With inviting less than a third of students back to campus this semester, Ohio University has restricted many to virtual interactions – inside and outside the classroom.
Lockdowns across the world brought concerns about social interaction. Feelings of depression, anxiety and loneliness spiked across the country. With OU confining most to a virtual semester, many students and staff also had concerns.
“It's really an interesting pivot as a college,” Breanne Sisler, assistant dean of the Honors Tutorial College, said. “We've spent so many years focusing on what students need academically and educationally. A lot of the social aspect is already built into just coming to college, and we haven't had to worry about it quite as much. We've always worried about it, but it's never been a big focus. This year, we’ve certainly had to pivot and make sure that we’re meeting students' social and emotional needs more than it ever has before, but the payoff is huge.”
The virtual setting has been an obstacle for many trying to make friends. It doesn’t allow for students to bump into each other, sitting down for lunch or coffee on campus, or just hanging out in the common room of their hall.
Sisler said OU has tasked itself with creating spaces for virtual socialization.
OU hosted a virtual Welcome Week complete with virtual escape rooms, casino and trivia nights, music festivals and a hangout for Learning Communities.
Sisler said that she and others within HTC looked to replace some of the experiences students would normally have on campus.
“We have a mentor/mentee program where incoming first-year students and sophomores can opt to have an upperclassman mentor and sophomores through seniors could apply to be to be mentors, and so we've connected a lot of students that way,” Sisler said.
OU also created spaces where students could try and relax together. The college formed weekly Microsoft Teams meetings where students could pop in and chat at their leisure.
Outside of the HTC, other freshmen students commented on OU’s ability to foster student connection.
“(My college has) been holding online events like bingo night and quiz games, but I haven’t gone to any because doing things completely online is absolutely horrible,” April Dale, a freshman studying botany said in a message. “My Learning Community also holds events like study groups and movie nights to try and bring people in our major together.”
Mahala Wanner, another freshman, is on campus for Phase 2. She said that some resident advisors and upperclassmen arranged times for freshmen to hang out, like game nights and trips to The Ridges.
Despite this, there were mixed opinions on whether these tactics worked for students.
“Personally, I don't think they worked, because they provided social events, but I mainly want to connect through academic sources, which they haven’t given a lot of structure for,” Dale said. “None of my classes did breakout rooms or encouraged group work, which would have made the semester go easier.”
Wanner said that there was less interest in online activities for those already at OU.
“The people at campus seem to struggle to find the motivation to join those online activities, because we just aren’t interested when we can meet each other and do the same things in person,” Wanner said in a message, adding that she found a friend through a game night hosted in her hall.
Wanner worried that cliques of students had already formed from including some, but not all, in Phase 2. She predicted that clear divides of those who had friends and those who didn’t would be visible next semester.
With the university allowing more students back for the Spring Semester, some believe that the social situation will improve. Sisler, Dale and Wanner are not so convinced.
“I still think we will need to work hard to make sure the students feel engaged,” Sisler said. “Even if everyone opted to come back – which I don't think every student will – making sure that there are still ways they can engage safely online or very safely in person will be really important. I don't think it will be easier and so we’re making sure that we don't let down our guard.”
Sisler knows that the engagement tactics won’t resonate with everyone. However, if she and the rest of the OU staff can create a positive impact on even a small group of students, they’re happy to continue trying.
“So, are our tactics working?” Sisler mused. “I think so. I think there are a few students who could say that they've had positive experiences because they've gotten engaged in this way.”
