The recent need for schools and universities across the educational spectrum to transition to online learning practically overnight has caught many students, faculty, and staff around the world completely unprepared, while others enjoyed a smooth transition due to routines and protocols established before the crisis.

Archinect reached out to its global community with the ongoing survey How is your school dealing with the coronavirus outbreak? to learn how students and educators in the architecture field are handling the transition. Over the next few days, we will be sharing some of the key takeaways from the responses.

In this first analysis, we are looking at the biggest challenges as well as benefits of working online versus in-person at school. The responses were not conclusively tilting in any specific direction but rather represented an eclectic mixture of frustration, ease, and cautious hope.

Scenario 1: Easy Transition

Students and educators who reported an overall positive experience could, in many cases, rely on prior experience with online learning and enjoy hard/software support from their schools.

• "The transition has been smooth so far. We are on spring break so we have a short respite to iron out the kinks so we can finish the semester strong," wrote a student at the University of Tennessee, College of Architecture and Design where, according to responses we've received, laptops and WiFi cards were made available as needed.

• A Columbia University student stated: "It has not been hard for me since I have some experience with online education."

• "Quick, everybody was helping, teachers and students adapted quickly," responded a part-time student at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design in The Netherlands where the transition has reportedly been going very well.
• "Overall it’s been good, but some teachers (specially older ones) have trouble adjusting or even understanding how to use software," reported a Chilean student at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile which also provided hardware and internet access to its students.

Scenario 2: Frustrating Experience

Another segment of accounts voiced general frustration over a rough rollout, lack of necessary infrastructure, and an overall anxious outlook.

• "The first issue occurred due to limited licenses for the university," shared a student at the German Nuremberg Institute of Technology Georg Simon Ohm where Microsoft Teams was implemented for group projects and seminars. "Now the not registered students have to wait until it's been solved [...] it's difficult in a sense of unfamiliarity."
• A student at the Architectural Institute in Prague wrote: "Biggest challenge is lack of routine and lack of proper consultations in studio time."
• "The biggest challenge is working day in, day out at my own desk in my room," posted an interior design student at Saxion University of Applied Sciences in Almere, The Netherlands, adding: "Normally I’d go to my internship and work there, or go to the library which helps me concentrate. Now I’m on my own every day, and it’s quite hard to concentrate."
• "Yes, very difficult. Anxiety due to hovering submission dates," wrote a student at Mumbai's Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture.
• "Studio is particularly difficult," an educator at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa pointed out. "Many students do not have internet access once they leave campus. They come from rural villages."

Scenario 3: Cautiously Optimistic

A third section of answers had an initially challenging implementation in common but conveyed a general sense of optimism over the ongoing adaptation.

• The Marketing and Communications Director at University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture described that the move had initially been challenging but that the college had "taken a leadership role, and particularly faculty who have experience teaching design online." The school has reportedly provided laptops and software if needed.
• "As a campus we will have transitioned 30,000 plus students within 1 week from classroom to online teaching," wrote an educator at the California State University, Sacramento where online teaching began this week. "I think the biggest challenge is transitioning from building physical models and teaching craft to working with digital models. There will be some time needed to get students up to speed with the software."

I think the biggest challenge is transitioning from building physical models and teaching craft to working with digital models." — Educator at California State University, Sacramento

How has the transition been for you? Let us know!

Archinect is eager to hear from its active community of architecture students, educators, and professionals! Please contribute your insight to our ongoing two surveys about coronavirus response in schools as well as firms, and also let us know your experience in the comment section. We will keep analyzing new responses as they come in.

To read our growing digest of responses to the firms survey, dig into:

• Architects share their biggest challenges transitioning to WFH
• How design professionals are optimizing their home offices
  
• Architectural professionals share the emotional impacts of COVID-19