Learning Photography in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Student’s Survival Guide to Online Classes

The field of photographic education has adapted remarkably to the current pandemic. By moving courses online, institutions reopened their doors to the students in just a few months and also unwillingly broke geographical barriers as students and classrooms no longer needed to be in the same location. In my classrooms, I have seen students attending online meetings from other states and even other countries! 

While I maintain an optimistic view on these developments, I am also fully aware of the challenges both educators and students face in this time of transition. A previous blog post entitled Teaching Photography in the Pandemic laid out the author’s experiences and methods for educators navigating our shifting reality.

This blog post will explore the students’ perspective: what strategies and methods can students use to ensure they are successful in this online learning environment? 

To base this article on solid ground, I talked to students who have excelled in online classes: both synchronous, delivered through regularly scheduled online meetings, and asynchronous, using platforms like  Microsoft Teams to mostly deliver discussion threads and pre-recorded or written materials. 

Here’s what I found:

Extrovert or introvert? The good news is that all students on this spectrum can succeed with the right frame of mind and strategies.

I started with asking the overachievers to describe themselves as extroverted, introverted, or in the middle, as some would refer to as ambiverted. Interestingly, the answers averaged perfectly to the middle. Many of us, myself included, might have assumed that the online learning environment is more suitable for the quietly-do-their-own-work types, while social butterflies might be missing a key element to their success, namely interactions with others. Breaking this myth, albeit with my limited sampling, is good news: social butterflies don’t have to be doomed in an online learning environment after all.

While in-person classes are still preferred by most, online classes do have benefits like increased flexibility. Adapting to the online environment has job implications for the future, as well.

Cristopher prefers in-person classes because “in-person classes bring me to a closer level with similar individuals that share similar goals and that keeps me motivated.” The comradery Cristopther misses is shared by many others, though this contrasts with Jacqueline’s notion that in online art classes, she is “more inspired to say the least instead of feeling the pressure from other students who you believe are better than you.” The proximity of peers can be a make-or-break, depending on the individual. In Jacqueline’s case, keeping classmates at a distance gives her breathing room to think for herself. Whether meeting in-person or online, a student always needs to figure out how to best situate themself in the pack.

Online courses’ flexibility is appreciated by the majority. For example, many are happy not to drive; this point, seemingly mundane, is quite profound. Not only do online classes save time and money and reduce the risks associated with driving, but reducing driving also minimizes carbon emissions. Many corporations have experienced the benefit of telecommuting, if unwillingly, during the pandemic and it is safe to assume that working online will increasingly become the norm even when the pandemic is over. Considering this, students striving for excellence in online courses might be better preparing themselves for the job market of the future. 

While asynchronous classes offer the greatest flexibility, they also require the greatest self-discipline from students.

My discussions with students about asynchronous courses included many warnings. For example, Celine thinks that “asynchronous can get confusing especially if the teacher has a vague class layout.” Rumeysa put it even more bluntly: “I think that for asynchronous classes, I am literally being scammed. I am paying tuition to teach myself... There are no benefits to it. It's like learning a skill from a Youtube video.” Megan had a teacher who “disappeared for most of the semester just to come back at the end…”. I felt very troubled by these stories. Though we can all agree that the transition to online courses poses serious challenges, it would seem that some educators are not doing their best to maintain the quality of education. As teachers, we must lead by example. Only when we display our utmost effort to adapt to the new teaching format can we expect students to do their part well. For students, it is important to recognize that some teachers’ approaches are more in harmony with you than others’; being able to adapt to all of them is to your benefit now and is also an essential life skill.  

The flexibility of asynchronous courses requires additional discipline, as Jonah points out: “ ...the most crucial difference between async and sync is how an individual manages his or her time.” Jimmy has words of caution: “I think procrastination causes students to focus more on completing the work instead of the quality of the work.” Cristobella’s solution to time management is to “maintain a planner and a Google Calendar throughout the semester to stay on top of meetings and deadlines.”

Make use of resources provided by your course instructor, like textbooks or other readings: this will help keep you on track.

In Teaching Photography during the Pandemic, I proposed that educators can use a textbook to enhance an online course’s structure. This is especially true in the asynchronous format, where fragmented, social-media style communications can be organized by the textbooks’ continuous, sequenced content. The students I spoke with for this article agree: they have found my textbook Photography: A 21st Century Practice to be a valuable resource in navigating their course material.  Cristobella, being a visual learner, feels that “the diagrams and vocabulary have been particularly helpful.” For Megan, though she had known about depth of field for years, the textbook’s illustrations finally enabled her to grasp its connection to aperture.  Jonah found the book’s illustration of composition helpful when making his own images: “The different elements of compositions mentioned in the book really helped as a guideline to taking photos with a perspective in mind.” 

To be honest, before writing this textbook I did not often incorporate reading into my classroom: photography seemed much more hands-on, rather than a theoretical discipline. I am very encouraged to see my students learning through reading now, especially during this time of decreased hand-on instruction during the pandemic. My co-author and I are happy to have produced a helpful textbook just before the pandemic, so we can offer help to fellow educators and students.

Finally, here are some short tips for success from my students to you: 

Jonah: “Plan out one’s course of actions.”

Jacqueline: “Be ok with exposing your work and don’t take criticism to heart.”

Megan: “(in an asynchronous course) keeping up and checking in every day is key!”

Jimmy: “Do not procrastinate.”

Rumeysa: “Enjoy the assignment.”

Cristopher: “Read the book and TRY IT YOURSELF.”

Cristobella: “Maintain a planner and a Google Calendar.”

Celine: “Step out of your comfort zone.”

With my students’ words, I sign off.

Mark Chen is the author of Photography: A 21st Century Practice. Learn more about him here.