Lock Haven University (LHU) students express frustration in response to classes being offered online through Bloomsburg and Mansfield. Many of them are courses required for various majors to graduate on time.
The transition from offered in-person classes to online follows the three schools integrating prior to the fall 2022 semester, leaving many on-campus students wondering whether the money they’ve spent to attend classes face-to-face has been wasted.
Of the courses being moved online, there are many general education classes and electives as well as languages, seminars, and major-specific classes. For instance, Cultural Studies, a course required for communication students to graduate, is now being offered online since the merger.
The primary concern many students have with the switch to asynchronous courses is the lack of engagement between professors and students.
“I feel like I’m not learning anything,” said Shannon Louszko, a communication student focusing in electronic media. “Everything we do in class is basically just bookwork. The professor isn’t actually engaging us with anything. There’s no connection.”
Louszko is taking French online through Bloomsburg. Coursework is set up primarily through timed assignments, which are required to be completed by a certain deadline. Louszko voiced concerns over the heavy workload, consisting of dozens of assignments per week, with little to no input from the professor. “He’s very slow to respond to emails,” she said.
One dual-enrollment student, who requested to remain anonymous, said they lacked motivation while taking classes online. They also said it was easier for students to cheat on assignments and exams, and claim their professor did not put any effort into getting to know the students.
“It’s very easy to get distracted while I’m sitting in class via Zoom,” said the anonymous student. “When we’re working on group assignments, it’s usually only one person doing all the work, and the group sits in awkward silence during calls when we’re supposed to be discussing the project. It’d be a lot easier if we could talk in person.”
Another concern for students enrolled in online courses offered at other universities is that the experience they receive through virtual learning is not the same experience as it would be in-person. Kerri Hoover, a communication student graduating in May, said online classes take away from campus involvement.
“I’m less motivated in a virtual environment than I would be in-person,” Hoover said. “Since my classes are very hands-on, I’d feel much more excited about going to class if it meant I could see my friends and speak to them face-to-face.”
Several other students agreed that the experience offered in a physical classroom cannot be replicated online. Rachel Palmer, an English major, described her experience taking a major course online and her struggle to stay motivated despite liking the professor.
“I generally prefer traditional class settings because it allows people to contribute more and pay attention to what’s going on,” she explained. “It’s a class with over 20 students but only six of us participate and three of us have our cameras on.”
Palmer stated further that, despite the professor’s attempts to encourage more students to participate in live discussions, many of her classmates remain silent. She explained that in Zoom classrooms it is much easier for students to get distracted, which may be a source of the frustration many of them face.
Despite these concerns, Palmer still enjoys the professor’s content and remains caught up on all reading material for the class. She said this would not be the case if it were a class taught by any other professor.
While virtual learning remains a heated source of discussion among students, more classes are expected to be moved online next semester. Commonwealth University’s administration stated that online classes are here to stay and that the increase in offerings will only expand students’ options, allowing them to take different courses unavailable at their home campus.
