Remote vs In-Person Learning Blog

Main Ideas: Re-Place-ing Space

Article Summary: Re-Place-ing Space: The Roles of Place and Space in Collaborative Systems

In the article Re-Place-ing Space, focuses on the argument that spatial models are being misplaced. There are many communicative and collaborative environments that uses the the notion of space organization and structure interaction. Furthermore, they go over their own research, which highlights the distinction between place and space. The main takeaway of space that I understood is that it is something abstract, without any substantial meaning. Whereas, place refers to how people are attracted a certain part of the space. In other-words, a place can be seen as a space that has a meaning towards it. The article describes a place as a frame with interactive behavior.

Remote vs In-Person Learning

In the quick shift by colleges from in-person to online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a struggle to many lately. I think some of the key things people have been struggling with have been, how do we support each other through this difficult challenge in our lives. The transition to remote learning, while seamless for some students, is not equal across the board. Some of whom may be unable to secure an affordable or consistent access to the internet. Ultimately, how students adjust will largely depend on their ability to access information technology at the same level as they did on campus.

The challenges of remote learning, is shown from struggling to understand assignments and getting easily distracted, to not having reliable internet. These different aspects creates a distraction and poor education to us students. While an in-person class, many students are limited to being on their phones, laptops, therefore, decreasing the amount of distractions. Having these remote classes, increases the amount of distraction because most people access their online lecture from home or their place of work.

Experiences I Encountered During this Phenomenon

In my experience, being a Computer Science student, we are constantly using the internet or technology. In my household, it is hard to connect to the internet, due to the people living in this capacity. At some part of a lecture, I would lose connection in our Zoom meeting, causing me to miss information. Luckily, some teachers record the lecture so people who cannot attend the lecture can always watch the recording on their own time.

Though, there are many concepts that lasted with remote learning. Such as the information and work given from the teachers, that would not change (except for midterms). The teacher still helps the student in every possible way they can. But for my experience, some of my teachers do not know how to use some platforms, like Zoom or even Canvas. The hard part with this, is that it is hard for me and others to know what assignments are assigned. They instead rely on Piazza for relaying the assignments to us. With Canvas, you can see clearly when the due dates are and a specific description on what you have to accomplish.

I did not realize that I took my routine and school day for granted until now. My online lecture days consists of waking up late afternoon instead of 9 am. Now, working on my laptop in my bed instead of a classroom, and now I make my own schedule. While this sounds pretty enjoyable for any college student, it has made me miss school. Miss being in the campus with my friends and hanging out in the library. Miss sitting in a classroom with a teacher and other students, having clear interesting discussions. Having remote lectures makes me realize how much I miss being in campus, because online lectures consists of multiple audio and video errors. At some point during a lecture, the video would freeze then the audio continues and vice versa for the audio not working.

All through this COVD-19 madness, I feel like my education is not being fulfilled. I have a significant lack of motivation and I miss the thought of the provoking discussions we had during in person classes. There is one quote that stuck with me throughout the reading and I would like to conclude my blog with it, “Places have social meaning”.