By Raegan Kleppe
On March 31, 2020, McPherson College had their first day of online classes since being sent home amid the Coronavirus outbreak. No one was prepared for this, not professors, administrators or students. Everyone knew it was going to be a difficult transition, but everyone at McPherson College knew that we were going to get through it together. Over the extended spring break, teachers have been working diligently to move their classes online, even though the classes were not designed to be online. The professors have told the students that they are going to work with the students, because they know that students didn’t sign up for online classes, so they aren’t prepared for them.
The professors have been communicating very well, and not just in terms of classes, but also with the students’ personal lives. The professors at McPherson College have been showing that they truly care for their students during these hard times by being very understanding that everyone is in a stressful situation and online classes are not what they signed up for. They also realize that transitioning home is a very difficult task, so they have been checking in with their students and making sure they are transitioning well.
Students are adapting well to being home and transitioning to online classes with help and support from their college and their parents. Like many students, Antonine Detavernier struggles with “having self-discipline to finish my work on time.” One benefit of being home is that students have more time to focus on schoolwork because of quarantine, but all the stress from the Coronavirus has an effect on the students. Overall, online classes had a great start and hopefully it stays like this for the rest of the semester.
