As another reading week has come and gone and we find ourselves preparing for that final push through to exams, we must also reflect on this semester and how online learning has altered postsecondary education. 

The simple truth is that our educational institution was not designed to be delivered entirely online, and this year’s reading week was not in effect a substantial break for the stress that comes with online learning.

In the golden days before COVID-19, reading week always seemed like a breath of fresh air. It was a welcomed departure from the chaos of midterms, from early morning classes, and from late nights studying. It was a time for many to get some sleep, see old friends, catch up on work, and perhaps even leave campus. It was a chance to take a much-needed timeout from the whirlwind that is U of T.

Yet, this time it was different. Instead of being the breather that we all desperately needed, this reading week was merely a continuation of the battle that is online learning. Learning how to learn remotely has been a challenge in and of itself. With online learning comes a seemingly endless number of recorded lectures, online quizzes, essays, assignments, and midterms. Adapting these aspects of postsecondary education to the virtual world has been an enormous feat.

If other postsecondary students are like me, they probably spend the majority of the day sitting in front of a computer screen. Being in an environment surrounded by individuals who are eager to learn often fuels a similar desire. However, now, lecture halls, once packed to the brim with other eager students, have now been replaced by the sound of a solitary voice emanating from a computer. 

Due to necessary online isolation, the type of engagement we used to have is no longer possible. There have been multiple published accounts relating to how students are struggling to navigate through online learning, with one major issue being the overloading of coursework. Students no longer have time to themselves or time to rest. 

Students are burning out, and reading week was meant to provide a break from structured learning to invest some free time into digging deeper into the course material. However, due to the overwhelming amount of assignments and coursework, students have been falling behind, resulting in the week merely being an opportunity to catch back up. 

It’s been a continuous semester of all work, with no real break. Next semester, it’s vital that there is a change in online course structure to address this. Course structure can no longer continue prioritizing accountability over students’ health and learning. 

This would mean centralizing the decision making process when it comes to course structure and no longer leaving it up to individual faculties. Reducing the amount of graded coursework assigned per week, relaxing strict deadlines, and integrating more resources for consistent student feedback to ensure students are proactively engaged in how they learn are great options as well. All this can come together to ensure that when we reach our next reading week, we aren’t spending it catching up on the overflow of work. 

Although the transition to online learning was necessary to control the spread of COVID-19, there are flaws to the system. The transition to online learning in conjunction with the economic crises and serious public health issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in significant limitations to postsecondary education and barriers to student well-being. The university must accordingly take action as we head into the winter semester.

Shernise Mohammed-Ali is a second-year neuroscience, psychology, and English student at Victoria College. She is an associate comment editor.