Any topic (writer’s choice)

Important please read the instruction carefully

Write it with easy english and no plagiarism please

Goals and Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to apply your sociological thinking to the experiences of college students during the pandemic. Starting with your own experiences, you will use the writing of students in the class as data to identify patterns of experiences and how they compare to a study of CUNY students.  You will then share suggestions for further study and research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Step One:

In class Writing Activity prompt to generate experiences from our class on how the pandemic affected their college plans and learning. The document of this is available down bellow. You will use the responses as your data for the paper and in the next steps.

Step Two:

Start by reading student responses to the writing activity.  Go back a second time and look for patterns of answers from your classmatesunderline or highlight things that stand out to you and make notes on some common elements that come up for more than one student.

Then, read the following article:

https://sum.cuny.edu/the-pandemics-massive-impact-on-cuny-students/

Questions to generate ideas and content:

What were some of the main findings of the study of the impact of the pandemic on CUNY students?

How did the pandemic affect your experiences as a college student, your learning and your academic plans? 

What are some of the patterns of experiences documented by your classmates writing?

How do they compare to the overall findings in the study of CUNY students?  What factors might have mitigated the effects of the pandemic and for some students, have positive aspects?

If you could suggest that a researcher do additional effects of the pandemic on college students, what should they look at?  You could focus on mental or physical health, financial impacts, academic impacts and graduation plans or a combination of all three.

For this step, write up paragraphs in response to the above question.  Here is a sample outlines/plan that you could borrow from that you can adapt, using your own words:

Introduction (1 paragraph)
-would give the reader an overview of what Im discussing in the paper

Brief summary of the article on CUNY students (1-2 paragraphs)
Id include the major findings, if I have time, I will read the longer journal article to add to it

BMCC students experience of the pandemic (3-4 or more paragraphs)
I will start with one or two paragraphs about my own experience, then give the highlights of what my classmates have said, and maybe add some observations of what Ive heard about from other students that I know for context

Thoughts and comparisons (2-3 paragraphs)
Here I could tell the reader about the differences and similarities from what I and my classmates shared and the overall experiences of CUNY students from the article. I could discuss the unexpected positive aspects and what factors I think have made a positive impact
Then I would go into an idea for research for further study

Conclusions
In my conclusion, I will summarize important ideas I wrote about earlier and then share what I learned from writing this

Down bellow is my classmate response

Instructions: Answer the following questions related to learning during the pandemic. We will use this information as part of the second paper which we will work on together and write up independently. Every student will keep adding to this document and it will be shared with the whole class as data. Put your name at the top and then write your responses.
Questions:
– How has the pandemic affected your academic plans?
– What are the biggest challenges youve had in learning and completing
coursework during the pandemic? Explain why.
– If you had all the resources in the world, what would you need or what
would have helped you improve your educational experiences during the pandemic?
Put your name to this–you will earn 5 points extra credit for completing this.
Prof. Salam:
While I am not a student, the pandemic definitely affected my research plans while I was on leave in Spring 2020. I could not go to events and interview people as I planned. Even more of an issue was that I was so overwhelmed by everything going on, it was really hard to concentrate on doing writing and research. My kids and spouse were home and there were too many distractions. Teaching on Zoom is really difficult– the classroom engagement makes such a difference to students but also in the quality of my teaching because I cant read whether students are there or getting it. If I had all the resources in the world, I would personally get better technology, more space in my house and have the ability to provide technology i.e. laptops, hotspots, etc. and get it to them immediately. I worry that students are not able to focus on coursework because they dont have distraction-free spaces to learn, because of work issues and because they have trouble getting motivated. I fear that students are either disappearing or dropping out or taking on too much coursework when they dont have time to spend on their classes.
Elijah McCoy: The pandemic helped me out a lot because I could take care of my younger brother while pursuing my education. Although there are many distractions and I can only work on homework late at night due to my circumstances with my sleep apnea and sleeping pretty much the whole day Ive come to adapt and accept that. I
dont think anything except myself couldve improved my educational experience during the pandemic.
TJ Edmonds: The pandemic actually gave me time to pursue my academic career. I was laid off and, since I was eligible for financial aid, I took a chance. The biggest challenge was adapting to technology and not going to a physical classroom. Time management with assignment reading and seeing the text on computers is an issue. Also, the modules that are integrated with videos are challenging because I am used to physical textbooks. One thing that has been a positive change is better communication with professors. But, I am adapting well. If I had all of the resources available, I would probably use recording devices-apparently there is an adaptive pen now, which is cool. I would also have an office that is completely silent without ambient noise like cars or neighbors.
Izabela: Pandemic motivated me to resume my education after many years. So on me, it actually had a positive and motivating effect. The fact that the classes are on line made it easier to enroll and become a full time student. I know many students feel that online studying is harder and they feel unmotivated, but for me its quite the opposite. I can take classes and do the classwork at my leisure and I dont need to spend time commuting to and from the school. The only challenge I was facing at the beginning was managing my time better and procrastination, but it was a personal struggle I had to overcome, not related to the pandemic. I cant think of any additional resources I would need at this time. I have a fast speed internet, laptop and quiet space to study and focus. The only resource I would need more of is an internal motivation and consistency that I continuously keep working on.
Kaitlyn Q: The pandemic made it a little harder to stay as motivated as I was beforehand. I still manage to attend class and treat my assignments the same way, but I have noticed that I dont absorb information the same way compared to how I did when we still had in-person classes. A big challenge that I had to face when completing coursework is that I had to create my own agenda at home so I know what is due and when. I also had to manage my time properly to make sure I didnt forget to do anything. In the very beginning of the pandemic, I think better communication couldve helped improve my educational experiences, but since everyone was new to this form to learning/teaching, I cant complain that much. I think everything is much better now since were now more used to and comfortable with this way of learning.
Bryanna Nunez- The pandemic actually helped me focus more in my education more than before because before I was focussed in multiple things at once. With everything shutting down I got to focus on one thing. The only difficulty was since I am a freshman, coming into college was difficult because I did not know at first how to get around the blackboard. But as time went on I started to learn new things that helped get around the new system I had to adjust too. Something that would have helped me during the pandemic would have been some guidance. I think if someone would have helped me find my way around the whole process would have been much better.
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Allison Grimm:
The pandemic has not really affected my academic plans too much. I had always planned on taking more classes to get to my next step in life and it has actually made it easier for me with classes being online instead of in person because of my crazy work schedule. My biggest challenge has been balancing a crazy schedule and school work at the same time. Ever since the pandemic started and even currently the hospital life is busier than it ever was. This means that learning and completing classwork has been a struggle in finding time to complete it while having my career as my first priority in life. If I had all the resources in the world, the only thing that would help me improve my educational experience during the pandemic would be not having to work and having a crazy schedule. I often ponder about going to school full time and to stop working to focus on my main end goal career. Although bills and the expense of living on your own does make that difficult, so my resource from the world would have to be money to make my educational experience a better one.
Brianna Rodriguez:
The pandemic has directly affected me in many ways. The way I used to live my life was completely flipped upside down. I had many plans of bettering myself as a person by working out, meeting new people, and traveling. Because of the pandemic, I stay home, become lazy, and dont talk to many people. When it comes to school work, I realized that my concentration and work ethics have decreased. I have always been better at learning in person. Although I do complete my assignments on time, it does come with a lot more effort than before. Before the pandemic, I was more driven to do my assignments, but now I just complete most of my work
shortly before they are due. This pandemic helped me become less driven and less motivated. Thankfully that is changing, but I do realize that most of my behaviors arrived as a result of the pandemic.
Jesse:
Prior to the pandemic, I had already planned on returning to college by taking online courses. Luckily, the closing of school campuses hasnt affected my academic plans directly; however, the pandemic has made an impact on other areas of my life. The past year has been particularly tough mentally and emotionally. Granted, much of this struggle may have been self-imposed – but the excess of time Ive spent alone and had to toil over my thoughts has led me to reevaluate much of my life. Coupled with my history of depression, overthinking (anxiety of some form), and possibly ADHD (I have my suspicions, but I have yet to be diagnosed), the pandemic has created a far from conducive setting to remain focussed and driven. Having an abundance of resources may have helped my situation. Although escapist in nature, I would have found a way to live (and work) on-the-go, possibly by building myself a livable van/RV. I have always appreciated such freedom and immersion into my environment as it gives me an opportunity to recalibrate my identity and goals. I imagine this temporary, simplified set-up would help in maintaining my academic progress.
Jancy Jimenez: The pandemic has affected my academic plans because I was expecting to take in person classes before the semester started. I wanted to experience going to college in person because I would prefer actually going to the campus, seeing the building,and meeting new people. Some challenges I had in learning and completing coursework is finding the motivation to complete the work. Throughout these semesters that are fully online, something I struggled with the most is focusing on completing my assignments because I feel like its more difficult when you are in the comfort of your own home. When Im in a classroom setting I find it easier to focus on completing my work because I have less distractions than if I was at home. Usually when Im working on my assignments at home I would take much longer than is needed because I start procrastinating and losing focus. Some resources that I would need during this pandemic is money that will be used for essentials such as textbooks. Other than that I dont need anything else in particular.
Judith Romero (via email):
I personally feel like this pandemic hasnt affected my academic plans as much but what it did affect was certain classes such as my biology class. Doing labs online makes it a little challenging then in person. The biggest challenges Ive had while learning and completing
course work online during the pandemic was being able to focus while doing assignments. I feel like being at home Ive been procrastinating more since it takes a while for me to finish work and trying to keep up.
Jamarius Jones: I believe that the pandemic has made the academic plans for most students more difficult. For me, it has made my plans of becoming a nurse a little more challenging. Certain courses are more difficult to complete in an online setting and even more difficult for students like me that does better in a traditional classroom setting. My biggest challenge that Ive had in learning coursework is the extra work that is given. Because we are not in a traditional setting and the professors cant see our faces, they usually give more work to make sure that we understand the material. My problem is keeping up with the workload that each professor gives in order to make sure we understand. If I had all the necessary resources in the world, I would simply want a traditional classroom setting to be available again. This would make it easier for the professors to understand if students are confused.
Joseph Kalaj: to be honest the pandemic has helped me alot both mentally and physically with stuff,i personally find online class much more easier and better for shy/nervous students.however at the same time not being in a actual classroom is very difficult.honestly id need a personal office to improve my learning experience,i feel like if i had just one big room dedicated to when i have class or when i have to do work and etc it would make my life ten times easier as i cant really do work while in my living room with my other siblings and stuff like that.
Priscilla Leguiamo:
During the pandemic creates challenges in my education, for instance the way is envisioning my college experience and my plans in college. However this changed because before the start of my first semester I had all classes set up and laid out for my actual career, but with the pandemic this caused me to fall behind because of the sudden change especially when it came to science classes like bio lecture and lab. This led me to second guess my major many times because of lack of motivation . As a result it causes my grade because I Learn differently and that is something I learn during this time. Although that was one cons during this time I would also say that a pro was that I manage to get the feeling of learning two different ways in being able to learn something new when it comes to my best way to learn and it also teaches how to adapt to unexpected situations.
Elizabeth Gill (by email)
The pandemic has affected my academic plans when it came to my science classes. I have taken two science classes already and its way harder than in person. In person I was able to do the actual hands on labs. However, now I have to watch videos on the lab. Some of the biggest challenges Ive had in learning during the pandemic is not being as motivated to interact in my classes. I feel as if its weird talking through a screen. Its not the same as in person classes where I actually feel like Im interacting with other individuals. Ive also developed more bad habits which includes procrastination and bad time management. If I had all the resources in the
world, I would get more space in my house. Sometimes my siblings can be a distraction while Im in class.