As a result of most classes going online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote and in-person classes are proving to be a challenge to some students.
Many students have to balance remote and in-person classes back to back, making it difficult for them to make it to their in-person classes on time.
Before the fall semester even began, sophomore finance major Kylie Harrier foresaw these struggles and came up with the idea of “Zoom rooms” to help lessen the conflict.
“The Zoom (room) idea came as I was looking at my schedule,” Harrier said. “[I was] wondering how I would be able to take a Zoom class in-between my original two in-person classes.”
Zoom rooms are spaces on campus that students can use for remote classes. They are mainly for students who do not have a great environment where they can complete schoolwork, whether because of poor internet service, home-life conditions or other distractions. The Zoom rooms allow them to get their work done in a quiet and non-distracting environment.
Harrier took her idea to junior international studies major Katie Williamson, who is a part of the Keep Learning committee on campus.
The committee was created to make sure that “(the university is still fulfilling its mission), which is to give students their degree or education, while we are dealing with the challenges of the pandemic,” Williamson said.
Williamson acknowledged that there are many reasons that students might want to utilize the spaces.
“Students like Kylie Harrier brought the concern that if they had one class that was online at 2 p.m. to 2:50, but then they have a class on campus at 3,” Williamson said, “and they don’t have time to get to campus to park and get set up.”
The biggest challenge in making it happen was finding a place to put the rooms, but after that, it was smooth sailing for the idea.
In a letter from Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Charlotte Pegues mentioned the locations of the Zoom rooms and their seating availability: Tad Smith Coliseum (20 spaces), Yerby Lobby Area (22 spaces), Lamar 208 (8 spaces), Lamar 315 (8 spaces), Hume 113 (9 spaces), Bondurant E114 (5 spaces) and Bondurant 116W (10 spaces).
Junior communication sciences and disorders major Kayla Pritchett said she has found the Zoom rooms to be very useful. Because Pritchett had a class on Zoom at 12 p.m. and an in-person class at 1, she could not do her Zoom class anywhere else besides on campus.
Pritchett said she thought her experience in the room was great and decided to use it every Friday.
“I was the only student at the time there. They had a very large desk with plugins for phones or computers. It was very quiet,” Pritchett said. “Nobody was walking in the hallways or anything. I had a really good view of campus while using the room.”
Williamson said she hopes that students will use the rooms regularly.
“I would want to see the number of the people that actually use it, but if nobody knows about it, then it is not going to get used,” Williamson said. “The more people that know about it, the more potential it will have. The jury is still out on whether it was a good initiative or not. But just because people do not use it as a resource, it is not a reason for us not to provide it.”
Williamson hopes that students will continue to utilize the resources that the Keep Learning committee is providing across campus.
“I want students to know that their concerns are important; even though we have so many people that are working to keep the university running smoothly through something that you’ve never faced in the past hundred years,” Williamson said. “Things like that will definitely show you the little cracks in (the system), so you might not think that your perspective is important to anybody, but it is because they probably wouldn’t have this resource.”
