Students and people who work with students know that it is difficult to balance school and work, even in normal circumstances. And now, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, that challenge is more acute than ever. Together with my CUNY colleagues Lisa Brundage and Lisa Rhody, we have prepared some recommendations for students who are grappling with the current circumstances while also trying to navigate their studies. We hope this will be useful, whether you are a student, a faculty member, or anyone who works with or supports students.
Students: There is no way around it—the rest of this semester is going to be unusual, and it’s new for students, professors, our families, communities, city, and world. Most of us are having a radical break from our typical work settings, habits, and routines. Most of us are managing a lot of concerns about our present and future, as well as new responsibilities in our homes. Even when you come into a physical classroom, you are a whole person with a life that happens outside of school. Now that you are being asked to finish the Spring 2020 semester via distance learning, figuring out how to manage schoolwork while coping with an uncertain world while caring for yourself and your loved ones might feel really overwhelming. This guide is meant to help you make the transition to distance learning, even if it’s not something you ever planned on doing. We don’t expect that every idea here will work for every person. We do hope that it will help you and make you aware of ways that you can advocate for yourself. This guide will be updated regularly as we become aware of new information, policies, and situations.
Access the document: http://cuny.is/tips4students
CC-BY-NC-SA; please share widely and feel free to create an adapted for your institutional context.
Contributors:
Lisa A. Brundage, Macaulay Honors College at CUNY
Lisa Marie Rhody, Graduate Center, CUNY
Katina Rogers, Graduate Center, CUNY
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash