Online Training
Student
‘The Dialogue’ is a series of events aimed at encouraging the exchange of thoughts between peers. Compared to our classic China Talk series, With students instead of professors as guest speakers, Dialogue events have a more relaxed, and less academic atmosphere compared to our classic China Talks.
Thoughts about online learning?
Ms. Cai
Undergraduate, Fashion Design, Parsons School of Design, New York, USA
My opinion on online learning is, “its a little bit off". Fashion design generally has a high dependence on equipment, and face-to-face counselling after finishing the final product is also important. Because of the current epidemic situation, our design majors have shifted to a flat and theoretical direction. I still question the effectiveness of this teaching method. I think the data-based design model flattens the original 3-dimensional product, which weakens the richness of the product. Other students tried to use video, magazine, and web design to further explore their work. However, it is still “a little bit off”.
Ms. Yu
Postgraduate, Marketing, ESSEC Business School, Paris, France
In terms of learning, I’m comfortable with viewing online lectures via zoom. The only challenge is group discussions as online communication is not as effective as face-to-face communication.
Mr. Han
Undergraduate, Communication Arts, Bangkok University, Bangkok, Thailand
Our school completely stopped face to face teaching from March 15th due to the discovery of COVID carriers in the school campus and the community near it. For online learning, we basically use Google meet, Zoom, Microsoft teams, line and other softwares.
In terms of homework, group work and speech are a little difficult to handle. Essays are mainly split and assigned to seperate team members. Speech can be further classified into online speech and pre-recorded videos. Because I am studying communication, courses that acquired practical work simply flopped. I have a comprehensive training course for MC, and it cannot be taught normally, although it was changed to a one to four group communication on Line, it still wasn’t very effective. Both ways and types of communication were reduced which directly affected the experience of studying internationally, however the learning efficiency does seem to have improved, due to the increasing freedom of time allocation. Class participation is directly linked to the software the teacher is using and their teaching style, but it is very difficult to concentrate in virtual classrooms. The advantage is that it allows a deeper connection between the students and teachers.
Mr. Bartlet
Undergraduate, IT and Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
At the start of the year with the ever-growing news of the pandemic of covid-19 I was somewhat care free when beginning my first semester at university. This is possibly due to the exponential growth the virus has experienced over the past 6 months. As such, I did not expect it to impact my university lifestyle or academic capabilities with much effect. This being said, I was able to complete the first few weeks of university on campus before having to start online learning. Although I undertake an IT related degree (B of advanced computing) which may be seen as a somewhat easier course to complete online, I have struggled to maintain an efficient learning routine and work ethic. As such, I have struggled to perhaps keep up with the increasing workload throughout the semester due to the difficulties of understanding required content online and via a computer monitor. However, as the online learning began in the early part of the semester, the adaptation was easier than expected. The covid-19 pandemic has not only affected my academic results and education, but also my everyday routine and lifestyle. From this, I am not able to perform my usual routine or even go to the gym or go to social outings as I would normally. Although maintainable for a short period, constant isolation, including a loss of job from such isolation requirements has proven to be very difficult, with the demand from university only adding onto the stress and anxiety produced from such a time.
James
Undergraduate, Civil Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Covid-19 has affected me a lot in my everyday lifestyle, both physically and mentally. I have never been restricted to stay home and not go out unless necessary in my life, it is quite a challenging experience. At the start I wasn’t very concerned as the cases were not spiking, I still went out for jogs and grocery shopping. Though, after the cases began to hit its peak, and further restrictions were posed, i stopped going out and stayed home. Rather than jogging, I changed to lifting dumbbells and did push ups and star jumps in my backyard. Rather than having a family grocery shopping day, only one person from my family would go out and get the grocery for a week. It was very boring and frustrating, but i got used to it soon. I spent more time with my family during the quarantine and it was an unexpected surprise to have family talks this often; normally parents would be working and my sister and I would always be at school, so there aren’t many opportunities for us to have these family times. My friends and I moved to online calls and gaming, so we’re still in touch. Academically, UNSW has changed all my current units of study to pass/fail, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Online classes still are not as fun as face to face learning, especially for an engineering student with pracs and labs. I do find myself easily distracted at times with online classes, and relies on self learning majority of the times when exam period comes up.
Mr. Zheng
Undergraduate, Economic Statistics, Xibei University, Xi’an, China
I have a positive attitude towards online learning, because the time is more flexible and I can arrange the tasks autonomously. In the future, the main format of teaching will still be face to face and online courses will tend to be a revision tool for university students. Online courses will be a pathway for non-students to learn new knowledge and explore the university/school.
Universities are still an important place to achieve academic qualifications, however in terms of ability, online teaching allows students to learn the same level of knowledge. There is a website in China called MOOC, which provides a range of online resources from different universities for the public. This not only promotes the exchange of knowledge between the community and college students, but also between different universities. I often study online courses provided by other universities on this website to enhance my knowledge. Therefore, I think providing online courses publicly creates an open learning environment for everyone, and it has played a good role in improving the overall knowledge exchange in the society.
Gray
Undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
As a second year student studying engineering and IT, online teaching has no impact on the theoretical content, however, it is challenging to get involved in lab tutorials. The main learning outcome of lab work is to have practical experience, which cannot be achieved through online teaching.
The online learning environment is relatively friendly for IT courses, as there is no difference between typing codes at home and at school. However, the cancellation of practical work and quiz has increased the assignment weighting, which is putting a lot of pressure on the students
Mr. Bartlet
Undergraduate, IT and Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
At the start of the year with the ever-growing news of the pandemic of covid-19 I was somewhat care free when beginning my first semester at university. This is possibly due to the exponential growth the virus has experienced over the past 6 months. As such, I did not expect it to impact my university lifestyle or academic capabilities with much effect. This being said, I was able to complete the first few weeks of university on campus before having to start online learning. Although I undertake an IT related degree (B of advanced computing) which may be seen as a somewhat easier course to complete online, I have struggled to maintain an efficient learning routine and work ethic. As such, I have struggled to perhaps keep up with the increasing workload throughout the semester due to the difficulties of understanding required content online and via a computer monitor. However, as the online learning began in the early part of the semester, the adaptation was easier than expected. The covid-19 pandemic has not only affected my academic results and education, but also my everyday routine and lifestyle. From this, I am not able to perform my usual routine or even go to the gym or go to social outings as I would normally. Although maintainable for a short period, constant isolation, including a loss of job from such isolation requirements has proven to be very difficult, with the demand from university only adding onto the stress and anxiety produced from such a time.
