Online Course Reform

Dear Dr. Slobig, 

We are writing on behalf of the 1st year clinical psychology doctoral students in regards to the additional online courses in our program. This has been prompted by the lack of in-person Social Bases of Behavior summer classes this term. It was unclear that this course would be remote, and we were deeply upset when we discovered we would be meeting on Zoom. During the pandemic, many of us completed full years of undergraduate courses, which fueled the importance we place on in-person learning. When starting this program, we expected to have in-person courses, and considering the significant cost of tuition, we expected our educational needs to be met.

There are several reasons we dislike online courses, including: 

• Lack of emotional connection between the professors and students, and amongst our colleagues (particularly important to our discussion-based Social Bases of Behavior course). 
• The increased cognitive effort required to stay engaged during virtual lectures.Technical issues that take away from class time.
• The lack of effort needed to physically show up in an online class leads to a cycle of low effort contribution to the class discussions, both from students and professors.
• Challenges in maintaining a distraction-free environment when students are in varied settings. 

The issues above are exacerbated during a summer term when the speed of the course requires more mentorship and support. We understand that the online classes come from a lack of professors available to teach during the summer, as well as low staffing for certain courses, however, we do not believe we should be burdened by administrative shortcomings. In the future, we would like to be informed of which courses are online so that we can make informed decisions based on our individual learning preferences. Additionally, if it is not possible to have all of our classes in person, we propose that the price of online courses be offered at a discounted rate. We believe online classes do not hold the same merit as courses taught in person, and see this as an appropriate measure that reflects this belief. 

Sincerely, 

The 2029 Clinical Psychology Cohort