covid and university...

[rirerire]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

[justaloser]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

1. Still online and will be for the rest of the sem I reckon.
2. Nope
3. Learning-wise? It's been rocky, I know my course has been fairly impacted because we can't do important physical stuff online. A common complaint from a lot of friends is that motivation is often absent. Using Zoom is also somehow fatiguing from personal experience.
Socially it's also been rough, a few people I know have said they're quite lost or lonely and it's hard to make friends from just tutes/classes and no clubs (depends on course though). There are social events on like trivia nights but they're not for everyone especially given the Zoom format.

[rirerire]

1. Still online and will be for the rest of the sem I reckon.
2. Nope
3. Learning-wise? It's been rocky, I know my course has been fairly impacted because we can't do important physical stuff online. A common complaint from a lot of friends is that motivation is often absent. Using Zoom is also somehow fatiguing from personal experience.
Socially it's also been rough, a few people I know have said they're quite lost or lonely and it's hard to make friends from just tutes/classes and no clubs (depends on course though). There are social events on like trivia nights but they're not for everyone especially given the Zoom format.

are u learning online on campus or from home? have u been able to make friends in your course so far? sounds like a really tough situation for everyone has the uni given you guys any updates on when you might be going back or at least when u might be able to do pracs, clinical stuff etc?

[Sine]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

1. Yes
2. No
3. Learning wise not too much of an impact imo (obviously apart from practical stuff). If you know exactly what you need to complete and stay up to date it isn't too bad. However, even though I didn't really do group study I used to do individual study with others, either at the libraries or common areas so that is no longer possible in person.

Socially, is probably a bigger impact. Extracurriculars are heavily diminished. I know a lot of clubs/societies are doing stuff over zoom but it is always going to be very different to it being in person.

No one really know when all students would get back to university. I think universities would be one of the last places to fully open given just how many people on a normal day go in and out. With no community transmission of the virus I think uni's might decide to have pracs/tutes but I would be very surprised if anyone continues to have lectures in person even next year if things don't change dramatically.

What do you plan on doing during your gap year?

[rirerire]

1. Yes
2. No
3. Learning wise not too much of an impact imo (obviously apart from practical stuff). If you know exactly what you need to complete and stay up to date it isn't too bad. However, even though I didn't really do group study I used to do individual study with others, either at the libraries or common areas so that is no longer possible in person.

Socially, is probably a bigger impact. Extracurriculars are heavily diminished. I know a lot of clubs/societies are doing stuff over zoom but it is always going to be very different to it being in person.

No one really know when all students would get back to university. I think universities would be one of the last places to fully open given just how many people on a normal day go in and out. With no community transmission of the virus I think uni's might decide to have pracs/tutes but I would be very surprised if anyone continues to have lectures in person even next year if things don't change dramatically.

What do you plan on doing during your gap year?

I would work during my gap-year, barely anyone is even hiring though due to covid but maybe tutoring is an option?
idk I'm just really confused cus I want to pursue medicine so I was planning on a bachelor of science or med science for the next 3 yrs, I'm not sure if I want to add an extra year on to the already long path of med even tho I know its nothing in the long run...

[justaloser]

are u learning online on campus or from home? have u been able to make friends in your course so far? sounds like a really tough situation for everyone has the uni given you guys any updates on when you might be going back or at least when u might be able to do pracs, clinical stuff etc?

1. Learning online from home, I'm Victorian. Most people I know who were on res are at home now, in fact I think all but one are home now.
2. Yes, a small group from a trivia team I organised from our tute group. Apart from that, none. Our tute groups are for all tutes so we've got a bond as a group (think Year 7, 8, 9 classes). It's different for other subjects eg. biomed, my friends in BMed met because of a cohort Discord server/a case competition we did together.
3. We've been told it's all online for sem 2. Next year in February (tentative) there'll be an 'intensive' period where we'll do catchup for clinical, but the pracs eg. dissections are all online with no substitute (we view images of cadavers and dissections rather than doing them ourselves which sucks).

[sweetiepi]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

1. Yes*
2. Yes, I currently have an exemption to undertake lab work in the specialist research labs
3. Motivation went down the drain during lockdown 1, due to the lack of things to do I spent a good 2 weeks napping. Social wise, it actually improved kinda- I found new ways to connect with others.

*all my meetings + coursework are online; not that I've had a lot of coursework this year despite everything they said lol

[Bri MT]

1. yes (Monash)
2. Not in Vic for undergrad students so far as I know. Before restrictions increased again the uni was talking about having labs every 2nd week so there were half as many people & doing things like that so I would be hopeful for having some on campus activities next year but no guarantees.
3. Uni has transitioned much better to being online than hs from everything I've heard. Some people have been finding online very challenging but for me personally covid makes things harder but being online doesn't really. I think for people who have more labs (my subjects this year are ecology and economics ones so not as prac-heavy) this would be much more distinct; I would've been much more impacted in 1st year than I am now. Socially I haven't been struggling. I've still been able to make friends in classes but this has required being more proactive about it.

Some people I know are really struggling with online and have dropped to part time to reduce the academic pressure on them. Idk if you'd have a couple of units with less labs (e.g. maybe maths?) that you could start with part time and get that experience which would give you more flexibility later to underload. I do think your learning in labs would be significantly less than being in person for units like chem.

Whatever you decide good luck with your decision!

[J_Rho]

Not a uni student, but have some friends that are
I've heard that the expectation is that the first 6 months-ish will be entirely online except for labs/tutes, but I know unis are working really hard to try and get things back in-person as soon as they can.

[The Cat In The Hat]

Not a uni student, but have some friends that are
I've heard that the expectation is that the first 6 months-ish will be entirely online except for labs/tutes, but I know unis are working really hard to try and get things back in-person as soon as they can.

How will that work then with things that have placement (e.g. nursing, esp. at Deakin, where they start placement fairly soon after uni starts I think)??

[J_Rho]

How will that work then with things that have placement (e.g. nursing, esp. at Deakin, where they start placement fairly soon after uni starts I think)??

I heard that they will try and push it back to a later date, I had the same question haha. Long story short - online where possible, in person if its essential to the course (ie. labs/pracs/tutes/placement)

[katie,rinos]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

NSW perspective (UNSW).
1. Was online for 1/2 of term 1 and all of term 2.

2. Am on holidays now but will hopefully go back to uni for one of my classes next term (studio and ensemble) and the other two subjects will still be fully online. Don't think anyones too sure when we'll go back to uni full time.

3. Took a bit of time to transition but was good by the middle of term 2. It was very easy to lose motivation though. Most lecturers I had were really helpful with explaining assessments, answering questions, giving essay help, etc. Socially, I was still able to video call and go to online events with some of my friends. Extracurriculars are a lot different to doing it in person though (e.g I haven't had wind sympth for most of the year).

[K888]

How will that work then with things that have placement (e.g. nursing, esp. at Deakin, where they start placement fairly soon after uni starts I think)??

Placements are either being pushed back or still going ahead. I'm studying physio and placements are still happening and have seen a multitude of nursing students on placement. I would imagine if there's any clinical skills you need prior to placement starting they'd do intensive workshops.

Ultimately, noone really knows what is gonna happen next year. It's a really uncertain situation and noone knows how the next few months will pan out.

[fun_jirachi]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

Just tacking on to Katie's response (another UNSW response )

- Some people will be going back, but all my classes are fully online when term starts back up in a couple of weeks, learning from home
- While I can consider myself a little lucky given that a lot of people from my high school went to UNSW, it's still really tough because a) I'm not friends with a lot of them (more just familiar faces, which doesn't help in an online world) and as such b) I still have basically no friends at uni apart from the ones I carried through from high school; basically my social life is garbage
- learning wise I really feel the motivation thing; it's been a struggle. Getting up to do classes at home is a lot harder than getting up to do classes at uni, surprisingly, but keeping up to date is relatively easy if you have courses that set clear goals and step you through everything like Sine said.
- mental health same as always
- I honestly don't think that your goals should change despite the situation; it may get better or worse (it is really unpredictable right now) but unless you have a viable alternative pencilled in somewhere that you're seriously considering, given that you said 'i'm hoping to go to uni next year', it's not the best option but still a worthy one imo (despite the many complaints)

[r1ckworthy]

Hey guys,
I've got a couple Qs for current uni students
Are you still online?
Has anyone gone back to uni?
How has being online affected u both learning wise and socially?
I'm asking cus I'm hoping to go to uni next year but honestly I don't know if it's even worth it if it'll just be online...I'm so confused rn and I don't know whether it would be better to take a gap year :/

ACU student at NSW.
1. Somewhat, I'm going back to uni this week for two classes.

2. Still online for the majority of classes. I do physiotherapy, so my online subjects are anatomy (since they can't fit all us and social distance in the one lab), biology and an ACU subject. My practical subject relevant to physiotherapy will be starting this week.

3. Honestly, it's a mix. If it weren't for online learning, I would have not scored as well in my exams (since they all became open-book) and I was able to experiment with a couple of different learning styles and not pay the consequences as much if they did not work. However, the biggest downside was not going to the labs for anatomy and not doing practical stuff relevant to physiotherapy like massage and so on. Socially, I was really lucky and made a couple of friends just before COVID hit, and I knew someone already from my old school, so I was doing alright. However, I do miss the experiences that come with face to face teaching, like interacting in class (and not through awkward zoom calls) and hanging out with new people. I especially miss talking about answers to an exam just after it's finished, but that's just me .