Welp, I’m in the classroom. Everyone’s wearing a mask, I think those students are also freshmen (or sophomores, I dunno), and we have no clue on what’s to come out of this class (required for my major). “Good morning!” exclaimed the professor at the front. They continued with their syllabus, how the course will look like, and what we should expect to learn after the semester’s end. And then we get our first assignment.
Great, on the first day we know what to do and when it’s due, I wonder what the last day is to drop without an academic penalty… oh whatever, let’s try it out for the first week then decide on it later. But oh boy was I about to have my expectations blown through the roof. This professor was simply called “professor (last name)” while this one was called “dr. (last name)” while this one is okay with us calling them “(first name).”
It was certainly different from what high school was. However, the one thing common to all great professors and teachers would be their own signature style of teaching.
One professor had us read a research article on why people “deviate” from the rest of society (the first assignment), and then come to class to discuss it with other students. Another simply lectured accompanied by a textbook PowerPoint, asking us students for examples of what some terms might be. And another was similar to the “crazy mad old scientist” stereotype, lecturing with no structure or organized form of notes available (all dependent on our note-taking skills if we were to ever have a chance of scoring well on their exams).
Even with the diverse array of teaching skills, each professor was engaging, listening to us students, adapting to our own personal needs while also helping us bring the best out. It was fascinating to hear the opinions of other students, explaining why they believe what they proclaim, and then hearing the professor’s own view of it. It was entertaining to just blurt out an example of a simple term, like “what is an example of a corporation” and me just typing in the chat “APPLE INC.” and then reading it aloud to everyone else, seeing if other people said the same thing. It was wholesome to listen to the professor explain their views of how the economy was being affected by a little bitsy virus that happens to lurk out and infect one human, and then shifting the conversation into how the microwave was discovered because of a melted chocolate bar in a scientist’s pants (true story).
All in all, even while my college life didn’t go as planned compared to every other year (in person, seeing other faces, full-blown college events), all of my professors were an integral part to my satisfaction in learning while in college. And when you consider the hurdles they faced along the way (online formats, some students in person, some at home, speaking into an empty space with only chat-boxes filling the void), it’s just even more impressive that they were able to handle that all while still teaching us the best to their knowledge.