“I was 600 miles away from my home and I don’t know anybody out here,” Kathryn Loden said. “And because everything is on lockdown and social distancing, it’s really hard to meet my classmates.”
Like many students, Loden is facing the struggle of remote learning. Moving from Utah to Oregon, Loden is ready to start her first year at University of Oregon’s School of Law. Her year, and the year of everyone else studying law at UO, is not exactly how she had originally planned.
The UO law school will hold about 85% of instruction remotely this semester, holding only a few upper-level classes and clinics in person, according to questions law school faculty answered via email. All first-year law instruction for fall semester will be remote, but UO said students can still use classrooms for participating in class sessions. Law students can access the building from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
UO decided to continue primarily remote learning since the law school starts earlier than the university’s fall quarter, the FAQs page stated.
Even though it’s not ideal, Loden agreed with the university’s decision.
“I think if we had all been in person, that would have just been a colossal disaster like we’ve seen all over the country so far,” she said. “So I think putting the first semester completely online is a very good choice.”
Loden said students and faculty are trying to overcome the challenges of online learning and COVID-19. She said professors are reaching out and students are building a sense of community by planning hikes and outdoor get-togethers.
Loden also said learning through an online platform could be a benefit.
“I think that because this whole year of law students is starting online, we’re all going to be better equipped for whatever challenges online learning is going to bring,” Loden said. “And 10 years from now, there are going to be issues associated with all the Zoom that this year of lawyers are going to be pretty well prepared for.”
Michelle Tapia-Hurtado is another student grappling with starting the school year online. A pre-law student entering her senior year, she will learn completely remotely this term.
When UO moved spring term online, Tapia-Hurtado said she missed the opportunities of in-person learning, like networking with legal professors and interacting with professors.
“It’s an opportunity for you to really see what it’s like to be in a classroom structure as a legal student in the future if you do choose to go to law school,” Tapia-Hurtado said.
Professor Gregory Dotson, an Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center faculty member, is currently preparing to teach remotely this fall.
“No one wants to be doing this, but as we’re seeing around the country, all the schools are in similar situations,” Dotson said. “I think no one’s in the ideal situation for returning to school.”
Like many professors, Dotson quickly adapted to online teaching last spring. There was a definite learning curve, he said, but now he’s trying to learn and utilize new tools to make this fall better.
“I’ve been really, over the course of summer, trying to think through what are the online tools that could actually be good for students that they wouldn’t otherwise have the benefit of,” Dotson said.
Dotson will teach an environmental policy practicum course this fall. The class usually works with outside entities, sometimes meeting with them in Salem or Washington D.C., Dotson said. Now, no one is doing meetings.
“The reality is that everybody in the working world is also on Zoom and not doing meetings,” Dotson said. “So it’s not a unique handicap. It’s just really what the world is going through right now.”
Dotson planned to take advantage of benefits associated with online classes.
An online platform allows guest speakers to join the class from across the country, he said. It also encourages students to meet other classmates they wouldn’t normally talk to, Dotson said, since he randomly assigns groups to discuss.
“My main advice is to just have really good communication with instructors because it’ll be harder without good communication,” Dotson said. “It’ll be harder for professors to know what’s going on with students and react.”
