Hey, my name is Aaron Hwang,
I'm a senior studying mechanical engineering here at Boston University, and
it's been a while, but we are back to class let me tell you how that's been.
[MUSIC]
So the way that BU is doing it is they're doing what they're calling a hybrid model.
They branded it, Learn from Anywhere, [LAUGH] but
it really is that you can learn from anywhere.
You can sign into classes remote while you're on campus,
sign into class remote from home or you can show up in person.
Some classes you really don't have to show up in person but other classes it might be
a little bit more discussion based that's just easier to do in person.
I missed being on campus a lot, so it was definitely worth it for
me to try in person classes for at least a few days and see how that went and
then see where I wanted to go from there.
[MUSIC]
I woke up on time which is good.
[MUSIC]
My schedule for the day I got remote, in person, remote, in person, so
I don't have time to come all the way back to the apartment between each class.
So I'm gonna have to figure out a way to take the classes on campus, but remote.
Thankfully, there are a lot of outdoor spaces that I'm just gonna probably camp
out in and
take the class, I think that the fresh air might actually help me concentrate.
So yeah, good day, I'm looking forward to it,
I'm gonna finish my coffee and I'm gonna head out.
[MUSIC]
So I finally figured out a good plan for my first class, I'm taking my remote
lecture from the BU beach, I'm meeting up with my friend Haley.
Yeah, should be fun.
Hi, Haley, they setup little picnic tables, I don't know how to vlog.
[MUSIC]
Thank you.
I don't know.
>> I love the nails.
>> Do we have a seating chart?
>> No,
just pick
a seat.
[MUSIC]
Yeah, go ahead.
>> So these are all discrete steps.
Is there any way to like smooth out between each step?
>> How would you do it, good question, how would you do it?
>> [LAUGH]
[MUSIC]
>> Hello >> Hello.
>> This is for you vlog.
>> It is for my vlog.
How are the hybrid things going for you guys?
>> Good, honestly not that bad.
>> Bye Kim, bye Aurora.
Bye.
All right cool, pretty successful first in-person class.
It was definitely really nice to see all my friends again,
they're all doing good I think.
I'm back on my own now because I have another class in a little bit,
it's going to be virtual.
So I think I'm gonna go hangout out on the BU beach finish my lunch and
do that class.
[MUSIC]
I'm late to class.
Apparently you can still be late to class if you're going in-person.
That's still a thing.
[MUSIC]
>> What we care
about is
the utilization.
Yeah, great day.
In person classrooms went better than I expected,
as far as the safety is concerned it's definitely manageable.
Everybody's really understanding that it's kind of up to everybody
to make sure that everybody's safe it's really just a common sense thing.
Just generally stay away from people, generally wear your mask,
grab hand sanitizer on your way in or out, that sort of thing.
And now that the classrooms all the desks are spaced out,
there's definitely enough room to kind of stretch your legs [LAUGH] and
have your own little personal space, so that's pretty nice.
[MUSIC]
So I think that my classes can be divvied up into kind of two categories.
You have the more math based lectures,
which definitely port pretty easily to remote lectures.
The other half of my classes are kind of lab based classes that hands on learning,
that is definitely really critical to learning engineering, obviously.
So, the college is sending at home lab kits to all engineering students so
that they can do things from home.
At least that's how it supposed to work, in theory.
It's definitely a lot harder to ask for help from home when
you have a different set of circumstances then when you're in the lab and
you kind of just ask a lab TA to help you out.
So for this class we're finally gonna be using our at home lab kits to basically
program stepper motor to build a linear stage.
[MUSIC]
It's not going that well, I could not find this one wire and
now he's like, six steps ahead and I don't know what's going on.
So the good thing about the hybrid model is that everything is recorded, so
I'm just gonna take a look at it tomorrow, once I figure out this wire situation.
And I'm gonna go for a walk right now.
Okay, so obviously that lab didn't go as planned but
I do have another live base class where our lab supervisor has setup
a bunch of webcams and we're controlling robots through Zoom.
No crashes today.
[LAUGH] So that's gone really well that's I mean, it's been pretty cool.
[MUSIC]
Ok cool, I am off remote control now.
Yeah, so I'd say that I've had varying amounts of success with how we're
doing labs this semester.
But also I'm glad that the college is kind of putting
in the extra effort to make sure that we still try to get some semblance of,
some sort of hands on something.
And that we're not just resorting to like simulations or something lame like that.
[MUSIC]
I can't quite pin it, but Zoom remote classes feel different
in this semester than they did last semester.
Things just feel a little less hectic,
I think everybody's just had some time to adjust to this new format of class.
I will say though, that it seems to be putting more strain on
the professors to have to teach both to students in the classroom and
online as opposed to the latter half of last semester when everything was online.
I really think that it depends on the professor, some professors are really
responsive to online students and others occasionally just forget about the whole
online side of the class and just only talk to the people in person.
So, I think that there's some adjustment to be had there.
All my classes are kind of approaching the problem of
hybrid classes from a different angle.
But having this hybrid model is giving me a lot of freedom to basically have class
wherever I want.
Now I maintain classes while I'm eating dinner or when I'm cooking dinner, and I
still feel I'm able to pay relatively good attention to class while I'm doing that.
If I'm tired of sitting in a classroom all day, I'll just go take a class outside and
I feel like in that case, I'm actually paying more attention.
[MUSIC]
Really, school is only one part of my life and
I think I have to constantly remind myself of that, I have two part time jobs.
I have freelance video projects, I have little ideas of things that I wanna make,
which, thanks to the lab kits now I have more tools to make them.
And I think that the bottom line is I'm really thankful to be around Boston and
to have this choice that I know that not everybody can make.
So as the semester progresses,
I think that the key is just to roll with the punches and play it by ear.
I wish you all the best of luck with that.
Stay safe and be well.
[MUSIC]