The government has announced that on Tuesday the 31st at 11:59pm all of New Zealand below the south Auckland boundary will move to a level 3. According to Ministry of Education guidelines, under both levels 3 and 4, all schooling and education must be done online. With mid semester assessments dates approaching, many university students are wondering what changes to allowances will be made for education restrictions in level 3.
The Ministry of Education released a bulletin on the 27th of August for Tertiary providers announcing that during level 3; classes, labs or workshops that cannot be delivered online may be delivered in person to a maximum of 10 people or less. However, these in person classes will be considered a bubble within the education provider, the Ministry also stated that staff cannot have more than one bubble. This may be of concern to lecturers who have large classes, or multiple classes.
Luke Devance, a first-year engineering student at the University of Canterbury (UC) said, “It’s nice that there is the option to have in-person options for some students, but that makes it harder for all students not in the bubble or not on campus, so it’s slightly unfair”. Another concern about this change is whether the option of running these in-person classes will be made required classes by lecturers, “I think it’s a valid decision, but should not be implemented at university where it is compulsory to attend. Everything else is online, and I have no interest in being required to attend anything. Especially since I lockdown over an hour away from uni, and other friends have headed home throughout the country.” Caelum Betteridge said.
Many students have been through lockdown once before and many have frustrations with learning online. Multiple students interviewed voiced concerns about having bad Wi-Fi connections and lowered motivation levels, with many saying it’s impacted their learning, “It’s affected my assignments, I feel like I am lacking the knowledge as well as the motivation to succeed in them. It’s hard to find the right mindset to complete crucial tasks” Will Eason said.
Despite these concerns, the overwhelming response from students interviewed regarding the general communication from universities has been positive, Harry Bartlett, a first year UC student said, “The Uni has been very good with keeping us informed, lecturers have been pretty lenient with extensions”.
Max Killoh Creative 