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Nandini Sikand, associate professor of film and media studies, shares her experience with virtual instruction in a piece she wrote for Medium.
As the College switched to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikand noticed students struggling with the transition. Some students lacked reliable WiFi, some lacked the resources to focus on coursework, some lacked a safe home to return to.
Though colleges have worked to increase access to students across different class brackets, the pandemic exposed that inequities still exist.
“How can we keep our promise to these students to create a viable learning environment as their struggles multiply?” she wrote. “If we have made any small steps toward equity and inclusivity, this crisis has laid bare the fragility of this progress.
“While decisions about future semesters loom large on every campus, we have to work harder than ever. We must begin by centering our students who labor under the burdens of the least access and the shakiest equity. Although, we are seeing many examples of creative pedagogy, if such innovation is inaccessible for those already disadvantaged, then we will continue to replicate and even accelerate structural inequities.”