International Students at “The University of Zoom”

Yining Ma

I'm a sophomore at the University of Washington double majoring in Economics and Sociology. I grew up in southern China and was supposed to come to the United States to attend college. However, due to the pandemic, I wasn’t able to travel to the US until the second year of college. Having been a student at “the University of Zoom,” studying remotely for a year, I'm curious about the impact of remote learning and social isolation during the pandemic, wishing to share stories of my own and other students of this subculture.

Abstract

My project’s topic is international students at “The University of Zoom.” This subculture consists of international students who studied online in the academic year of 2020, during the pandemic. The topic is recent, close to our everyday life, but far from most people–not many people had the chance to study abroad remotely during a worldwide pandemic, and in a time zone greatly different from the school they were enrolled in. The experience of this group of people is unique; nobody else has ever experienced it before, and it is unlikely to happen again outside the context of COVID-19. They had to get up at midnight and sleep during the day to attend synchronous classes held in another time zone. They had to deal with solitude, lack of connection, and a reversed daily schedule in addition to the challenges of culture shock, joining communities, and adapting to new environments. They also had to deal with apathy from the world, a result of distant socializing; and apathy from themselves, which may emerge from long-time quarantine. To be specific, the subculture includes international students with the graduation year of 2024, but it can also extend to sophomores, juniors, and seniors suffering from similar conditions if necessary.

To get detailed information and real personal stories, I interviewed several friends that are also international students at the University of Zoom, and shared stories of my own as well. I wished to learn about their attitudes towards the experience and their difficulties faced during that time, and the opinions I heard differ a lot. While some students regard remote learning during the pandemic as a disaster, some think it’s awesome. There’s also secondary research included, illuminating other potential challenges of remote learning facing international students. 

As the pandemic is still ongoing and an end does not seem to be within sight, the University of Zoom is very likely to continue operation. Thus, there may not be just one or two generations of this subculture – there may be more students suffering from similar dilemmas. If attention is directed to this issue, then probably something can be done to improve the situation, and international students studying in the next few years can suffer less. Plus, this project is also supposed to provide advice and instructions to new international students at the University of Zoom, help them avoid evitable troubles, and be better prepared to face other challenges in the future. 

If possible, I may continue my project and interview my subjects again sometime later–or ideally, continue interviewing them every year, every five years, on the same topic, and record the change of their attitudes towards this special experience as time goes by. In the best case, I may be able to analyze the life-long impact of this special experience on this special group of people.

International Students at “The University of Zoom.”