Students excited for fall return to in-person learning, cautious about transition back

As students begin scheduling classes for the fall semester, many are anticipating lengthy walking commutes — something that has been absent from campus this past year. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor

After a full academic year of largely virtual learning, Ohio State hopes to transition to more in-person learning in the fall, and although some students are excited about returning to in-person classes, others have hesitations after adapting to online classes.

University President Kristina M. Johnson announced in a universitywide email March 9 that each department is planning to offer at least 75 percent of their fall 2021 courses in person, but some of online learning’s aspects, such as flexible schedules and no commute, will be missed.

“I really want to go back, and I miss going to class, but it’s gonna be crazy,” Maddy Chitwood, a second-year in industrial systems engineering, said. “Right now, I have maybe one class a day that I have to go to, and I made my schedule for next semester and it’s like one day I have class from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.”

Chitwood said she quickly adapted to the flexibility of online classes and found extra time to be more productive, taking up hobbies such as nonacademic reading. 

“I can get a lot of my asynchronous classes done over the weekend and so during the week I have more time to go to work or hang out with my friends,” Chitwood said. “It’s gonna be a transition for sure.”

Despite the hesitations of some students, others see more in-person classes as a worthwhile return.

Drew Lane, a second-year in civil engineering, said although he enjoys the added scheduling flexibility of online classes, he finds them more difficult and is excited for the return to in-person lectures.

“It’s definitely nice, in a way, to not have to walk to class, and it’s more flexible for sure. I can do things when I want to and not have to be on a schedule,” Lane said. “But I feel like I don’t like it as much because it’s harder to actually learn from recorded videos and teaching myself rather than lectures.”

Chitwood, who lives off campus, said that commuting to class will be a journey next year.

“It’s going to add a couple hours to my day,” Chitwood said. “It’s going to be a lot harder to do homework during the day, and I’m going to have to start doing a lot more at night.”

That being said, Chitwood said she believes the positives will outweigh the negatives and looks forward to interacting with more people face to face.

“I’m excited to start meeting more people in my major because I feel like if you talk to your parents or people that went to school before all this, they started to meet people in their major and become close through study groups and things,” Chitwood said. “So I’m excited to work in groups again and see people and make connections.”