Allyson Pinchot poses with the Nittany Lion mascot.
Allyson Pinchot
Freshman, Engineering
Monaca, PA
Posted May 11, 2020
As the semester of remote learning continues, I’ve learned a few things. One is that without work or the distractions of friends and family events, I have had more time for studying. My grades in classes I was worried about late dropping before spring break have actually gone up now with more time to study and focus on school. Some of my classes have changed up our daily routine, but in the long run it’s been a positive change to help adapt to our new online presence. When things return to normal, I know now that I need to spend even more time on schoolwork than I did before.
Even though my grades are a positive part of this, I still feel very “Zoomed” out, so to speak. I’ve hit a wall; I miss being out in the community and seeing my friends. Being online 90 percent of my day has really taken a toll on me. I get distracted even easier now than before since there’s no way for me to work my energy off or any rush to focus on tasks in the moment.
I just hope that this can all be over soon, and we can get back to normal.
Posted April 23, 2020
Switching over to remote learning has been a challenge for me. As an engineering major, I have a lot of tough courses in general, let alone when they’re online.
My professors have been really good at adapting to this situation and have allowed us to have extra time on things such as calculus lessons and physics labs. We still have our regularly scheduled quizzes and exams, but just delivered in a different way. Some of my professors even pushed back project due dates for us since this remote learning came so suddenly, which has been helpful.
Not seeing my friends has been hard as well, but a few of us have been able to do group Zoom sessions to work on assignments and just interact with each other.
Not being on campus has taken a toll on my focus, too. Normally I would get all my work done on campus during breaks, but now that I’m home there are so many distractions that make it hard for me to stay on task a lot of the times. Not being able to work my jobs on campus is hard on me, too, since it gave me something to do in my free time.
Frankly, I’m just bored now. It has been a big adjustment switching to remote learning, and I don’t think I’ve adjusted fully yet. But eventually I might be able to get the hang of it.