]. And then maybe have flexibility because everyone’s situation is different,” said Montgomery.
Expressions of fatigue are shared by fourth-year film production student Shiun Okada.
“Just because things are online … doesn’t mean I can essentially write a short essay for each discussion class and also engage in a handful of comments with ‘thoughtful’ responses each week,” he wrote in a message.
“It turns into a vicious cycle because the exhaustion builds up to a point where I’m in a constant state of it, and can’t stop distracting myself to try and ease the stress and pain.”
UBC Kinesiology Undergraduate Society’s recent survey reported that students were facing increased stress levels and struggles in keeping up.
According to the survey, 83.7 per cent of the 333 respondents shared that their stress level has increased due to the current academic workload, with other external factors such as extracurriculars, jobs, housing and food contributing too.
UBC Education Student Senator Morgan Lorenz recognized the burden academic workloads have had on students’ ability to manage life in the “new normal” in an email to The Ubyssey.
“These concerns have definitely been experienced by both faculty and students alike, but for students its strenuous impact is noticeable in terms of chronic after-effects that can lead to the Zoom burnout and screen fatigue we continue to see in this new online learning environment.”
Mizuki Yabe, a fourth-year psychology major, said that the adoption of more lenient deadline extensions in some classes has, in her opinion, been helpful for both professors and students.
“I’ve also kind of found that the professors seem just as, if not more strained than the students themselves,” she said.
Professors have been feeling the pressure. According to the UBC Vancouver Tenure Track Faculty Survey on the Effects of COVID-19 from last November, faculty reported increases in teaching and service workloads as well as caregiving at home.
David King, an instructor in the department of psychology, acknowledged in an email that he has adopted more written assignments in his classes to help mitigate the challenges presented by online exams and exam security. King noted that while nothing has been perfect, he is confident the overall quality of learning has not been compromised.
“Of course, any adjustment like this is going to result in some additional workload. I’m sure that’s been the case for anyone who has been fortunate enough to continue working through the pandemic (within or outside of the university) … I’ve also learned a lot through it all, and I see ways that my future in-person teaching may be improved as a result.”
Looking ahead, eagerness lingers around the return to in-person instruction, with students sharing their favourite campus spots on the UBC subreddit.
While Yabe is excited to return to campus, she expressed some concerns as well.
“I kind of fear that schools are rushing this step [towards in-person classes] because I don’t foresee all of us getting vaccinated by the time of the reopening,” she said. “It feels a bit like jumping the gun in terms of safety.”