Digital learning is not new to Agribusiness and Applied Economics Senior Tory Jenkins. She attended an on-line high school. She says having had experience staying organized and engaged in the digital space helped prepare her for the recent transition to the college's on-line learning environment. Another thing that helped: CFAES professors doing an exceptional job normalizing the digital classroom space and providing the necessary resources for students to be successful.
“Zoom has been a great platform for online lectures,” says Jenkins. “Everyone can see the materials our professors want us to view (like PowerPoints), but we can also still “see” each other.”
Jenkins is in Dr. Parkman’s AEDECON 4106, a Strategic Management Capstone course which requires a lot of group work. During the first on-line class, Dr. Parkman made sure to clearly communicate the expectations she has for students and well as asked students to provide her with the expectations they have for her.
Jenkins says surprisingly, the new virtual environment resembles the former physical classroom environment. After the lecture portion of class, students move into their teams to accomplish group work via “breakout rooms” in Zoom which allows them to communicate and work togehter just as they did in class.
“Our virtual work is as productive as when we worked in person,” says Jenkins.
Jenkins acknowledges that ending her undergraduate college career as an on-line learner is not what she and other of her peers anticipated but adds that it is important to remain grateful for the incredible CFAES faculty and staff helping everyone be successful.
“Together we will get through this.”