Editor’s note: This is part of a contributed collection of students and faculty experience with COVID-19.

As Iowa State transitioned to an online semester, students have said they struggled to find the motivation to keep up with their coursework. 

Patrick Origer, sophomore in software engineering, has moved out of his dorm and back to his hometown of Adel, Iowa, during the online instruction period. Regardless, Origer said he is confident his classes are going just as well as they would have had the semester not changed.

Origer’s classes did have significant changes however. In his physics lab, he now watches a video of the teaching instructor conduct the experiment rather than conducting the experiment himself. Afterward, Origer completes a postlab analysis assignment as usual, leaving him with seemingly less work.

His main struggle is motivation. Studying and sitting at his desk at home hasn’t gone as rambunctiously as hoped. When he feels a lack of motivation, Origer pushes through and continues working toward his academic goals and graduation. 

“It’s hard because there’s really no one else to push me to do anything else. Also, it just seems kind of boring sitting at home,” Origer said. “I would say the best part is having so much more time to do things.”

He uses all his extra time studying for his major coursework in software engineering as well as his minor in data science. The most frustrating part for Origer is his computer science lab because he has to show and explain his code to a teaching assistant over video call, which adds another barrier to communication. 

After everything is said and done, Origer stressed staying in touch with other people.

“Keep well connected with your friends, try to talk to them everyday,” he said. “Just check in on how they’re doing and what they’re up to. And even do homework with them if you have the same class. Make sure to interact with people.”