ONLINE CLASSES: Personal Experience

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in March of 2020, in-person classes moved to online nationwide. Switching to online it became, in a way, easier and more difficult to concentrate during a lecture. People are able to move to a surrounding where they feel comfortable in, along with ask questions before or after class that they typically wouldn't ask in person, but at the same time get distracted by the smallest of things. Such as, a noise outside, your tv/phone, personal hunger, etc.. Last year in the Fall of 2020, I personally didn't know what to expect with being a freshman and not being aware of my surroundings on campus. I also didn't realize how important it was to put ones' personal health before your own until I experienced it one-to-one. COVID-19 was taken seriously at NDSU and put their students and faculty first. Everyone was protected.

During my first (Fall 2020) and second (Spring 2021) semester I took an architectural history class that I dreaded going to/showing up for. The reason being was because it was an 8:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I eventually switched to attending online which resulted in the lack of effort to motivate myself on those days. I was taking the class to boost my generals and help me get into my second year of the architecture program. Even though it was hard to motivate myself in the class, I wish I was able to focus more during the lecture as well. Personally, I love history and learning about buildings/structures from start to finish. The teacher didn't connect and interact with students which also made it difficult to focus during the course between throughout the beginning of the semesters as well. Though, as time went on, he began to understand the class as much as we began to understand him, which I enjoyed.

Not being able to focus in the class also helped me start writing in a calendar the due dates of my projects and assignments which made it easier for myself to know what I was expecting for the upcoming weeks. Also, I was able to look back at the presentations that were taught in class and go over them a second time. Getting used to writing down my projects and assignments also helped me with the rest of my classes throughout the semester creating time management skills along with being able to focus on one assignment at a time instead of losing concentration and worrying about the others. Now that the Fall 2021 semester has begun at NDSU I am re-picking up the previous skills that I learned from previous classes and or semesters. Although it took some time, 3 weeks to be exact, I am now aware of what assignments, projects, tests, quizzes, etc. I have throughout the weeks and even months of this upcoming semester. Time management is an important tool and I didn't realize how important it was until online classes began.