online semester – The Concordian

The benefits and challenges will most likely persist in the winter semester

With the fall 2020 semester coming to an end, the effects of online school are being felt by many. The semester has presented benefits and challenges for all those involved. How did students handle this, and what did they think of the fall 2020 semester?

Kelly Marie, a student in Recreation and Leisure Studies, enrolled in three classes this semester.

Marie stated that she felt “relieved that I didn’t have the added stress of having to go into school everyday and worry about increasing [my] chances of getting the virus,” when she found out that her classes would be remote.

For Marie, one of the biggest challenges of a remote semester is online textbooks. She said, “[my] eyes get tired and I get headaches from it.”

Chloë Lalonde, the creative director of The Concordian and a student in the faculty of Fine Arts and Arts and Science, enrolled in four classes for the fall semester.

When they found out that the term would be going online, they stated that they were “disappointed, but not surprised.”

When asked how the pandemic has affected their work for The Concordian, they stated that, “We typically work remotely so it didn’t change too much.” They also mentioned that there were changes that needed to be made because no print issues were being published this semester.

For Lalonde, the things that they like the least about having a remote semester are “[the] group projects, [the] lack of space to work in fine arts classes, [and] no internships.”

Omnia Gomaa, a student in Software Engineering, who is also a member of the Women in STEM at Concordia group, said that she was “stressed about not being able to study in a team as [she] used to in previous terms.”

For her, the best part about having an online semester was “Not having to go through the struggle of commuting.” The idea of not travelling to work was echoed in Marie’s response as well.

Women in STEM At Concordia is a new student club, and because of COVID-19, the way their group operates is not typical. Gomaa said that the pandemic has impacted the way their activities are run, which is true for all clubs this semester at Concordia.

According to her, “All activities have been done online, resulting in us having late replies from people we reach out to and technical issues. This includes everything from a weak internet connection to people’s busy schedules.”

She also believes that this group is necessary during this time because “It encourages young women to stay motivated and pursue their dreams, even during hard times. Doing this sets a good example for the younger generation, teaching them not to give up easily even when faced with difficulties.”

For Gomaa, the remote delivery of the semester was a bit of a challenge at first. Despite this, she said, “It really helps to always look at the bright side and see how [someone] can benefit from situations like the one we are currently in.”

Each of the students interviewed were asked to rate their semester experience on a scale of one to 10, one being an awful experience and 10 being outstanding. Lalonde rated her experience a six, Gomaa and Marie both rated it a seven. These numbers suggest that while the experience was not perfect, it wasn’t downright awful either.

The choice to go online made by Concordia seemed to be the only real option during the pandemic. This semester, though sometimes enjoyable, also contained challenges that students faced. These benefits and challenges will most likely persist in the winter semester as well.

Graphic by @ariannasiviria

Librarians do their best to give students the resources they need

Just like the students, Concordia’s libraries have had to adapt to life during the pandemic.

“I think the access to collections was a huge change we implemented when we realized the library wouldn’t be open to users anytime soon,” said Lorie Kloda, who works in the offices at the university’s library.

She and her colleague Krista Alexander, reference and subject librarian at the Vanier Library, shared new strategies they set up to support students throughout the semester.

Study spaces

Philosophy student Andrew Wilcox was disappointed when he learned the library would be closed during his first year at Concordia.

“Hopefully, for the next semester we will have access to it,” he said.

Wilcox also mentioned the importance of having study spaces for students in need. Students were unaware that the university was already working on reopening some study spaces for individual study. The information was launched on the Concordia Library website on Sept. 14.

“The study spaces will need to be reserved in advance under very specific guidelines and we will have very limited numbers of spots,” explained Kloda.

“We usually have, at the Webster and Vanier libraries combined, up to 15,000 visitors a day during exam periods, for example. Right now, we are offering 125 seats at the Webster library and 50 seats at Vanier, so it’s a huge reduction,” she said.

The reservation works on a first-come-first-served basis; students will have three hours and thirty minutes, and must wear a mask throughout their study session. Respecting the sanitary instructions, a cleaning crew will sanitize every study space in between the blocks of time proposed.

“The students still won’t have access to the [physical] collection … There are no devices, no computers, and no other services offered on-site,” said Kloda.

Online resources

Even if most of the libraries’ areas are closed, employees are organizing themselves to make sure students have the best possible experience during the semester.

“Funding is still being used to improve and enhance library services for students. It’s not because the physical space isn’t open that we are not still working for students,” said Kloda.

After a presentation of the services available, Wilcox had a clearer vision.

“They are trying to do their job to accommodate us the best they can, but it isn’t an ideal situation,” he said.

For a face-to-face, real-time interaction, there is an online service where students can video call the librarian and ask questions Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Since students can’t access the physical collection, there is a contact-less book pick-up service.

“If a student only needs a book chapter or a journal article … a member of the library’s team … will go into the physical collection, make a scan and send it to the student’s email,” explained Alexander. “Those services were in place before COVID and have become even more important now in terms of getting the students the access they need to the content we have in the collection,” she added.

Restrictions

The librarians do their best to get all the textbooks online, but not all book publishers allow libraries to offer a multi-user electronic copy of a textbook. Copyright laws make it also impossible for the librarians to scan all of certain items in the collection.

“The minute [a student] starts asking for more chapters, even if [they do] it in different weeks, it’s copyright laws, and they do not permit us to do it even during COVID,” said Kloda.

There have been corrections made. Krista Alexander corrected from Alexandre, Lorie Kloda corrected from Kolda, weekly question session times changed from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. The Concordian apologizes for these mistakes.

Photo by Christine Beaudoin