On March 14, Camosun students received an email from college president Sherri Bell explaining that, due to the COVID-19 crisis, classes were being moved to “alternative delivery” methods. Everyone who attends the college had to shift and rearrange their lives and schedules, and so did Camosun instructors. Anthropology instructor Karoline Guelke and Carpentry instructor Theo Riecken were just two of the teachers who had to make drastic changes on a moment’s notice.
“It was a possibility that we saw coming, but it still felt really abrupt and surprising when it actually happened,” says Guelke. “It was something that nobody really knew. I think two or three days before the shutdown, I got a note from the chair saying that no one really knew yet, that it was going to probably be a week or so. Then suddenly, nope—we’re going online.”
Riecken agrees that the transition had to be very quick.
“You’d think in this day and age it would be a quick transition, and it really was,” says Riecken. “We sent the students home on the Monday when we got the order. They all came to class that day, and we chatted with them for about half an hour about what to do next. By Tuesday, I was delivering my lectures online, so it was an extremely fast turnaround, and we learned a lot as we went.”
Both instructors had to decide how they would deliver the rest of their courses.
“For me, the most exciting part about teaching is the action in the classroom, so that is taken away now,” says Guelke. “I do know some instructors do face-to-face, synchronous lectures, with students signing in to Zoom. The technology is an issue, and not everyone has access, so it didn’t seem necessary for my class, which is why I didn’t choose that method. I recorded lectures by myself, which was very different, sitting by myself recording into my little machine.”
Riecken chose to use Zoom to teach his students.
“It’s mainly them watching me for the lecture component,” says Riecken. “I used a lot of PowerPoint, a lot of Zoom platforms, I also did a lot of shop demos, chisel-sharpening demos, I showed a very in-depth demo on how to use a table saw. There is a chat bar for them to ask questions—they can chime in when they want to ask questions. It can supplement being in the shop, but it is certainly not a replacement for the work.”
Riecken says his students adapted to online learning but he’s heard lots of feedback about how it’s just not the same as in-person learning, especially considering the subject matter.
“My own students, I couldn’t have enough good things to say about them—they are just an excellent group of people,” says Riecken. “They were so supportive of the platform, and finishing of that part of the course in that matter, but they all said that it is a very compromised program without the being in the shop. Many of them have said they really miss the hands-on aspect and, let’s be honest, that’s why they’re carpenters.”
Guelke says the quick change may have been too much for some of her students.
“As far as some students either dropping out or falling off the radar, I think most of them I reached, but I am worried about some who did not respond to emails and did not withdraw in time, and who I now have to give an F to,” says Guelke. “It is so hard. And what more can be done from [the college’s] administration in providing some other options? There has been a real inconsistency in the information. I mean, it was an unprecedented situation, but for the future, this all needs to be talked about how this can be handled best, with the students in mind. As a student, you want to know what you’re signing up for.”
Riecken says that although some of the new platform has worked, it’s not ideal for the trade he’s teaching.
“We did lose one student who didn’t have internet access, and that was really unfortunate,” says Riecken. “It’s a great stop-gap. It has done really well for what it needed to do, but it really needs to return to normal as soon as possible. I spent quite a bit of time at the end of the program with each student, just asking, ‘How did we do with this?’ and, ‘What are your comments?’ and the one, resounding, echoing thing we kept hearing was, ‘We need that shop time back as soon as we can, to get the program back to what it was.’”