Let’s face it—students like us won’t fill out surveys unless: (1) it is required, (2) someone personally reaches out to us, or (3) we get the sudden enthusiasm to do it. Most of the time, all three are missing, and we face the waiting game until we get one of the three and then complete the wordy questionnaire.
As education shifts to a new mode, there is no doubt that we’ve all uttered at least a single complaint about the ongoing system of online learning at some point—whether it’d be on the lack of connectivity, the heaps of workload, or the crashing of the e-class platform while we take a quiz.
In an attempt to address the cries for academic ease, the University Research Office (URO) opened a survey regarding the current learning setup last November 19, 2020. In the said survey, one can verbalize their learning experience and sentiments during the first semester of the academic year in detail. Here, each complaint we’ve uttered at some point may be noted for the improvement of the online setup.
Through such a survey, we’re given the luxury to change the current setup into one that is more feasible and effective for us. As of date, the university, through the various organizations it supervises, has been constantly opening surveys about the current system in hopes of making it more comfortable and efficient for all students of different circumstances.
Despite the survey running open for a full week, there is a significant shortage in the number of survey respondents. Does this indicate that numerous enrolled students lack internet accessibility? Or does this mean that there is something wrong with the dissemination of information and on the quality of the survey itself?
Though appearing to be lengthy at first glance, the survey provided by the URO was as concise and cohesive as any survey should be—it consisted of scaled and essay-type questions that do not require long responses. While the eye may trick us into thinking the survey was too lengthy, anyone can answer the essay within 10 minutes max. It didn’t contain questions difficult for a college student to understand—there were no physics, maths, nor sciences involved. Arguably, this tedious appearance can be a demotivating factor in a student’s desire in completing the questionnaire.
The survey itself was also posted on the El Consejo Atenista’s page, shared on AdZU’s official page on Facebook, and was forwarded to several group chats by other organizations repeatedly. Any student with enough browsing data could easily have encountered the survey at least once while scrolling through their social media accounts.
Perhaps the problem then does not lie on the people behind the many surveys but its target audience. As students, are we truly exercising the privileges we have been granted correctly, or have we resorted to abusing these privileges?
Of course, not all of us have a constant and sufficient internet connection to keep up with the events happening. However, the moment we signed up for online learning, it has become part of our role to check the official pages of the AdZU community for updates and announcements. Subjecting ourselves to online education meant disciplining ourselves to know the current news, not just on our academics but on other factors related to our education as well.
The data cost of answering a 10-minute survey is, in an estimate, less than one-tenth of the average amount a Zoom meeting consumes in an hour. Answering a quick survey doesn’t even cost much of both our time and data. When we’re all so willing to scroll down our social media pages, we should be as willing to scroll through and answer questions relevant to how we approach our education. If it’s completely okay for TikTok or YouTube to consume our data, it should be just as okay for a Google form to consume our opinions.
The problem then lies in student complacency. The finger may be pointed at several other factors, but it is undeniable that most of the students who don’t get to answer the survey are the ones with sufficient browsing data connectivity. Most of the time, students who lack the data connection are more engaged to complete such questionnaires knowing that their concerns can possibly be answered.
Should we wait for another series of power interruptions during synchronous classes, a never-ending set of workload, and site crashes during quizzes for another set of unheeded complaints to leave our mouths? Perhaps the reason why there is no change in the system and these recurring complaints is that we do not allow these criticisms to be heard. We have to recognize that improvement in the online mode of learning is a two-way street—the university requires our feedback for them to enhance and modify the RIGHT Track they have been implementing. How can we even get on the right track when there’s little feedback on the current system?
We must learn to walk the talk. If we’re all for easing the academic burden, then we have to answer and empower others to accomplish surveys to make it into a reality. Don’t wait for a survey to be required, to have people personally reach out to us, or wait for a rare rush of motivation to fill out a five to 10-minute survey.
It’s about time for us to meet the academic ease we yearn for.
