By: Eliel Ramirez
Saying the coronavirus pandemic was and continues to be an inconvenience is an understatement.
With the ability to spread through close contact and through the air, it made it difficult to be in the same room as others without the fear of contracting the virus.
Schools took a big hit having to close and were forced to adopt a virtual way of learning.
Colleges and universities around the world had to send students home, leaving many unsure when they would be able to return.
“It was important to go online because large groups of people together was not safe,” Wilekia Mayes, senior education major and college teaching assistant, said. “If we had continued in-person learning we ran the risk of parents pulling students out of school so it was just easier to just switch to online learning.”
Mayes said the challenge was switching all the curriculum to an online format. “Staring at a screen all day isn’t fun,” she said. “Finding new resources to make virtual learning fun and effective was difficult.”
As the number of students, faculty and staff allowed on campus decreased, the dependence on technology rose.
According to Mayes, one issue educators had with technology was assignments would get turned in and it was difficult to verify if the student was being honest so educators had to figure out which assignments deserved a zero or a pass.
Going virtual seemed like an easy fix, especially for students in programs such as accounting or journalism. But for students in more hands-on programs such as nursing, it left them lost and feeling unprepared.
“I definitely would not say going virtual last year was ideal,” Jarred Warren, a Georgia Southern accounting graduate student, said. “It for sure made learning harder, but I wouldn’t say we are a hands-on program like nursing. They for sure had it worse.”
Mayes said a big plus for the dependence on technology has allowed the students to challenge themselves in ways that hadn’t before. Preparing them for the future.
As hospitals were closing because of the pandemic, educators had to teach using simulations to replace in-person clinical experiences.
“Going virtual totally ruined our learning,” Ana Mora, a Georgia Southern graduate and current nurse at the Aiken Regional Medical Center on the cardiac floor, said. “Some hospitals adapted to a longer orientation when hired to offset the learning needing to work since we missed it.”
Nurses were already stretched thin during the chaos, applying that on top of having to make sure unprepared students are keeping up with them just added to the stress.
Mora says that a lot of the nurses were worn out from over working because the patients did not want a student nurse.
“Nobody wanted student nurses,” she said. “I can’t blame them though, I wouldn’t want someone who was getting a degree from zoom university.”
Technology was used heavily to make up for the lack of in-person training. Educators were forced to teach through a camera.
Being a medical profession, the professors in this program understood the severity of the virus and had to go to great lengths, creating new ways to teach the material.
Although virtual training may not be as effective as hands-on training, nursing educators had to adapt in order to ensure the students were as prepared as possible for the real world.
“What we were learning online, is not even a percentage of what we learn in person,” Mallory Mahue, a senior nursing student at Georgia Southern, said. “Patients aren’t black and white like they are in textbooks.”
In a way, the pandemic was their first lesson in expecting the unexpected. Every shift is different, a nurse never knows what to expect when they walk in. Having to adapt throughout the day to whatever is thrown their way.
This hurdle compelled them to become flexible in their learning, even if it is not the ideal way to learn.
The major difference between virtual and in-person is the patient.
“Once you have them in person, it’s like you’re looking at the patient as a whole person with a lot of problems,” Mahue said. “Rather than looking at a fake simulation focused on one issue at a time.”
With advancements in technology, virtual simulations allow students to practice techniques and challenge their medical knowledge to better prepare for a real-life situation. However, it still seemed to be a problem.
Mora said she had nurses that refused to have students because they did not have the time to teach them something they should have learned before arriving there.
Hospitals were forced to extend their orientations in order to better prepare new hires for the job.
One downside to advancements in technology is the price. Many companies offered their services for administrations at a discounted rate or even at times free.
However, access to a computer or internet is not something that everyone has the privilege of having.
Mora said she graduated feeling unprepared. She said that the simulations helped a lot, but she quickly realized after beginning her job that it could never replace the real deal.
I reached out to a nursing professor asking her how she handled the transition and what were some of the obstacles she faced in ensuring that her students were prepared. I also asked her how the coronavirus and the way it spread hindered their learning, however I have not received a response as of yet.