With the Coronavirus pandemic throwing a wrench into the daily lives of people  nationwide, many are having to find alternative measures in order to achieve their necessary tasks. This is true for schools and universities across the country. Although it is very useful to have online classes as an option, this presents its own set of problems that need sorting out. 

With so many different ways to teach online, students and professors are finding it difficult to find a method suitable for everyone. Zoom, Canvas and Google Classroom are all options for teaching online, all of which are utilized by faculty at St. Edward’s. 

Having so many online options to sort through has been causing students an immense amount of stress, in addition to the stress already caused by the pandemic. This opens up a necessary discussion about what professors can do to help lessen the stress and make things somewhat easier on everyone. 

Professors reserve the right to choose what method works for them when it comes to online teaching methods. However, they should also take into consideration the stress and difficulty it can cause their students. While the ideal situation is for faculty to come together and reach a collective decision, this is not as realistic as it might appear. With each professor preferring a different method over another, reaching a collective decision would be difficult. 

There are also a lot of factors to consider when it comes to online teaching methods for each professor and each class. Hypothetically, Google Classroom might make more sense for a writing class, while Canvas might make more sense for a math class. Some classes are exam-heavy while others focus more on essays or worksheets. 

While I understand that this is a stressful situation, we can’t expect this many people in this many departments to reach a collective decision. It’s also important to remember that these classes weren’t originally formatted to be online.  T

It makes sense that this transition is not an easy one. Professors need to be considerate of students and their stress levels during this difficult time, but they also need to choose the online teaching platform that best fits their class format and teaching style. It’s unrealistic to expect that we can find a solution perfect for everyone during this time without running into issues, and both students and faculty alike need to be willing to compromise in order for these changes to go smoothly.