My online learning experience

I completed the final six weeks of summer term online and it worked really well! Here’s how things changed…

Online classes 
We used Microsoft Teams and classes were at their usual time. You could join either on video or audio, so if you don’t like being in front of the camera then don’t worry! It gives you a good excuse to do those 9am lectures in your PJs...When the lecturers were speaking, we all muted our microphones so there was no distraction. We could still be shown any presentations, so this was good for visual learners. If we had any questions, we could pop them in the chat function and they were always answered.

Assessments 
Some aspects of the assessments were no longer possible, but our lecturers were quick to change the requirements so that we could still work from home and complete assessments. Within the first week of online classes, we were able to download all the software we needed for free!

We also had the chance to meet regularly with lecturers on Teams, where we could discuss work and get feedback and this was really useful! We still had all the support we would’ve had if we were in Falmouth.

Exams 
For my course, we have a few exams to sit before the summer. We can still sit these online and we won’t have to squeeze it all into next year, but we were given the option. The exam dates were pushed back a few weeks to give us time to revise and adapt to the online system. We’ve got revision classes scheduled on Teams so we all feel well prepared.

Work experience 
For Journalism, we are required to do 15 days of work experience between the end of second year and the end of third year. We have still been able to do this, even from home! Tutors have been on hand to help us find people who will take us. For example, I’ve been doing work experience for a local radio station by putting together reports at home and sending them in.

Socials 
Sadly, we had to miss out on our end of year awards evening, but the staff and student reps worked really hard so that we could still get together. We had a fancy dress Zoom quiz and it was really nice to be together and celebrate our hard work.