by Miette Deschenes
Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Washington, The Evergreen State College has decided to switch to remote online learning for the entirety of spring quarter. This is in compliance with Governor Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, which implores Washington citizens to stay at home except for essential purposes. This rapid shift to remote learning has been a difficult transition for many Evergreen students, and reactions to studying online have been mixed.
“Evergreen going online is necessary but inconvenient,” Andy Bedne, a junior at Evergreen, told the Cooper Point Journal. “I ended up dropping out of my spring class because I know I have a hard time being successful in online classes and when I reached out to my professors about it, they had nothing helpful or supportive to say.”
This sentiment has been echoed by other Greeners, who feel that in an online learning environment they cannot get the experience and support they need. One student, Flor Eby, chose to graduate early due to these changes.
“I was planning a pretty involved Independent Learning Contract (ILC) and a trip with faculty to New York City for spring quarter,” Eby told the Cooper Point Journal. “That was all scrapped due to [going] online.”
The switch to online learning involves having class meetings over Zoom, a video conferencing app. This allows students and faculty to still have face-to-face class time, which is intended to help keep a sense of normalcy.
“I found Zoom pretty easy to use,” junior Maddie Lang told the CPJ. “[But] it feels like a really weird way to interact with my professors and classmates. It doesn’t really put me in the academic headspace.”
Another student, Adriana Williams, has had a more positive experience with online learning. “For me personally I am kinda glad to have classes online,” she told the CPJ. She is taking three Evening & Weekend Studies classes and said her professors have shortened their class times to accommodate people’s needs now that they are working online.
“Now that everything’s gonna be online I don’t have much reason to physically be in Olympia,” Williams said. “I’m planning on going back to my hometown & moving in with family for the spring which I’m excited about.”
One side effect of going online is that several classes were canceled due to their reliance on in-person work or resources. These include Jazz at SPSCC, Psychology: Professional Conference, and Woodworking: Seating, Benches, Stools, Chairs. Only one new program was added, a 2-credit class entitled Pandemic Academy that covers current events and developments in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other programs are still happening, but with lots of changes. All field trips and study abroad trips have been canceled. Art and media students are in an awkward position, as their programs rely on studios and resources which they no longer have access to. One program, Mediaworks, has been adapted so students can make short films with their phones and edit with temporary free access to Adobe Creative Cloud.
One field-intensive program, Outdoor Leadership and Group Dynamics, is still running despite the switch to online learning. According to Andy Bedne, the faculty expect students to find a way to get that field experience on their own.
Many programs have canceled fees for field trips or resources. However, it does not seem that students are being refunded fees for facilities they no longer have access to.
“They should refund lab costs to people who don’t have access to equipment and refund meal costs to people who no longer have access to the Greenery,” said Bedne. “It also doesn’t feel right to pay full price for a subpar class experience—or if not subpar, just not what I was signing up for. How the fuck can I reasonably pay $3,000 for some online quizzes?”
Since it is still early in the quarter, it remains to be seen if students will be refunded, or how the remote learning situation will evolve. As students adjust, it’s possible that things will change or that faculty will become more accomodating of people’s needs in this stressful time. The latest updates on remote learning can be found on Evergreen’s website at evergreen.edu/covid19/students.
