How Zoom Will Change University Life Forever
The thought of quarantine seemed strange and alarming. Quarantine is something that I’ve never experienced, except for the dozens of zombie films I’ve watched. The state of being in quarantine seemed surreal — yet it was happening in front of our very own eyes. It’s not like any of us had a choice anyways. Entire cities all over the country issued stay-at-home orders, restaurants and retail stores closed down until further notice, and high-traffic cities became quiet and deserted.
As universities began to shut down, students and professors were thrown into adjusting to an all-online curriculum. Although getting accustomed to the university Zoom ‘life’ was initially difficult, I learned to make the most out of it like other college students across the country. According to the official Zoom website, “Over 700 universities and colleges now use Zoom.” It was essential to manage my time efficiently, as my living room now became a replacement for studying at Fondren Library.
Large universities such as Texas A&M University, University of Arkansas, and Santa Clara State University have accommodated thousands of students into online classrooms. Harvard University even began to offer free online courses to the general public for those who needed to keep themselves busy during quarantine. The question that many students and professors alike have brought concerns to is how university life will resume in the Fall of 2020, if at all.
How will COVID-19 change higher-education as we know it, even after the virus is gone?
SMU is among many universities that have shifted their grading system to a Pass/Fail option. The National Conference of State Legislatures says that “While this transition could help students in the short-term, switching courses to pass/fail could create potential complications for student credit transfer and graduate schools.”
Many students have found themselves reluctantly choosing this pass/fail option as the rough transition to online learning disrupted their straight-A’s streak.
The effects of COVID-19 extend to high school seniors, thousands who applied for admission in the fall of 2020 without knowing if on-campus instruction will resume. Some of these students have also applied for financial aid and assistance in the fall of 2019, before the outbreak of the virus, while their parents’ financial situation might have changed drastically with the tumultuous downfall of the economy.
Universities in the United States have even dropped their requirements of the infamous SAT and ACT exam because testing centers became potential hot spots for the coronavirus. Instead of admitting students based on standardized test scores, high school students are left questioning how they will be considered being admitted to their desired university of choice.
In an interview with CNBC, Jeremy Alder, founder and managing editor of College Consensus, says that “These circumstances will cause more students to spend time helping their communities address coronavirus and will cause colleges to consider these kinds of volunteer work even more seriously.”
For the college students living on-campus, the unpredictable turn of events caused them to be kicked out of their dorms, months earlier than anticipated. Universities have had to offer pro-rated refunds for room and board, meal plans, parking. For these institutions, it was an unexpected cost. Other sources of income for universities such as sporting events have also halted as team practices and games are unable to continue due bans on large-group gatherings.
May 4th marks the last day of classes for SMU, and although this concludes the final Zoom meetings of the spring semester of 2020, it might not be the last Zoom meeting in our academic careers as undergraduates.
Colleges and universities have released statements claiming they plan to be open for the fall semester of 2020, but if there’s one lesson I have learned amidst this COVID-19 pandemic is that nothing is promised — and we should be cautious foremost with our health until there is a safe way to resume opening up campuses.
