Source
r/wsu•
Allahdean333

Concerned about online classes

Is anyone else a little worried about online classes? I never really thought about it but what if for some reason the internet goes down or the power? Is it realistic to think that the internet companies in the state could end up out of business from this virus? What if they cannot work to fix issues? If everyone in the state is working from home it means everyone is using the internet which means there could be speed issues right?

Some of my professors seem a little too strict and will only offer tests and quizzes during a zoom session. Well I live in a family of 5 and everyone is on the internet now since schools are closed so what if I literally cannot connect into lecture because of poor bandwidth? We already pay for the fastest internet we can and it still is slow. I’ll have to email my professors and tell them I have internet issues and I’m worried I can’t watch zoom sessions.

Am I being realistic here? Power/internet companies going out? Zoom sessions possibly too hard to watch because 5 other family members are on the internet? I live out in the sticks not the city that is why my internet is bad. What do you think would happen if many students lost power or lost internet access for significant periods of time? Would WSU cooperate or just completely shut down school. I’m hopeful that this online schooling is going to work just very worried about the possible drawbacks from it.

Posted Mar 15, 2020, 1:38 AM UTC

1511
TournantDangereux2012•

If it gets bad enough that all the utility workers are sick, then you’ll have bigger problems than how to take your BIO103 midterm.

I wouldn’t get to worked up about remote instruction issues. They are going to affect everyone and WSU will work through unexpected events as they arise.

25
Allahdean333OP•

Yeah I was just worried that I’d be the only student in the class with issues but I guess we just need to wait and see. Hopefully this is smooth for everyone because this really does suck

1
StevenS145Alumnus/2016/Finance/Accounting•

There are ~20,000 WSU students. I'd guess half of them are online at any point doing classes.

There are more than 10,000 streaming Netflix.

It certainly won't put ISP's out of business.

9
chiipotle•

I would be concerned. Think about this. Over hundreds of universities around the country will be using zoom in the coming weeks. Think about the load on zoom’s servers. Do you really think they can handle it? They won’t. WSU is going to have to look to other options for their online classes when zoom inevitably fails (Twitch maybe?).

5
megapillowcase•

One of my prof said we might have to pay for our own online exam proctoring...while other prof let us do it on an honor system in difficult times.

I know we are responsible for our education, but a lot of students are being sent home from jobs and adding proctor fee is another load of stress. Anyone got opinion? Thanks.

2
dragonlily74•

In a recent email from the University, they confirmed that any proctoring wont cost anything for students, likely because they can't expect everyone to pay a few hundred bucks (that they weren't expecting to pay) for proctoring for the rest of the semester.

2
FinnishArmy•

I also hope they don’t require a webcam or mic to take a test/quiz because I don’t have the money to go out and buy one.

1
Bluurryfaacecrmj, english, secondary ed •

Depends on the professor, my boyfriend was in his zoom meeting while we were in the dining hall and the professor kept requesting him to turn in his camera and mic.

Best bet for those professors is using your phone if you can.

1
Bluurryfaacecrmj, english, secondary ed •

Zoom is a bit interesting. I wish it would just go online with no interface through a webcam. If you are worried about it you can email your professors once you’ve tried a few classes and tell them you can watch them live and wait till most your family is off the computers go back and watch the recorded zoom meeting.

1
Waatau•

Also, though it may not be the most ideal solution, the campus is still physically open. If you need to use internet away from your family, go to the campus library or something. The going full online helps limit the contact between students, but you aren't banned from campus. Also, in my opinion, if you have a professor trying to force you to pay to take an exam through a proctor, find another professor who can advocate for you, and if that doesn't work start going up the chain, program coordinator, associate department chair, department chair, etc. Hell email a dean if you have to, but they should not be forcing you to pay for a service when this isn't your choice.

1
CarryTheShowbread•

Fire up the Slack or Discord, anybody?

1