By: Joe D'Eredita
From the start of 2020, the world has experienced a pandemic due to coronavirus/COVID-19. Ranging from students, employees, healthcare workers, to every person across the globe, the “normal” way of life has drastically changed. With stay at home orders reaching almost every city across the United States, schools and universities have shifted from the in-person classroom environment to fully remote learning. Within these changes, schools have done “everything” they could have done to ensure a smooth transition, but within that quick turnaround, did they fully do everything to ensure compatibility and accessibility as well?
At UCLA, there are over 45,000 students with about 8% of students registered with the Center for Accessible Education (CAE) which cannot fully account for all students with disabilities, estimating that the percentage could actually be double. With the assistance of the DCP and other departments, UCLA has started the path towards full accessibility and compatibility for all students, but that has been difficult with such quick and unexpected turns this year. For instance, on March 4th, UCLA emailed students disclosing that there were no confirmed cases on campus and there may be initial steps towards remote learning. Within the week, another email said that Spring Quarter of 2020 will be fully online, absolutely shocking students and professors alike as they were only given spring break to become fully acquainted with the new platforms while also struggling with health concerns of family members during quarantine. Within the next months, life for students completely changed; commencement ceremony, summer sessions, and fall quarter 2020 was then switched to remote learning, creating many problems, with accessibility near the top of that list.
To understand the true impact and challenges faced during these uncertain times, I have interviewed Jovany Barba, a UCLA student that is legally blind as well as Nicole Taboada, a UCLA student that self-identifies as Deaf or Hard of Hearing. To understand their experiences and stories, I have asked them a series of three questions in the attempt to truly understand what they have been going through during these chaotic times.
- What are some things that have been more difficult or stressful to handle as UCLA and most of the world have moved completely remote?
Jovany: Before coming to UCLA, Jovany had personal experience with remote learning, something he had always attempted to avoid, but was forced into during community college. Absolutely hating the experience, when he learned that UCLA, a top university with rigorous classwork was changing to remote learning, his worst nightmares were coming to life. When everything changed online, Jovany felt as if staying motivated and staying up to date with coursework was merely impossible. At school, he felt a sense of peer support and a solidified schedule, both becoming inexistent once remote learning was the reality. Never able to meet with classmates or ask for help from peers, he felt isolated as he had to complete all coursework on his own without any guidance. Due to visual impairments, Jovany relies heavily on audio, listening to all of his lectures, readings, and overall course material. In order to do so effectively, he attempted to find a quiet workplace, but while at home, it was almost impossible as he lived near an airport, had family members moving around and using household appliances, the phone ringing, and many more disturbances that pulled him away from learning. On top of that, he personally had to request that teachers reupload PDFs as many of the files were not fully accessible. This was not only a pain and a struggle, but was very time consuming, especially when many assignments had a strict due date and when communication with teachers is much more difficult and solely done through email. Overall, remote learning proved to be stressful and a challenging time when compared to the in-person classroom environment.
Nicole: For Nicole, remote learning was an overall draining and stressful process. As a Deaf student, Nicole utilizes and relies heavily on her vision in her daily life and at school. As remote learning became the norm, visual learning and understanding became very difficult as she was forced to stare at a computer screen for hours while solely relying on her vision. For many students, they are able to utilize both their vision and hearing, allowing them to switch back and forth if necessary. For Nicole however, her eyes felt tired every day while staring at a computer screen, furthering the already challenging nature of UCLA’s intense classwork. Within some of the applications utilized for remote learning, Nicole felt that some could be more accessible, ensuring that closed captioning is always available, especially over Zoom for lectures and class discussions. Additionally, while at home, she also felt a sense of lost support and communication, especially due to a communication and language barrier at home. Without being able to fully communicate with family members, while also dealing with isolation due to quarantine, the quarter was overall very challenging to manage.
- What are some things that have proven to be beneficial or have become easier with remote learning and taking away the physical nature of UCLA?
Jovany: With remote learning, Jovany was more easily able to access lecture slides and course information that was missed during in-person class. For example, while many lecture halls at UCLA are massive, Jovany missed out on the visual learning experience in class and solely relied on listening to professors each day. Then, he would have to go back to look at slides that were necessary for his learning experience which was an overall hassle. Now, he was able to zoom in on lecture slides that he needed to see or understand, as well as utilize playback speeds to slow down or speed up lecture information. With visual impairments, this was crucial for Jovany, giving him the opportunity to learn the material at his own pace and giving him the opportunity to rewind the lecture if something was missed.
Nicole: As a commuter student at UCLA, remote learning has given her the opportunity to not only save money, but more importantly time. While commuting to school costs excessive amounts of money, whether that be gas, car insurance, car repairs, and especially parking, Nicole realized that she had much more time on her hands. The drive alone took about two hours round trip, making everyday a constant journey. With remote learning however, she was able to complete all of her schoolwork and outside work at home without leaving or requiring her to spend hours a day solely driving around.
- How prepared did you feel professors were for remote learning? How prepared did you feel you were for remote learning in such a quick turnaround?
Jovany: With such a quick turnaround, Jovany was very surprised how quickly everything and everyone adapted to the new normal way of school. Within a week or two from learning about remote learning to starting spring quarter, his teacher’s attempted to do everything they could to be prepared for the online quarter. From adjusting syllabi, to notifying their students, Jovany felt as if professors were really trying to be fully prepared. With that being said, it was very nerve-racking for him as well, being instructed to download and know how to utilize all the new applications. As a visually impaired student and being fully remote, learning these new applications and their accessibility features and issues were not only challenging, but time-consuming as well. Moreover, as professors “required” them to be “mastered” by day one, it was stressful when things crashed or didn’t work properly, causing Jovany to miss parts of class, information, or even learning altogether.
Nicole: When planning out her quarter, Nicole took time to ensure both the class and professor would further her learning experience. In starting the quarter, Nicole found that her teachers were trying to stay as up to date and prepared as possible. Although they were prepared going into classes, she felt the biggest issue was stress over Zoom. As a Deaf student, Nicole relies heavily on closed captioning in order to fully comprehend lecture material. With all lectures on zoom and many never posted to CCLE, learning and utilizing live captioning on zoom was difficult at first and required assistance from her captioner coordinator. Once she was able to figure everything out and use the new programs, stress levels decreased, but not completely as remote learning still had many challenges along with it.
Through these interviews, I have attempted to bring to light and understand that additional difficulties and challenges that students with disabilities face with remote learning. With that being said, the new normal of remote learning has proven difficult for all students, teachers, and faculty alike, having different effects on everyone. As an able-bodied student at UCLA, my experience with remote learning has been very difficult as well. For the first 6 weeks of the quarter, I was without a laptop or device to complete my homework, watch lectures, or attend class as I had two laptops stolen during quarantine. On top of that, I had professors emailing me constantly, filling my inbox with information that could have easily been added to CCLE instead of compiling it on students. While I do not live with a disability everyday, the struggles of remote learning are still present, allowing me to realize the countless other struggles as well. No one is to be blamed for this hardship as no one could have predicted how our world would change or what the best solutions were, but UCLA could use this to learn and progress forward. By allowing students to opt-out of finals, changing grading schemes, and providing assistance, they made great steps forward to help students, but it is especially important for UCLA to continue making changes that benefit their students, especially requiring and ensuring accessibility and compatibility at all times. Remote learning has affected everyone, students and teachers alike, displaying the necessary nature for accessibility to be of utmost importance to ensure that students feel heard at all times.
Originally Posted: 14 July 2020