All over the world millions of students are experiencing a different life, one that is arguably the antithesis of most students' lives - an online, socially distant life. So what is that life like? How is it affecting how they learn, how they interact, most importantly, how they feel?
The best answer is to ask them all (and then ask again the next day maybe...). But we don't have that track and tracing ability here in Oxford Mathematics, so we have settled for asking a few of our Undergraduate students for their thoughts. They aren't representative of anyone except themselves but we suspect some of the themes may be familiar and even a little helpful.
What do they say? Well, you can read their thoughts and feelings in their own words below - they are a good read. However, some things stand out.
Teaching
Online lectures, classes and tutorials are working and have their advantages. Online lectures and classes work and not just because you don't have to drag yourself out of bed for 9am. Students can watch when suits them, can pause the lecture to recap, and join the online discussion. In addition, tutors are clearly doing all they can and receive much credit for it, though concentrating in online tutorials is a challenge.
Studying
Self-discipline is obviously key, more so when you are detached from the usual learning environment. Again, the overall feedback is positive, notably the support from tutors, and there is no sense of being academically disadvantaged. But it is ALL online. There are no books, no libraries, no friends at the next table, no welcome interruptions. Every day can feel the same.
Exams
Students are less comfortable at the thought of online exams. Can they guarantee no interruption from the world around them, human and mechanical? Might other students not play by the rules? And those who have had their exams cancelled are not getting the usual preparation for the bigger exams down the line (though some first year students whose exams have been cancelled will have College exams in their place to give them some sense of closure).
Social life
There is much happening online, and in some cases it has encouraged closer bonds (among families as well as fellow students), notably among those who have stayed in Oxford. But it isn't the same. Social life glues academic life together during a typical term. That is harder online.
And some friends will not see each other again, at least not in Oxford. They are deprived of their final term. Or their first summer term. These things are personal and precious.
But as the writing shows, there is also time to reflect, to try and understand what is going on and where it fits in. A normal student term isn't necessarily the best time to do that. But that's not to say everyone isn't longing to return. They miss each other and we miss them.
Jess, 3rd Year
Being at home during term almost feels like I’m back on study leave from school as I was during GCSE and A-Levels (except it’s noisier and more distracting now because everyone here is working from home). I had envisioned Trinity (Summer term) to involve days spent in the Maths Institute and various libraries revising for exams, spending time with my friends for whom this was their last term at Oxford, and then finally celebrating the end of exams at the end of term. However, instead I am stuck with only one study space (my bedroom), and all social events swapped for Zoom calls.
In terms of the ‘online term’, I haven’t had any new material to cover (as would have been the case anyway), only optional revision sessions to attend. Despite the initial worry about having to get all of my revision questions answered over email and Microsoft Teams, my concerns were soon relieved when I realised how much effort all of my lecturers and tutors have gone to in order to maintain a great standard of teaching and help us revise as well as they can. Some tutors have even gone beyond my expectations (I had a PDF of written solutions to my queries sent to me in Teams!). One thing I particularly like about the online classes, and am finding very useful, is that the notes made by my the tutor are sent to the students afterwards, meaning we can spend the class trying to understand the material and asking further questions, instead of rapidly trying to scribble workings down before they get wiped off the whiteboard!
Although the revision resources are really good, they haven’t quite removed the worry about the actual exams. One of my biggest concerns is that there’s no way to ensure the quiet exam environment we’d get in Oxford; you can’t shut off the roads beside your house, or ask all of your neighbours to be silent for 3 hours every time you have an exam! Furthermore, this problem will continue to worsen week on week now that lockdown is being relaxed, causing concern that having an exam in July will have adverse consequences, rather than benefits due to increased revision time. In addition, since the exam period has now been extended to a five-week period instead of each student having a fairly similar spread of exams like usual, it is now the case that while the majority of maths students are benefiting from nicely spread out exams, others (like myself) have unfortunately ended up with a stressful situation of four consecutive days of exams!
Matt, 1st Year
Trinity (Summer term) at home hasn't changed my education very much; For better or worse, it's gotten rid of the early mornings that come with going to lectures, as now I can watch them at any time. This allows me to streamline my workflow a lot more, but unfortunately it's not the Oxford experience I had in my first two terms. There's nothing like living with your best friends in college, the occasional formal dinner, or just walking through the Porters' Lodge (college entrance and home to post and porters, college staff who are the first port of call for just about anything). Me and my friends have been watching movies together and staging quiz nights, but I can't help but feel we've been pulled apart just when we were really starting to know each other. It's sad I might have to wait until next Trinity (Summer term) to go punting, or see Oxford when it's not gloomy, but on the other hand, I'm incredibly lucky that this is the worst consequence of Coronavirus I've experienced so far. It's also nice to spend more time with my dogs and family.
Tutorials are mostly unchanged, but it takes a lot of self control to stay focused when your tutor can't see if you're not really paying attention. I'm a bit relieved exams have been cancelled, as they normally cause me quite a lot of stress, even when I don't think I'm in danger of failing. I feel I'm really lucky to not be in the higher years - I'd loathe taking exams over the internet, and I'm not sure how being in such a different situation than expected would affect my performance. Some people are saying that first year is a good trial run for the exam period, so when the exams we're taking really matter we're familiar with their format. I'm not particularly worried about this as ultimately we're all in the same situation, but I hope this doesn't cause undue stress for anyone, that would have been avoided if we had proper exams this year. All I can hope now is that we're back by next Michaelmas (October term)!
Disha, 2nd Year
When life gives you lemons, bake a lemon drizzle cake because quite frankly, why not?
I love baking, but baking hasn’t always loved me. Despite my best efforts, somehow my cakes always turned out inedible and my biscuits always unbreakable. Yet I’d keep trying, failing batch after batch much to the despair of my sister who’d still eat the burnt cookies to make me feel better. There were times where I just wanted to give up, what was the point anyway but somehow I’d always be enticed back for one more attempt. Feeling frustrated, I decided to call it quits until I found this food blogger online who seemed to share the same passion as me and I decided to try again. If you couldn’t tell already I decided to take up baking again and thank goodness I did.
Chocolate cakes, blueberry muffins, shortbreads, carrot cakes, banana breads (all vegan might I add), you name it, I’ve probably baked it in the last month. The satisfaction of finally being able to succeed after all those efforts was indescribable and I’ve already got my retirement plan all set out.
On the other hand, I have discovered a negative correlation between the amount of sunshine and my productivity. It’s been a lot harder trying to work when everyone else seems to be enjoying the sun and there are no libraries to work in but this has given me an opportunity to work on my self discipline and focus on the task available. I’ve found working with my sister to be very useful as we make a make-shift library on the kitchen table and repetitively shush each other. The thing that I’ve found has worked is the flexibility with lectures. I can now watch my 9am lecture at 9pm and pause, rewind and change the pace whenever I want. This means I no longer need to copy everything out and I can stop and think clearly every now and then when the proof seems a bit too tedious.
Social life has actually improved, I’m actively seeking out my friends to have long talks with and I’m no longer restrained by specific lecture times. I’ve learnt to appreciate the little things a lot more and look forward to seeing them again soon. In all honesty, last term it felt like I was in a rush all the time and I just didn’t look up from the hustle and bustle of the everyday student life - lectures, worksheets, sleep and repeat was what my Hilary term (January term) had finally reached and I’m glad I’ve had this opportunity to make better use of family time, think about my life and goals and have the chance to finally breathe. I feel a lot calmer at home as a result.
My baking skills have now flourished - in between every problem sheet I’ve added a coffee cake or some muffins to the mix. My endeavours have been received very well by my sister who finally doesn’t have to eat the burnt mess I used to make. One day, after another slice of cake, my youngest sister (who’s six years old) asked me “Why are you doing maths Disha when you could be a baker, now everyone loves your cakes” and it got me wondering why was I doing maths. Surely baking felt more enjoyable than the million problem sheets I had on my desk which were just sitting gathering dust.
But then it hit me: why had I started in the first place? I decided to take a walk - don’t worry I kept a two metre distance - and I reached my answer. Maths is just beautiful, as a friend once told me. Exploring a new topic is like navigating your way through a dark room, you feel your way around, you trip and fall a couple of times (maybe more if you’re as clumsy as me) but then you finally hit the light switch, switch it on and boom, everything just makes sense now - there are still plenty of rooms left to discover but, hey, that’s for another day. Baking probably wouldn’t have been as fun if I’d gotten it all right the first time, it was the fact that I had to keep trying and trying and trying before I was able to make a successful cake that made the cake even sweeter. That’s the same with the problem sheets, the moment when you think you just can’t do it and you hit that eureka moment is what keeps inspiring me to keep going on. And yes while working on one problem I may still have a million and one problems left but that shouldn’t take me away from the problem I’m focusing on. Forgive the cliche but it's all about the climb.
Even in these unprecedented times, I’ve got something that truly makes me happy and gives me the hope to go on and the stability to stay grounded. I think I’ve changed very much this term, I’ve learnt to look at the positives a lot more. Yes I can’t go out and hang out with my friends but I’ve now got the time to take this new topic I’m learning and truly get to grips with it… and bake another cake! Even if I still haven’t switched on the lights in all the rooms, that's okay because #saveelectricity #savetheplanet
Beth 3rd Year
This term has certainly been quite strange, but not always in bad ways. I’ve enjoyed spending more time at home with my family (and not having to worry about cooking food every night)!
The move to online classes has been convenient in some ways, for instance it makes it easy to ask questions during the class using the chat box feature. However, I do miss the Maths Institute building and being able to study without always using screens.
Whilst it’s a shame not to see my friends at Oxford, I’ve still kept in contact with them and I’ve also done video call revision sessions with students on my courses which has been a fun way to schedule in social events. My tutors also organised a tea party on Zoom as a chance for the mathematicians at my college to catch up with each other and ask any questions we had, which was really fun.
It has certainly been a surreal term and I’m looking forward to going back to college - whenever that may be!
Josh, 2nd Year
In many ways life in lockdown is just the same as life as normal. Well, not Oxford term normal but Oxford vacation perhaps. But maybe Oxford term normal too. I mean it is completely different but it’s also completely familiar. I’ve had plenty of days in term time where social activity is written off and I condemn myself to my desk facing the wall in my room. Days where the only social interaction is the little chat with my friends over dinner in Hall. Or in the vacation when I’ve realised I really do need to do some more preparation for these Collections (College exams) and I spend the day cramming theorems instead of seeing my friends in the pub.
I guess the difference is that now the days like that are everyday. Well, not quite like those days because I’m not working all day. At first it felt like the Oxford workload was really a bit more manageable than it had always seemed, perhaps that’s what happens when you subtract the turbo-charged social scene. But as time is going on it is feeling less and less like that though. It’s a bit harder to work, a bit harder to motivate yourself when everyday is exactly the same. Because that’s the crux of it, isn’t it? Everyday is the same. There’s no uncertainty, no surprises. You spend each day roughly doing what you did the day before. I guess that’s what happens when you can’t see other people, not face to face that is.
But then these days we can see them can’t we. Well, not ‘them’ them, but screen them. Sometimes a video call with friends or even a ‘meeting’ with a society committee can pick my mood right up. It can energise me in all spheres of life whether that’s motivating me to study, finding the strength to smash through a workout or just having a present and engaging interaction with my family. Not always though, in fact sometimes it’s the opposite. Every now and again screen fatigue hits me hard because it seems that life itself is now on screens. If I’m reading lecture notes it’s on screens, doing my philosophy reading it’s screens, catching up with my friends it’s screens, taking a study break watching Netflix, it’s screens. Every now and again I’m forced to take a screen detox to recover and it does work. Exercise works wonders for this and my Government mandated walks to the beach, just as the sun begins to set, have been the highlight of many a day in lockdown.
I would say that the transition to online learning has been smoother than expected. Well, there have been a few hiccups. It’s much easier to zone out of a tutorial when you don’t have your video on and you’ve been asked to mute your microphone for sound quality reasons. In fact it’s very easy to. Then there’s the awkward silences where no one quite knows who’s turn it is to speak in the absence of social cues. I do think my College tutors have been exceptional though, they’ve clearly put a real effort into adapting to the situation, especially when they are not by nature the most tech savvy individuals. So far I don’t really feel as though I’m being academically disadvantaged but it is getting trickier week on week.
My role as JCR President of my Junior Common Room has certainly added to the difficulty. Sometimes it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back, particularly as I feel a kind of responsibility for how those in my JCR are finding their time in lockdown. But it’s also the cause of many of my happiest moments, whether that’s the virtual open mic nights, the mammoth Zoom quizzes or the silly challenge videos made by those running in the JCR committee elections.
In conclusion, life is the same but very different. Things are by no means awful, but they could certainly be better. Having said that, however the mood of my writing has come across so far I do remain optimistic. Our lives will be affected by this lockdown for a long time to come and many lives will have been damaged along the away. But I think there is something to look to. We will return to our pseudo-normal lives with a gratitude for it’s simple building blocks. Being able to retire to the College bar after a shift in the library, being surrounded by friends when in that library, being able to laugh with friends about your most recent escapades, being able to go on escapades. Perhaps it seems naively optimistic, perhaps it is, but I believe that such a gratitude has the potential to transform a person’s worldview, to instil a deep and enduring peace in life. I do suspect we have to choose it though.
Diana, 4th Year
This is about a lockdown experience in Oxford of a fourth year international Maths student. I decided to stay here over the Easter holiday and Trinity (Summer term) to finish my dissertation and prepare for exams; it seems that Oxford is a more productive environment than home. Another reason is that I have a handful of friends staying here, we are all accommodated in the same annex of Hertford College, so we are allowed to spend time together in communal kitchens and the outside garden.
So far, this Trinity term has been a completely different experience from a usual Oxford term. There are many things I miss, mostly people who are not here and student societies. Also, I miss my family and the possibility of visiting them for a few weeks as I usually do in the Easter holiday. However, being in Oxford with my friends and boyfriend and doing more inside activities together such as cooking, doing the cleaning up (because scouts (cleaners) are not allowed to come), helping each other with health issues, made Oxford feel like home more than ever. We found a few ways of enjoying time such as using someone’s video projector to simulate cinema experience, getting a shared kayak and rowing in turns on the river next to our accommodation, trying new boardgames. My college has been helpful with providing welfare support, for example I even tried yoga for the first time via an online class they offered, and they put together some very helpful studying advice.
Out of all years (in Maths), fourth year students’ academic experience of Trinity term is the least changed one, because we wouldn’t normally have lectures anyway and writing a dissertation is an independent task, whose format hasn’t been affected. Online revision classes are indeed a pretty different thing, I very much prefer the live experience of going to the Maths Institute and it feels more engaging to participate in person than on video chat. However, I like the idea of sharing solutions after the class, I find it very helpful to see model solutions when checking my work and it feels easier to focus on the specific topics I had troubles with. I think the most different part is going to be sitting exams. I have a few worries regarding the new format, it seems like there is no point in assessing bookwork anymore (students will have their notes with them for online 'open-book' exams, unlike for usual exams), so it might be more difficult to gain those easy points. Also, I fear a little about the possibility of collaboration among students, but I really hope my score will not be affected by any of these.
Overall, I am happy with the decision of spending this lockdown period in Oxford, both from a social and academic point of view.
