HIGHER ED TODAY
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COURIER L 22 IFE, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020
The benefi ts of a
new approach to
learning for students
The validity of the adage “necessity
is the mother of invention”
was on full display during the
COVID-19 outbreak. People quickly
had to learn to adapt to a new way of
life, including an educational system
that was transformed dramatically by
social distancing guidelines.
More than 76 million students are
enrolled in United States schools, per
the latest Census Bureau information.
In 2018, 2.12 million students
were in Canadian postsecondary institutions
alone. In a matter of days,
millions of students who once attended
classes in-person were forced
to transition to virtual learning instruction.
The process showed just
how fl exible learning systems can be,
and how virtual instruction may become
more than an emergency protocol
in the future.
Schools utilized systems like
Google Classroom, Canvas and virtual
meeting apps to connect and learn.
While in-class lessons provide the socialization
and one-on-one interaction
that can be vital for students’ academic
success, there are many different reasons
why virtual instruction can be a
key component of learning models as
well. When virtual learning is used
in conjunction with traditional teaching,
students may have a more wellrounded
experience. Here are some
potential benefi ts that may unfold as
more data is collected.
• Pace: Virtual learning affords students
the chance to work on lessons at
a pace that fi ts their individual needs.
Students can go back and re-read or rework
problems until they’re satisfi ed
they have learned their lesson. Le sons
can be slowed down or sped up depending
on profi ciency, creating a customized
educational experience.
• No more weather days: Many
school districts include snow or extreme
weather days into their calendars,
adding on extra days at the end
of school year to meet the specifi ed
number of educational days. Remote
learning can take over in these times
and keep school districts from having
to pad calendars.
• Convenience: The American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends
that middle and high schools start at
8:30 am or later to provide students the
best chance to get the amount of sleep
they need. Still, most adolescents currently
start school before 8:30 am. Remote
learning enables students to complete
their assignments when it works
best for them. This may help them get
more sleep, too.
• Apps: Learning apps are a new
wave of educational tools that have
helped buoy virtual instruction. Primary
school students or those with
individual education plans may benefi
t the most from reinforced app skills
that match their learning pace in fun
ways.
Virtual home instruction may become
a large part of the educational
landscape even after it’s no longer a social
distancing necessity.
EDUCATION
Elvira Mata was born with a physical disability
that causes swelling and pain in the
joints of her fingers. The second-year student
at Hostos Community College works as a senior
nurse attendant, and for months cared for
patients with COVID-19 in a Bronx hospital.
Despite her condition, she was able to lift and
bathe her patients.
“Before I go to work, I have pain,” says Elvira,
who was diagnosed as a young child with
boutonnière deformity. “But when I see that
the patients need me, I can move more freely.
I love seeing their smiles when I help them and
they feel better.”
Elvira is also dealing with tremendous
personal heartache after her father, a taxi
driver, died of COVID-19 in April. Her mother
was also infected and endured a lengthy period
of recovery.
I am proud to say that Elvira exemplifies
a standard of public service not uncommon
among students at the City University of New
York, an intense drive to help New Yorkers persevere
despite their own challenges and personal
losses. They are nurses and medics, National
Guard members and good Samaritans
who helped shoulder the pain of the pandemic
while they balanced demanding course loads
and caring for their own families.
They are why New York’s recovery goes
hand in hand with CUNY. With campuses
throughout the city that was the pandemic’s
one-time global epicenter, the nation’s largest
urban public university has the intellect
and applied expertise to help chart a course
forward; the capacity to retrain workers, and
equip them with the skills to participate in a
re-invented job market; and the wellspring of
creative capital to help our city and state move
forward in the months and years ahead.
When it comes to our students, Elvira
is not alone. Many others stepped up and did
what they could to help New Yorkers weather
the crisis. Here are just a few examples.
Anthony Almojera, a Brooklyn College
senior who is also an Emergency Medical Services
lieutenant paramedic in the FDNY and
vice president of the EMS officers’ union, has
always leaned on family and faith to get him
through difficult times. Almojera took off the
spring semester to have surgery on a torn biceps
tendon, an injury he sustained during a
call. When the pandemic surged in March, he
put off the surgery to pitch in, working 16-hour
shifts nearly seven days a week and fielding
some of the more than 7,000 calls that came in
each day requesting emergency medical service
in the city.
Shawna Townsend is pursuing her Ph.D.
in nursing at The Graduate Center while also
serving as a clinical nurse leader at the Hospital
for Special Surgery in Manhattan. When
the pandemic deepened, she helped convert a
hospital that specializes in orthopedic surgery
to one that could treat patients with COVID-19.
In the darkest days when up to four of the
hospital’s floors were filled with coronavirus
patients, she would find inspiration from the
patients who recovered and were showered
with applause from the staffers as they left the
facility.
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Borough of Manhattan Community College
student Fenellah Kargbo is a member of
the New York Army National Guard. She managed
to keep up with her coursework in four
classes even after she was activated in March,
midway through the semester, to load personal
protective equipment at a distribution center
in Albany. For encouragement while separated
from her family, Kargbo, who plans to apply to
the BMCC nursing program, relied on frequent
video chats with her husband and 14-month-old
son.
As their Chancellor, I am humbled by
the bravery and sacrifice of Elvira, Anthony,
Shawna, and Fenellah, all CUNY heroes. They
are exemplary ambassadors of the University,
embodying the University’s mission to help
one another so we all can move forward together.
They, and many more like them, are the
University’s guardian angels, and on behalf of
the whole CUNY system, I extend the gratitude
of the University community and all New Yorkers.
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