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Social distancing leads to social disconnection

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Juliana Gonzalez | Staff Writer

Students were welcomed back to Florida Tech’s campus two weeks into the spring semester, but many students are attending remotely. For some, it has become more difficult to make social connections. 

“COVID is the life sucker of everything,” Cat Nanney, the director of student activities and Greek life at Florida Tech, said. “It’s really changed the human experience and the college experience.”

Nanney said she believes that students are exhausted from constantly seeing screens and feel the same way about virtual events.

“We’re sitting in front of a camera and it’s more exhausting than being in a classroom. It comes easier when you are around people,” Nanney explained. 

Now that the COVID-19 response team at Florida Tech has given the go for in person events again, Nanney and her team have been working on getting students as involved as possible. 

Nanney explained that Student Involvement looks to the students to voice what they are comfortable doing as far as activities. 

She explained that her team takes student response seriously, whether the feedback is positive or negative. They encourage students to reach out to them for activities or event ideas.

Natalia Velásquez, outreach coordinator for the Student Counseling Center, explained that students may be choosing to stay remote since there is a lot to consider about safety.

“People are really concerned about their safety and figuring out what they feel the most safe with and what other people feel the most safe with,” Velásquez said. “While we are trying to socialize, we also have to keep in mind the community and ourselves.”

She explains that there has been a notable increase around the country in students seeking services from counseling centers.

“A lot of counseling centers have increased in the amount of students who are coming in with different things,” Velásquez said. “Whether it’s depression or anxiety, relationship difficulties or socialization difficulties.” 

Aaliyah Thomas, the Greek life coordinator at Florida Tech, explained that it is simply harder to have that “in-person” connection in the current situation. 

“Some people aren’t able to connect as well through a computer screen,” Thomas said.

Yet, Thomas explained that the Greek life at Florida Tech had successful recruitment among remote interaction. She said that Greek life members can communicate their most authentic selves over a screen.

Velásquez provides ways to socialize while maintaining distance, such as multiplayer games, Zoom yoga, and taking “walks” together over the phone, in a previous Crimson article.

Brevard K-12 schools find rhythm again amid COVID-19

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Tessa Dury | Staff Writer

Brevard K-12 schools are some of many that have had to change and adapt so students can continue attending school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Tania Pippin, a third grade teacher at Covenant Christian School in Palm Bay said that about 90 percent of its students are attending in person classes and 10 percent are attending online. 

Covenant Christian’s current policy requires that if several students in one class test positive, the entire class will go online until students receive negative tests and are given the all-clear to return safely to in-person instruction.

Pippin said that online learning can be especially difficult for elementary age students, who may find it difficult to sit still and pay full attention to a computer screen. 

“But on the other hand, I have a student who has excelled with his work because his grandfather lives with his family, and they have been working on the homework assignments together,” Pippin said. “It’s a very sweet and encouraging thing to see them working it together.”

Covenant Christian has changed its school day hours from 8:00 a.m. through 3:15 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m., giving the students more recess time outside. Students are required to wear masks at recess, in line with the school’s policy that masks must be worn at all times other than eating. 

The extra recess allows teachers to give extra attention and assistance to students who are attending virtually and may need additional help with work. 

Olivia Zajac is a mother with two children, a seventh and a fifth grader, attending online classes at Covenant Christian. 

“At first in the winter it was difficult for them to transition back to the feeling that they were in school. They still had that summer frame of mind,” Zajac said. “But the slower pace of online seems to have decreased some of their anxiety, they have less peer conflicts, and more family time.” 

Virtual learning has also had some positive effects on school events at Covenant Christian, such as grandparents day.

Grandparents day, normally held in person, was held virtually this year. Students’ grandparents, whether located in other states or nearby, were able to safely view art and other student work in an online format. 

“That was really special,” Pippin said. “No grandparent got left out because of distance.”

Viera Charter School has also implemented COVID-19 safety measures once in person classes started again in the fall. 

“Their usual activities have been changed so that the children aren’t in contact with each other,” Melissa Asafo-Agyei, whose children are a second grader and a first grader attending Viera Charter, said. “They play pool noodle tag, instead of regular tag, flag football, and their cafeteria seats have three-way plexiglass dividers.” 

Viera Charter school’s COVID-19 return plan, found on its website, details further preventative measures such as limiting the number of parent volunteers, screening staff for symptoms regularly and modifying emergency protocols with respect to social distancing.

After the new circumstances and sudden shift to online classes teachers were faced with in spring of 2020, Pippin is glad things are beginning to find their rhythm again. 

“It was so good to see the kids when they started to trickle back into in person classes,” Pippin said. “It really is so different teaching online, and it was really wonderful to have them back and to be able to see them again.”

Proctoring remote exams in the COVID-19 era

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Christian Martinez | Staff Writer

With the increase of students taking courses remotely due to COVID-19, Florida Tech debuted the use of outside proctoring software for exams this fall. 

The central program Florida Tech uses is called Proctortrack. It is software integrated into Canvas for use during remote exams. 

“It locks down your system so that you can only use one window that you’re taking the test on,” John Meyer, director of the Instructional Technology department at Florida Tech, said. 

Tests that use Proctortrack require students to download the Proctortrack program, which then hosts the exam in a separate window. 

Taking an exam with Proctortrack in place requires the test-taker to use a webcam with  a microphone. To even begin an exam, students are required to complete an onboarding process where they present their face at multiple angles as well as their student ID.

The program tracks facial movements and sounds in the room, as well as recording the test session. Students can be flagged for various actions, such as exiting the software or speaking. These flagged items are left for the instructor to review.

When the exam is completed and the submission is uploaded, students are given the option to quit the Proctortrack program or to uninstall it.

“What we suggest faculty do instead of using the proctoring software is to make an open-book test or take-home,” Meyer said, “That’s our preference because it works better than a proctoring software.”

Meyer did note that not every class and test could function that way. Certain subjects might call for students to take exams without references. 

Some students have had questions in regards to the capabilities of the program, with privacy concerns in the forefront. 

Josie Al-Najim, an astrobiology major, first heard about Proctortrack and similar programs at the beginning of the fall semester. She decided to research what measures other colleges were taking to proctor remote exams.

She said that she and her friends were ready to begin protesting against the invasion of student privacy if they felt, after investigating, that Florida Tech was overstepping boundaries. After being informed about what Proctortrack actually does, she and her friends were delighted.

“I’m ridiculously relieved because I value my privacy immensely,” Al-Najim said, “I’ll still have like [sic] a camera tracking what my hands and my eyes do. But that’s better than a software literally seeing everything I have on my computer and I’ve had this computer since I was 13.”

Al-Najim hasn’t taken any exams or quizzes through Proctortrack. She says that’s because her professors trust their students enough that they don’t need to use it. 

She also said that one professor compares their students homework grades to their test scores for any discrepancies. If they don’t align, then the teacher would investigate further.

Al-Najim explained that professors use other methods to look for academic dishonesty, such as investigating significant discrepancies between homework grades and exam grades.

After instructors requested proctoring options in spring of 2020, Instructional Technology searched for suitable proctoring software. 

Proctortrack, which was already in use for some Florida Tech Online courses, was deemed the most suitable. Already having the license, the program was rolled out for the fall semester. 

Eric Donath, associate director of the IT department, emphasized that all students’ rights to privacy are protected by the law.

Since professors have to opt-in to Proctortrack, it is their responsibility to inform students of the requirements  for the software.

“Proctoring requirements will undoubtedly vary from course to course, so expectations will probably be communicated to students on the syllabus,” Donath said. “I hope students recognize the value of honest learning and will appreciate efforts to maintain high standards of academic integrity in each of their courses.”