Items

• 
  2020-03

  ZOOM University

  When COVID-19 first surfaced it didn’t seem like a big deal at all. I remember packing for spring break and crossing my fingers that we would have an extended break due to this virus. I never imagined that fast forward two years into the future we would still be in the midst of this pandemic. Zoom was the one thing that sticks out in my head through COVID-19. Without Zoom, I don’t know how we would have been able to continue on with school. The transition from regular schooling to virtual learning was a rough experience but with patience and learning on both the students and the professors ends, we were able to continue learning without having to worry about spreading or contracting COVID-19. To this day, Zoom is still being used by professors. It’s crazy that I will be looking back on my undergraduate experience and one of the most prevalent memories I will hold is learning through my computer screen for the majority of the time.
• 
  2020-03-24

  Sample Virtual Learning Schedule for Middle Schoolers

  When we returned from spring break in 2020, we were sent a PDF of a sample schedule. Online school was mostly asynchronous (async) for a few weeks before we switched to a live virtual format. We would usually have one or two synchronous advisories per day and the rest of the day would be independent work. I had just returned early from a family vacation and we had only just begun quarantining. When we received this schedule, we still thought that the shutdown would only last a few weeks before life would return to normal and this schedule marks the very beginning of my pandemic experience.
• 
  2020-04-17

  “Can You Teach Art Online?”

  “Can You Teach Art Online?”, published on Art in America online, examines the questions artists-instructors are asking amidst a transfer to online learning. Different instructors who teach in various mediums are interviewed and expose difficulties of teaching art virtually as well as the positives and new innovations that have come out of necessity. I found the argument by Carissa Rodriguez, a Harvard professor in the arts, very interesting. She discussed the limitations of platforms like Zoom and how it is difficult to engage others in an artistic subject behind a screen. Rodriguez teaches a screen-based artistic medium and she explains that for her subject matter “the platform seems a notch too self-reflexive, collapsing screenings, critiques, and discussions onto the equalizing plane of her students’ monitors, the same site where they browse social media and binge-watch TV shows”. The article highlights how instructors are using lockdown to explore ways to make art and complete projects without institutional resources. Therefore, questions of shifting models in academia arise.
• 
  2021-06-10

  School’s Out, I Finally Met My Teacher

  The day after school ended, we returned all the materials to my kid’s elementary school. While there, we were able to thank my son’s first grade teacher for all her work throughout the year in person. I will be forever in awe of this woman, keeping six year olds engaged over Zoom for a year. She is a testament to teaching and you could feel her genuine love for her students through the screen. There was something so bittersweet about my son’s first face to face meeting with her being after school ended. Such a bizarre way to begin an academic career.
• 
  2020-05

  Colorado Academy student prompt

  Description of assignment prompt given to Colorado Academy 6th grade students by instructor Eric Augustin- May 2020
• 
  07/25/2021

  Lauren Pease Oral History, 2021/07/25

  Ashley Tibollo interviewed stay-at-home mom, Lauren Pease about her experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this interview, they discuss her experience with the lockdown, her worries about the pandemic, and what life was like during lockdown with her foster child. This interview also touches on political protests, virtual learning and her husband's transition to working from home.
• 
  2021-07-24

  Janine Brown. Oral History, July 24, 2021

  In this two-part interview, Ashley Tibollo interviews Janine Brown on how her life was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first part of the interview, Brown discusses how her last year of college was impacted and about her transition to remote teaching. She discusses her fears of the Delta variant, what sources she uses to get her information and what her feelings are regarding government action. She also discusses family life and how she was affected by the quarantine. She ends this part with her hopes for the future. In the second part of this interview, Brown discusses her decision to move in with her boyfriend right before quarantine and what it was life navigating a new relationship amidst a pandemic. She also discusses her pets and how their moods changed as her life changed. She discusses the difficulties of house hunting and the ways that the pandemic has affected the market.
• 
  2021-07-24

  Joseph D. Joseph, Oral History, July 24, 2021

  Ashley Tibollo sits down with Joseph D. Joseph in an ice cream shop in Buffalo, New York to discuss how his life has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Joseph describes changes in his day-to-day routine, his life as a martial arts instructor, and changes in his economic status. He also discusses his students and how the pandemic affected them. In the last part of this interview, Joseph discusses his views on politics and what he hopes the future generations will learn about the response to this pandemic.
• 
  2018

  Work from home, with some help of course

  Have work to do? Not on Romeo's watch!! While we have been working and learning from home, Romeo loves to sit on our laps in front of the computer and help us with our work. The video shows what he does nearly every time someone in the house is typing on a keyboard.
• 
  2021-07-09

  Charlotte Tibollo Oral History, 2021/07/09

  Mother interviewing 5 year old daughter about the pandemic.
• 
  07/08/2021

  Christopher Hall Oral History, 2021/07/08

  The interviewer describes his experience as a teacher with remote learning, how he viewed the pandemic when it first was in the news from China, how it affected his parenting and his daughter, how he feels New York State and the country have handled the pandemic, where he obtained his news on the pandemic, and his view of how people handled the pandemic.
• 
  2021-06-28

  My Pandemic Experience

  When the pandemic was coming, I was initially relieved. I was supposed to fly to Chicago to visit my sister and go to our favorite band’s (Keane) concert, but as a person with anxiety and panic disorder who is terrified of airplanes and crowds it allowed me to back out. The concert was cancelled. It was the excuse I needed to back out without shame or blame. It seems silly now, but at the time covid seemed more like a bad cold or flu to me. It seemed like another Swine Flu or Avian Flu or other scare in recent memory which hadn’t amounted to a plague style pandemic. Lockdown was even kind of nice at first. My husband, daughter, and I got to spend a lot of family time together. I had taught ESL online for a number of years previously, so converting my in school classes to online was easy. I had no problems teaching over Zoom. I’m a homebody anyway, by habit and by anxiety, so this was great… until the body count started. I was horrified and sickened to hear about the freezer containers being used in New York City to store the overflow of bodies. The germaphobia that had plagued me in childhood, that I had gone to years of therapy to overcome, came roaring back with a vengeance. Like everyone else, I went to the grocery store to stock up so I wouldn’t have to leave me house for awhile, only to find shelf after shelf empty. As a super health conscious, organic, vegan my choices were extremely limited. My husband and daughter aren’t vegan, but they do eat only organic, which became impossible. Soap, disinfectant, cleaners, and hand sanitizers were nowhere to be found. At a time when it was so important to be as clean and healthy as possible all those modern conveniences were utterly gone. I felt helpless. I imagined that people living during pandemics like the bubonic plague and Spanish flu must have felt similarly. After a couple of weeks, quarantine started to feel more like a claustrophobic prison sentence than a family vacation. I missed my sister, my parents, my friends, my colleagues, and my students. On my birthday and Easter I just had to wave at my parents through the glass door. My favorite hobby- taekwondo, which I had started in order to relieve stress and help with my anxiety was taken from me. I had to do the classes online from my living room, which was nearly impossible. I felt trapped. A raging epidemic across the planet from which there was no escape. If I spent too much time thinking about it, I would start to feel the claw of panic. By the time summer arrived I was at breaking point. Luckily with summer we had some reprieve. Case loads declined, and I started meeting my best friend outside. We socially distanced ourselves and wore masks, but we were together and that was a start. By the end of summer she and her boyfriend were on our “quaranteam” that is we decided we could see each other since we weren’t seeing anyone else. In the fall school started. Since I teach at a Catholic school we were able to have school in person full time, though we had students in every grade who opted to go remote. But my bestie and I were back in the building with most of the kids, and I started to feel less trapped. I was going to stores masked and my daughter was also in school. But as soon as Thanksgiving hit everything changed again. So many people ignored all of the recommendations and restrictions and got together with family and friends. It made me so angry that people were so careless. A friend of mine had a large family in Pennsylvania who all got together for Thanksgiving. She didn’t go because she thought it was reckless. 8 out of 14 people at the family dinner got covid and 2 of them died. Then at Christmas, my great uncle passed. No funeral. No wake. Nothing. Schools shut down again. We were trapped. Then the vaccines came. It was nearly impossible to get one for a long time even if you were eligible. Slots filled as fast as they were posted. You needed to present a lot of proof of eligibility in order to get one. As a teacher, I was able to get mine earlier than many others. I got the Moderna. The first shot made me feel a little sick for a few hours, but with the second I had a fever of 103.5, aches, chills, nausea for 12 hours and a general malaise for 3 days. A friend of mine in taekwondo, who has some autoimmune problems, had a severe reaction after her first Moderna vaccine. She has had side effects for a few months now that are not going away. She has dizzy spells and heart palpitations regularly. She is undergoing testing and being monitored by the CDC. Despite some horror stories, the vaccine is still the absolute best thing that we could have hoped for. I would like my daughter to get it as soon as they open it to the under 12 population. A lot of people won’t get the vaccine because they are in the “Science is fake, I’m a Trump supporter” camp. In my opinion, Trump’s misinformation and mishandling of the pandemic cost tens of thousands of American lives, and his diversive legacy is going to cost us dearly for many years to come. It is now June again. School just finished. New York State is allowing people to enter buildings unmasked if they are vaccinated, but few people are actually requiring any proof. Given that the people with a cavalier attitude toward wearing masks are many of the same people who are against getting vaccinated, an honors system policy towards wearing masks is really just a no-mask policy. It is very frustrating to me that people can’t just deal with masks for a while longer to fully insure this disease’s eradication before we have another relapse and find ourselves back in quarantine again.
• 
  2021-06-23

  Blank screens

  Turn on video All eyes on me, exposing Me, I turn it off… -discouraged student
• 
  2021-06-23

  Zoom Paranoia

  Stub my toe on chair Scream bloody murder, oh shit! Mic was unmuted ;c -someone who just exposed themselves on a zoom call
• 
  2021-05-06

  APUSH - Online Learning Edition

  The first time I saw over 75% of my 171 APUSH students in person was the morning of the test. One girl brought me a bouquet and said “I wanted to give you this today because it will probably be the only time I see you.” What a strange, strange year. The kids I teach are my life, I usually can tell you at least 10 specific weird things about each of them. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t this year - how do you REALLY get to know a kid over Zoom? Still, I am touched by the level of connection we were able to make. And I was amazed that out of 171 kids, 170 came before the test to say hi and pick up their goodie bag. After the test, they rushed back to see me and tell me how they felt. For that moment, it was like any other year. I truly feel I gave them the very best of me, I never “phoned it in” and even this week, in our last five days of school, we’re doing modern topics until the end. But I will always feel guilty. Because despite giving my best, I know it doesn’t live up to a normal in person year. Still, their happy faces and kind words show that despite my own internal disappointment, the kids are alright and it wasn’t a total loss for them. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the fall, having my tables back and full classes five days a week. Yet, these kids who I shared a Zoom screen with for 180 days will always hold a special place in my heart. I may not know them at the level I usually do, but their perseverance and diligence in ever changing circumstances will also motivate me to continue to give the best of me.
• 
  2021-05-27

  An Ode to Zoom

  How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. I sorrow til I can be free of thee and back in classroom With only bad memories of the days and nights of Zoom Crowding my screen with people who wish to be transparent I hate you with the heat of a thousand sun filled rays You never send my messages to who they are intended My voice and an alien’s, these you have always blended One wrong number in a Zoom ID, I become a student errant I wish for asynchronous or even class by email I am required to use camera, even if I loathe it so Because, when I’m present, you see one fatigued female
• 
  2021-04-14

  Zoomies

  I am lying on my belly while giving my two cents, and I just rolled my eyes at that one guy who likes Mike Pence. No one can hear me burp or see me eating; this is way better than an in-person meeting. My responses are thoughtful and I am on a roll; they asked me to share and I am baring my soul. I stare at black squares and blank expressions when all of a sudden, someone interrupts with, “Hey, you hit the mute button.”
• 
  2020-11-30

  Pass-Fail Hardball

  This article talks about how, prior to the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, some university students were seeking pass-fail grades in order to accommodate for the lack of stability during the pandemic. It discusses how several universities, such as Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill denied their students' requests for pass-fail, while others, such as Baylor University simply acknowledged the requests and did little afterwards, all in the name of "student success". While many universities released statements saying that they understood student stress levels, they were unwilling to adapt the grading procedure to accommodate pass fail grading.
• 
  2020-04-30

  Offline and left out: Not all Arizona students can connect for remote learning

  This article focuses specifically on Arizona's efforts to provide students with internet/technology access in order to achieve online learning. It goes into detail about how several Phoenix schools dealt with the pandemic and online learning in the spring semester of 2020 as well as discusses how some students dealt with internet access issues in creative ways, either due to lack of internet or hotspot issues. Some examples are utilizing hotspots or through just going to public areas despite quarantine conditions to complete schoolwork.
• 
  2020-03-20

  COVID kicked me off of my campus

  Around mid-March, all of the students of my college received an email that on-ground instruction had been suspended and that we all had 48 hours to leave campus.
• 
  2021-01-16

  To stop digital ‘redlining’ and help students, make the internet an essential utility

  Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 98 to help ensure that all of our children are able to successfully continue their education virtually through the Internet. Unfortunately, although this requirement on our educators came with significant funding, the California State Legislature did not couple it with any requirements for internet service providers to actually provide service. We have seen this problem manifest acutely in the many school districts around the state that are scrambling to keep students connected. California’s surge in COVID-19 cases means remote education will continue to be the safest way to continue learning for many students in the weeks and months ahead. But the need for connectivity will not end after the pandemic. If we truly want to level the playing field for students in California — to ensure all students have access to the technology and tools that not only help them access their learning remotely but will be needed for success the rest of their lives — we cannot rest until the internet flows like electricity.
• 
  2021-03-21

  Your Priority is to Open Schools Faster Rather Than Safer?

  So @andrewyang, let us get this straight... your priority is to open schools faster rather than safer? You would have preferred for @uftny to open schools in the largest school district in America BEFORE it was safe to do so (which it arguably still isn’t)? Got it. 👍🏽 What are your thoughts on @andrewyang as a candidate? Do candidates’ views on education/ teaching unions influence your vote? Share below! 👇🏽 Source; @nyc_covid_mutualaid
• 
  2021-03-21

  A Year Into COVID-19's Impact on California's Education

  A comprehensive timeline of all the major events that occurred related to California's education; K-12 to college-level. It starts on March 4, 2020 with the latest entry at March 11, 2021.
• 
  2020-08-21

  How Indonesia's Education System Is Faring

  "Since March 2020, students, parents, and teachers in Indonesia have been grappling with school closures affecting 62.5 million students from pre-primary to higher education." With such a socioeconomically diverse population, it's difficult to gauge just how accessible isolated learning would really be during the pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Culture had to move quickly to assure that there was some structure and guidelines set in place for educational institutions to follow. Unfortunately, as internet access isn't quite the common luxury many households have, the ministry sought partnership with television programming stations. This was to, at least, provide educational material to those who have access to televisions but not internet. The article goes on to provide four ways in which they hoped would assist in the growing education deficiency. 1) Develop more solutions to reach students without internet access; 2) Increase connectivity and train teachers to deliver more effective and interactive online learning; 3) Identify and support those falling behind with differentiated instruction; 4) Support disadvantaged students to return to school.
• 
  03/10/2021

  Ellen Galindo Oral History, 2021/03/10

  This is an oral history of Ellen Galindo, a teacher in Orange County, California. The date of this interview was three days shy of the one year anniversary of when her school shut down. She has been teaching online for a year now. She is also expecting her first child. Her oral history is focused on her experience teaching through Distance Learning and her feelings on being pregnant during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-12-13

  Isolation's Fruit

  Collaborative risograph art zine from ASU ART 394 Fall 2020 about Covid-19.
• 2021-02-07

  Spreading Happiness

  As a way to help my students stay social and emotionally well I have started to do a spread happiness wall where they have to leave at least one nice note to either a classmate or to me as a way to spread joy. To me, this will brighten their day and show them that someone cares for them and may help get some of them out of a funk of sadness and encourage more social interaction with one another. To me, this is very important because students are having a tuff time during the pandemic along with adults. Overall, all people need to know that they are cared for.
• 
  2020

  I hated 2020

  I am failing all my classes because I am an extrovert. I need humans in interactions. And I am scared to talk to teachers over the internet.
• 
  2020-11-14

  Online Learning Notice in Alife, Italy

  Translation to the above newsletter - Activities in the presence of the childcare services and the first grades of primary school will resume from 24 November, after screening on a voluntary basis on teaching and non-teaching staff and on pupils. For different school levels and orders, the Regional Crisis Unit unanimously felt it was necessary to confirm distance learning. This newsletter explains the precautions that a small town in Italy is taking in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. I think it is important to learn about what other countries are doing in order to keep the community safe. This is important to me because my family is from a small town in Italy called Alife. My family in Alife has younger children that have been directly affected by this new decision to move the school from in-person to online learning. This object demonstrates something significant about my generation under COVID because many children are being taught online rather than in person in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. As the article entitled “What do archivists keep or not” describes “documents of all types help us to remember, to share, to compare, to analyse and to synthesize information” *Thompson, 3). Documents are pivotal because they can create a snapshot of what life was like during a monumental event in history. Many of these children have never experienced online learning and therefore, it can be challenging for children to remain engaged and motivated to learn.
• 
  2020-05-27

  Working From Home

  As an architecture student at Wentworth, it was definitely a bummer to hear that our Summer semester was going to be completely online. I remembered asking myself how such an interactive and hands-on program was suddenly going to shift to an online format. The quick shift was not easy to grasp at first, especially with the inability to work with my peers in a normal studio setting. But, as the semester progressed, it became the “new normal.” The picture attached illustrates the life of an architecture student from a remote setting; the same clutter of materials, utensils, tools, and snacks invaded my desk, with the only absence being real human interaction. Through the pandemic, that is definitely the one thing I have missed the most about school, and I’m sure many others can relate. Now that working from home has become the new normal, I wonder how the shift back to in-person learning will shape the future. It will be interesting to see the changes we go through as we try to create a world that is more prepared for situations like COVID moving forward.
• 
  2020-11-30

  Back-to-Back Fully Online Semesters

  As soon as the Coronavirus hit, everyone was affected in either how they would work or how they were getting an education. I am currently an architecture student at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, MA. I think everyone had hoped that the pandemic would be wrapped up in just a few months but unfortunately it was not. By summer 2020 I was about to begin my second semester of sophomore year with it being fully online. It was an extreme learning curve, classes were all on Zoom, and there was limited communication between me and my fellow classmates. We had to adapt from the handmade models we had done in previous years to digital models on new programs we had not used before. Through the entirety of the summer online semester, we had high hopes that somehow the fall semester would be different. But it was not. While the promise of hybrid classes was presented, everything was still so unknown that many of those promises fell through. We were told of the potential of a few in-person studio days and many students, like myself, decided to live on campus or even sign leases for apartments. But we were again met with the harsh reality of those in-person classes not happening. My school had come out with a plan of in-person studio days and we juniors were shocked to see that only our grade was given zero. We argued for at least a few in-person days throughout the semester, especially after having spent the entire summer semester fully online. We were finally given an opportunity to have an in-person class. While it is the reality that some of these events were out of the control of the school, it is still taking quite a toll on the students. We are losing that essential in-person connection that we usually get with classes such as studio. With the Covid-19 virus still ever present in November of 2020, we all have dim hopes of what the Spring semester of 2021 will bring.
• 
  2020-11-23

  St. Mary's Student Oral History, 2020/11/23

  ________ is a sophomore at S. Mary's University. He was able to sit down over zoom and do an interview with me to talk about his experience of online learning during the pandemic. He goes into depth about the changes in the class structures and the changes in his college experience.
• 
  2020-11-17

  KW Oral History, 2020/11/19

  [KW] is a New Zealand immigrant currently living in Apple Valley, Minnesota with her husband and their three children, ages eight, six, and three. [KW] shares her experiences with COVID 19 from an immigrant’s point-of-view as well as a mother’s point-of-view. [KW] reflects upon the difference between the handling of the pandemic in New Zealand and the handling of the pandemic in America. Additionally, [KW] discusses how the pandemic has affected her children, their schooling, and her own role in their lives. She breaks down their routines before the pandemic and compares it to their routines now. She talks about how the pandemic has changed her daily life and the daily lives of children, especially her two school aged sons and their activities in and out of school. Finally, she reflects upon how different her families’ lives would be if they were still living in New Zealand instead of Minnesota.
• 
  2020-06-05

  What is Zoom Fatigue and what it means for students

  This article gives some context as to what "zoom fatigue" or "tech fatigue" is. It's not something I've really considered before this year. My previous years of having mainly online classes, were still broken up by at least one or two in-person classes, along with the other distractions of going the store or visiting family, and doing something fun or interesting, without the anxiety of getting severely sick, or getting my loved ones sick. The article also includes some basic "how to fight tech fatigue" tips which I think could be useful, however, this type of advice can easily fall into the one-size-fits-all category. This needs to be avoided, because there is a wider range of diversity and accessibility, and for some people the "20,20,20" rule, simply doesn't work.
• 
  2020-11-16

  Preston Potter Oral History, 2020/11/16

  This interview shares the perspective of not only a college student learning during the pandemic, but also a student athlete. Preston Potter strives to maintain his job, his grades, and also stay in athletic shape, while also trying to keep a sense of team brotherhood while staying safe. We explored how he tried to juggle all of this, stay sane, and lead a normal life. Preston gives a positive outlook on the struggles and challenges he faces, focused solely on achieving a dream career of being a professional baseball player. It is a unique look into how different students are handling the many balls they have in the air between work, school and practice.
• 2020-11-20

  Reflection on going to campus

  I have been a majority online student this fall semester. The one exception to this is my occasional attendance to my Art class about zines. Every time I came, campus felt dead, the only exceptions being the library and classroom. I began to wear glasses with side shields for a little extra protection in class, but everyone was well over six feet away from each other. I'm not surprised there hasn't been major outbreaks on campus due to how empty and deserted everything is. Besides seeing people occasionally not wearing masks while walking outside, everyone seems to wear one and wear them properly. I avoid taking the light rail and buses, even though they have not been collecting fares for a while now. I haven't tried on campus food beyond the POD market for some snacks. I hope that the current situation can continue in the next spring semester, even after a possible vaccine release.
• 
  11/07/2020

  Miguel Ramirez Oral History, 2020/11/07

  Miguel Ramirez, a St. Mary's University student, shares his remote learning experiences.
• 
  10/28/2020

  Mona Lopez Oral History, 2020/10/28

  This is an oral history interview conducted with narrator Professor Mona Lopez of St. Mary's University by interviewer Christopher Hohman on October 28, 2020. The narrator discusses the challenges and benefits of online teaching and how the COVID19 pandemic necessitated changes in her teaching style.
• 2020-09-04

  Learning to be a Writing Center Tutor in 2020

  I chose to upload my research proposal because I am going to study how tutoring strategies work in an online setting. I would usually have more flexibility with this assignment if we were meeting in-person with out students, but I had to restrict my options to those that were easily conducted in an online setting. I thought it's important to note how the physical conducting of school is not only affected by out situation, but also the actual content of classes too. Most of my classes are working the pandemic into their lesson plans in one way or another. In my Media History class, we looked at artifacts from the Spanish flu in newspapers from 1918-1919 to understand how the flu affected their lives then.
• 
  2020-11-04

  Providing Low Income Students With Free Internet In Pittsburg

  It is no surprise that low income students are struggling during the period of online or distance learning. In order to aid low income students and families, Pittsburg is offering an estimate of 700-800 families with internet that would have otherwise gone without. The schools in the district it affects feel that it will make a great impact for those who either have no internet or unstable internet services. Families that qualify for this service will pay no fees, and will help the some 20% of families with lack of or poor internet service.
• 
  2020-09-20

  online learning is hard

  Someday in September, I was curious about how to learn everything online just being five hundred feet far away from students and the teachers. I’m starting to get bored to just stay there forever, this makes me want to go back to school again. If you want to meet your friend you need to meet online. The only fun thing left for me to do is to play videogames on my computer making me felt time go pass faster. However, online learning just comes in and cleans up my schedule of playing video games. So now I need to wake up at midnight just for “learning” online for six hours straight and start getting tired because of the different time zone I’m in also homework. In conclusion, I just want to be lazy again not having any homework or classes online.
• 
  2020

  Inside and Outside, At Home, Spring 2020 Semester, Brooklyn

  This submission interweaves the personal and professional experiences of an associate professor in the Brooklyn College Library with references to events happening in the larger society during the months of the COVID-19 pandemic through early October 2020.
• 
  2020-10-21

  Arumi Ortiz Oral History, 2020/10/21

  This is an oral history with Arumi Ortiz conducted by Victoria Villaseñor. Arumi was born in Veracruz, Mexico and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma when she was 15 years old. Arumi is now a senior at St. Mary's University.
• 
  2020-10-20

  Online for First Semester of College

  This is important because it affected my ability to have the first semester on campus at UNLV. The government implemented multiple travel restrictions throughout the U.S. This affected many college student's abilities to live on campus in college. For this semester, I am staying at home, not being able to experience college dorms or the college experience due to the pandemic.
• 
  2020

  Unsurmountable feeling of Digital Dread: A 3 Line Poem for those done with it All

  Oh, woe be the mind riddled with sickening screens! So easy it is now to skip class and be free! It seems so simple without a toll or a fee! Lest be our nauseated souls, Cure us of this sickness, and relieve our woe!
• 
  2020-07-27

  First day of school during Covid

  My daughter began 1st grade at home through online learning. Her first day was July 27th, and she returned in person on September 8th. Trying to balance everyone working and learning from home was an incredible struggle, and didn't benefit anyone. Mom was working on her dissertation and taking classes, her dad was teaching high school from 8-3 each day, and she had classes with homework throughout the day. For a 6 year old who had no idea how to type, it was very hard to get everything completed. While we are glad that she is back in school, I worry about her safety everyday.
• 
  2020-07-09

  Covid-19, Education and Making Choices

  The Covid-19 pandemic has forced almost everyone to make decisions, some small and some drastic. The following is a reflection of how my studies as an international student at the University of Melbourne, Australia were affected by the pandemic. The date is 9 July 2020. Covid-19 cases have been on the rise in Melbourne in the past two weeks. This trend seems specific to Melbourne as the rest of Australia seems to have the situation under control. I receive an email from the University. The email announces that the studies for the second semester (July to November 2020) will take place entirely online. The majority of semester 1 (March to June) had also taken place online. But students were hopeful that a return to face-to-face teaching would be possible given the relatively low number of cases of Australia up to late June 2020 (when the second wave started). As an international student, I must make a choice. To stay in Melbourne or to fly home. I need to do so quickly, since incoming flights to Melbourne had already been suspended, and there is no guarantee that the same might not happen to outgoing flight. In my case, returning home seemed the obvious choice. I would rather have stayed in Melbourne (a city I love!), but alas at least to return means to be closer to friends and family during these times. I write this in October 2020, the semester is almost over, and the number of daily cases in Melbourne has now dropped significantly (to single digits), after months of strict measures. For much of the rest of the world however, there does not seem to be an end in sight. Submitted as part of the HIST30060 Making History subject at the University of Melbourne.
• 
  2020-09-22

  Professor Shares Anonymous Student Anxieties

  A professor shared student's anxieties about the Fall 2020 semester. Most of the responses show the toll the pandemic has taken on student's mental health. Another common theme is that many students face a multitude of difficulties when it comes to online school. Whether it's finding the motivation to go to class or how a student's home-life creates a toxic environment for online learning.
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  2020-09-07

  School, Not School, Starts Tomorrow

  This Tweet explains what is really happening with virtual school. While teachers are having to work harder than ever to convert all of their lessons into something that has a chance of working online, parents, and mostly mothers are expected to be available at a moments notice to aid in technology and learning.
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  2020-08-30

  Virtual labs feel like a bad video game

  I'm currently adjusting to virtual lab for an upper-division physiology course, and my class is using a program called Labster for simulations. Picture a 2010's era, first-person video game where you are walked through 'levels' of the lab by a floating robot overlord called Dr. One. You get to put on a virtual lab coat, use a virtual iPad, and interact with virtual lab equipment. I've done experiments on computerized lab-rats, teleported into mitochondria, and clicked my way through the Krebs cycle. It feels very dystopian and unsettling, and would be funny if I wasn't being charged full tuition for what boils down to a Portal-2 knock-off without the cool aliens. Sometimes it's nice not having to commute to school. But mostly, I miss real lab and the feeling that I'm learning something meaningful by being in class.