Bucks has announced that the spring 2021 semester will be online out of safety precautions for
the COVID-19 virus.
According to the press release the college put out on the matter, the decision was made after
consulting faculty and staff on what to do for spring classes.
“We did not make any of these decisions lightly, and our first priority is ensuring that our Bucks
community stays safe and healthy,” said Dr. Stephanie Shanblatt, college president.
Not many students were pleased about the news. These students have aired their grievances
about being online many times, but most are not surprised that it has taken this route. Brittney
Grida, a psychology major at Bucks said she was not expecting it to be online this upcoming
semester and that she was hoping for more classes to be in person so she would have more
options. With being online, learning has been very limited for many students.
Some have struggled more because of distance learning, while others have adapted to the
situation. Students and teachers alike have been struggling to keep up online, not only because of
the heavy workload, but also because of the struggle to teach effectively online.
On the other hand, some students have been adapting very well to their new environment, albeit
begrudgingly. With the upcoming spring semester, it may have students nervous for what’s to
come. Not for Grida though, as she said, “I feel alright just because I’ve done it this semester and
I’ve been doing fine and my grades are really good. But I feel socially I will still be lacking
socially.”
An obvious major downside to being online is the lack of face-to-face contact between students,
but more importantly student-to-teacher.
Most seem confident in their ability to continue being online, as they have had to adapt over this
current semester also being online. Grida revealed that she is confident in her skills, although she
she said, “I am nervous because I am taking five classes next semester, and most of them are
fully online so I will have to adapt to that, but I feel confident in myself to do the best I can do
like I have already been doing.”
While there are conflicting thoughts within students on how this upcoming spring semester will
go, for now, they will have to power through online just as they have been doing