In this email I would like to address some issues with the current online education and make a proposition on how the situation could be improved. 

In times of the Corona pandemic student-teacher relations are put to the test with less possibilities to connect and exchange information with one another. 

First, I would like to point out the lack or at least the impression of a lack of a scientific basis in both classes and additional material. In online classes the material presented to us seems handpicked by the professors to fit their course. I would like to be presented an array of learning schools and possible additional knowledge that one can acquire with the foundation the information presented in the course. Specifically, the personal leadership course is based solely on one book, which the professor seems to have taken a liking to. This discredits the courses that we take and thus leads to less interest in the course and finally class absenteeism.

Second, indirect communication makes it hard to clearly convey expectational frameworks and requirements. Though the criteria under which we are graded are relatively clear, the exact expectations of the professors are hard to grasp if the exercise at hand is in a new area of expertise, that has yet to be explained to us in a proper manner. The first pitch that we had to create for presenting our product/service idea was not clarified on enough. Three categories that we were going to be evaluated on were given but not what style and kind of media usage is demanded, since no clear example was given. Having unclear expectations on one side and students feeling like they could have done better if they had just known what exactly to do is demotivating. 

In the future, I wish for more scientifically founded information and theories to be presented to us as a part of a more holistic educational framework. Further, the professors need to formulate their expectations and desires for our assignments more. 
 I hope those ideas and changes I had in mind help with combatting class absenteeism in the future. 

Best regards,
Lennard Lange

 

I am writing with regards to the current online education that has been taken place during the pandemic.

 

For starters, I would like to say that I completely understand the necessity of online education. I am very happy about technology giving us the opportunity to keep following our college program in a save manner. Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement. 

 

First, it has come to my attention that there are a number of faculties in which teachers are structurally short of time. Yet, a lot of time during lecture is spend on carrying out work that could have been done individually during preparation. Perhaps, it is an idea to add these tasks to the work to be prepared, which is presented in the module descriptor of these particular faculties. 

 

In addition, there are not many possibilities to meet new students. The work that has to be done is mostly carried out within your project groups, which does not allow you to meet other students. However, many students have chosen this international minor to expand their network. Likewise, the possibility to maintain several languages they speak. Maybe, it is a good idea to organize some online activities to give students the possibility to get to know each other. 

 

I hope these ideas will help reduce absenteeism among students and increase the bond that students feel with the study program. 

 

If you have any questions or you would like to organize a meeting in order to brainstorm about additional ideas, do not hesitate to contact me. 

 

Best regards,

 

Alice Hoezen 

Dear Mr. …,

I am writing to you to discuss some concerns regarding online education taken place this year and describe my ideas about tackling student absenteeism.

First of all, I want to mention that you and the teachers have done a great job moving from on-campus education, that everyone got used to, to online without losing the quality. However, there are always possibilities to improve.

I want to start with the problem of student engagement during the lecture. It appears to be that a lot of students lose their concentration during online classes much faster than on-site. The problem especially relates to the long-time lectures. I should admit that teachers are trying to make our classes more interactive to keep students engaged but sometimes it’s not enough or most of the students are not involved. In my opinion, there is room for improvement in interactivity of the lectures, or some of them could be split into shorter time frames.

Likewise, I want to inform you about the problem of missing informal communication with fellow students. Some of them are feeling that they are missing their student lives. Specifically, it can be important for the exchange and first-year students. Maybe it is possible to organize more unofficial events to make students feel more involved.

To conclude, I have a hope that the ideas above can help the University to combat student absenteeism during online classes. If you have any questions or topics to discuss, please, contact me anytime.

Best regards,

Andrii Roizin

We hope this e-mail finds you well. 

In view of the current times, we would like to talk to you about the topic of online education. We as students have faced some issues with the online education at Avans and want to suggest solutions.

First of all, we would like to emphasize positively that Avans is very well positioned in terms of online education compared to other universities. In addition, most of the teachers are very committed and the MS Teams tool works very well.

Nevertheless, from the students' point of view, we came up with a few comments that could possibly be improved. We hope that the comments can be implemented well so that in the future the online education will work even better.

One of the biggest problems with virtual teaching is impersonality. Most students have their cameras turned off and you might see two or three other students besides the professor. This means that no group dynamic or sense of community can develop. There are about 30 students in our minor program and some of them I've never seen or even know exist. 
 Therefore, we found a solution to fix this problem and make the lectures more personal again. It would make sense if all students were required to turn on their cameras. This creates a better exchange within the lecture and one gets to know their fellow students better. In addition, it is much more pleasant for the professor, because he gets feedback from his students and does not have to talk into the void. 

Furthermore, in some lectures it seems that the lecture structure is not adapted to online teaching. Many teaching contents are very good in face-to-face lectures but rather less effective in online lectures. For instance, content should be uploaded to help students work independently on assignments at home. The problem is that many presentations are based on someone explaining the content - but this is not the case at home. It is very difficult to learn content at home if you don't have enough material to refer to. To come back to the first point, it is also not possible to exchange ideas in a small group, because you don't really know the students. In addition, some students do not dare to turn on the camera and the microphone as the only student to ask something. 

On behalf of all students we hope that you will take these ideas and solutions into account when planning the next semester. 

We are very happy to hear your feedback and opinion. 

Kind regards,

Julia Faas, Tim Blossey and all the Avans students