One (half-)day of education on campus, the other days online from home. Is it feasible?
Sanne Roes (19), Transfer class year 1-2 Journalism:
“I hate online classes! I sleep, relax and have lectures all in one place. Next to that you also have to motivate yourself to study. Recently, I went to ‘De Stadskamer’ to study. That worked well for me. I think that at school they could create more rooms to study. Especially for students who live in dorms and haven’t been able to leave their room since corona, or students who can’t focus at home.”
‘Education has become a lot less personal’
Esmee Heddema, Second-year Nursing:
“I don’t mind to study mostly from home, because I learn rather quickly. My results haven’t suffered under the lockdown. We are allowed to go to campus two hours per week. That’s when we, in a small group, have class in technical skills: practising on dummies. You stand close to each other next to a bed, with a mouth mask on. Education has become a lot less personal. In terms of content, nothing has changed, really. I feel like teachers spend more energy on their online classes because they can be a lot more challenging than regular education. We get more assignments and presentations and I have to spend a lot more time studying then I used to.
I have bought a day planner to keep track of what I have to do and hand in because everything has become a lot more unclear since Corona. You don’t have the school-like routine anymore. Usually, I study at the dinner table at home, but I move to my own room for a class the requires a lot of talking. I enjoy talking to someone or do something else every now and then, in my own room I just get distracted a lot.
Getting in contact with the teachers is a lot harder than before corona. Via Teams, it’s easy to ask questions and the teachers try their best to be online and provide answers. But sometimes they misinterpret the questions and communication will become more difficult than in a normal, physical conversation. Many of my classmates have trouble focussing at home. This has resulted in them having issues with studying. For me, this isn’t a huge problem, but I do worry about the cohesion in my class. That, for me, is the biggest downside to the current situation.
Xander van de Poppe (19), Second-year Social Work:
“Online education takes some getting used to. I am more easily distracted and it’s quite boring. I feel like I get more out of my day when I’m on campus. The teachers can’t do much about this situation, of course. They should focus more on interaction with the students, however, so that they won’t be as distracted. Making it mandatory that you turn on your webcam would help for sure.”
Lienke van der Velden (21), Second-year Office Management (associate degree):
“I’m allowed to be on campus once every two or three weeks, I think that’s very little. I’d love for everything to go back to normal, with the current measures being on campus isn’t very enjoyable. During online classes, I’m much more easily distracted than in a classroom. Some teachers suddenly ask questions during class, that keeps you alert.”
‘I did nothing in the first two weeks’
Manuel Zuurman, Third-year Information &Communication Technology:
“For me, this ‘hybrid education’ works pretty well. I don’t think my study progress suffers from it. It is mostly a lot of homework and self-study. I am allowed to go to Windesheim one half-day per week. Every hour another teacher will visit the classroom and we can ask questions about the subject matter or the assignments. To be honest, I don’t go to those classes often, I usually don’t have a lot of questions. We also have one online lecture per week per subject. Paying attention during online lectures took some getting used to.
I know students who have a really hard time adjusting to online education. My roommate had so much difficulty dealing with the corona situation and all the changes, that she decided to drop out. In terms of coaching, Windesheim is doing a much better job than at the beginning of the corona period. Back then we had barely any online lectures, you had to get through the theory all by yourself.
I have had to do my internship at an IT company completely from home. It didn’t seem complicated at first, but it did become complicated. Communication with colleagues was difficult. For every small thing, I wanted to discuss I had to plan an appointment. The first few weeks of my internship were filled with a lack of motivation because of it. I lost the overview and I didn’t know what was expected of me. That’s when I got stuck. I did nothing in the first two weeks.
That’s why I try my best to not get stuck again. The first two years of my study programme went well, it would be a waste to fail now. Corona won’t take me down. That’s why I have reserved my own workspace here in the T-building for the whole period. I can’t work well enough at home. Here on campus, there are fewer distractions.”
Text and photos: Wouter van Emst, Joost ter Bogt, Sophie van der Velden
