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Issue 1

September 27th, 2019

ECU adjusts to new face-to-face learning

FRI. | 09-24-21 | NEWS

SAT. | 10-10-20 | NEWS

     East Carolina University (ECU) students have returned to face-to-face learning for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. COVID-19 has led to many changes and forced everyone to acclimate to the new ‘normal’. There are many adjustments that ECU students are having to make in order to adapt to the new style of learning at the college. 

     “The dynamic is different,” ECU junior Madigan Stockwell said. “Everyone is still required to wear masks and if you’re not vaccinated, you’re entered into a random pool and you’re having to get tested once a week.”

     This school year’s learning system has significant differences from the previous structure of face-to-face learning. Teachers are having to increase the amount of material given to students in order to prepare for the possibility of having to switch to online learning.

     “My teachers, in particular, are trying to get as much information to us as possible before going back online because that is still up in the air,” Stockwell said. “So everything is very fast-moving right now.”

ECU Face to Face.jpg

Photo by Savannah Jones

     The threat of COVID-19 cases continuously increasing on campus continues to push for the need to resort back to online learning, but ECU has been taking precautions to prevent that situation from recurring. 

     “Some classes go online if there is contact tracing back to that classroom, [but] that’s up to the university, not up to the instructors,” Stockwell said. “Lots of teachers are having to go online for a short period of time and then [they] are able to go back in person.”

     Besides the change from online learning to in-person learning, other obstacles have presented themselves for students on campus. 

     Stockwell lived on the grid (downtown student housing) last year while she took online classes with many students having moved back home, causing the campus to be significantly less crowded than a normal school year. Because students are now living on campus, car and foot traffic have increased drastically from last year.

     “[Traffic] is insane,” Stockwell said. “You don’t go a day without being stuck in traffic with having everyone back on campus and on the grid.”

     ECU is not the only school system in Pitt County that has been affected by the return of face-to-face learning. Rose students have also been impacted by the arrival of college students into Greenville once again. 

     Because traffic has been increasing due to the arrival of the ECU student population, many inconveniences have presented themselves amongst Rose students. Rose senior Madison Miller has been unable to make stops before school that she normally would because of ECU buses often holding up traffic, which causes her to have to wait in long lines at restaurants and stores.

     Despite the small inconveniences involving traffic and other locations, Miller believes that the increase in ECU students living on campus will be a positive experience because “everything is going back to normal”.

     Although there are some adjustments that are needed to be made by the students, the switch to in-person learning will greatly benefit ECU students overall.

     “[Face-to-face learning] has absolutely had a positive impact on me,” Stockwell said. “I feel much more organized and on a schedule.”

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