On a typical day, California State University, Bakersfield’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering is bustling with energy, as students learn in labs and soak up lectures, and professors give it their all to foster student brilliance.
That hasn’t changed as classroom doors have closed and courses have moved online amid the COVID-19 quarantine. We might not see them on campus, but students, faculty and staff are doing what they always do: working hard and facing challenges head-on, just from the safety of their homes.
Like many CSUB students, Linh Nguyen has found the transition stressful, but with a few weeks of at-home learning, he is beginning to feel better. The biotechnology major, who will graduate in the fall, has had a few additional challenges to overcome when taking online classes. Originally from Vietnam, English is Nguyen’s second language, which requires him to have more time to read and write assignments.
“It is harder for me to understand the prerecorded and online lectures compared to in-person lectures,” Nguyen explained. “The direct vision to speakers (their gestures and mouths) helps me a lot in listening and understanding.”
As a parent, Nguyen is also tasked with filling the role of an elementary school teacher, helping his 10- and 5-year-old kids with their schooling while working on his own when his wife is at work.
“Before, I only cooked dinner for them and helped them sometimes with their homework at night,” he said. “But now, I have to teach them based on the requirements in their study packs from school including math, reading, stories, painting and physical exercises, as well as making breakfast, lunch and dinner for them every day. Thank God, my kids hardly argue with each other.”
Professors have always done more than teach but now especially, their students are also looking to them for moral support. Nguyen said biology faculty like Dr. Amber Stokes and Dr. Isolde Francis have been particularly helpful as he navigates online learning.
“Although I have had a lot of hard times during this transition, I have very nice and understanding professors,” he said. “They really understand and sympathize a lot. The way Dr. Stokes delivers her lectures is so friendly, which makes me feel like I am right there, sitting in front of her in the classroom.”