UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -当推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜宣布他们秋季学期的“回归州立”计划时, there were many questions from students. How would the University guarantee safety? 居家教育和远程教育会是什么样子?
对于国际学生来说，情况更加复杂. For some, who remained in the United States during the spring semester and throughout the summer, 他们纠结于是回到校园还是完全远离校园的决定. For others, who had returned home since the spring, they did not even have that choice, due to travel restrictions imposed either by their home country or the United States. For new students, it became apparent for many that getting a student visa would be prohibitive.
Penn State’s international student population covers the entire world — quite literally. More than 10,000 international students from 140 countries and six continents attend Penn State each year. Their experience with the new remote learning is unique — and many times challenging.
For some incoming international students, this time gave them an opportunity to explore a new way to begin their Penn State career — a program called Penn State First (PSF), created through a partnership between the Office of Global Programs and Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), 是美国历史最悠久的非营利性留学机构之一. Students in China and Korea have the opportunity to study in residence in their home country while still earning Penn State credit.
These three modes of learning — residential, remote and Penn State First — provide a wide range of experiences for international students.
Residential/hybrid
Noor Syafiqah Ahmad Sanusi, a computer science major at Penn State-Abington, 这学期能参加住宿体验吗. Ahmad Sanusi, an international student from Malaysia, enjoys exploring the area around Abington campus.
“我一直在以一种安全的方式探索这座城市，”她说. “Things like that keep me motivated.”
While most of her classes are online, she has an art lab on campus that meets in-person. 她说，实验是需要亲自完成的课程之一.
“我无法想象在家里做这些项目，”她补充说.
到目前为止，她对校园里实施的安全协议感到满意.
“There are sanitizer stations everywhere, and everyone is wearing masks,” she said. “My instructor in the lab class made us wipe down our workstations at the beginning and end of class. Also, 而不是单独向我们展示如何做某项技术, he recorded a video and played it at the front of class to ensure social distancing.”
For Libby Kwon, 他是帕克大学斯麦商学院金融专业的学生, practicing safety is about caring for others.
“我相信这些协议不仅是为了保护我们自己, but others who may be at more risk,” she said. “I believe wearing my mask and practicing social distancing is a way to show others that I care about them, which is why I choose to follow the rules.”
For both students, the residential experience has been different than in the past.
“I do miss more options for dining,” Kwon said.
艾哈迈德·萨努西说:“有时候我觉得(所有的在线课程)都没有动力。. “但当我在校园里散步或锻炼时，我又找到了动力.”
Remote
这学期大多数国际学生都在远程上课. This leads to some interesting situations.
“I’m sort of a night owl now,” said Erica Song, an Earth sciences major at Penn State Abington. Song is currently located in China, 以及美国东部和中国之间的时差, 埃丽卡通常要在半夜起床——大约凌晨2点或3点.m. local time — to attend synchronous classes.
“It kind of works for me, though,” she said.
然而，课程本身似乎进行得很顺利，不仅仅是对艾丽卡来说. Kaiming Cui, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, says that flexibility has been key.
“我的教授们在开学前就把所有的课都录了下来, but also still hold live Zoom sessions,” he said. “Now that I spend most of my time in my house, 我发现我有更多的空闲时间，因为不需要旅行.”
他还指出了他的教授们所做的一些有益的事情.
“我的一位教授把所有的讲座都上传到YouTube播放列表上, 这使得观看它们比在Canvas上更容易,” he said.
In Kaiming’s Japanese class, though, 学生们同步参加，一般都带着相机.
“It is quite a pressure for Japanese beginners, but the feeling of connection is just amazing,” he said. “我们每天见面交谈，我喜欢这样.”
宋还喜欢与同学们建立联系.
“我的教授们把我们安排到分组讨论室，在那里我们结识了新朋友. It’s nice,” she said.
然而，对其他人来说，这种联系的感觉是一种挣扎. Kennesha Busby, a senior at Penn State Brandywine studying vertebrate physiology, feels this way.
“It is hard to connect with classmates during online learning because most times everyone keeps their cameras off and many times students don’t talk much,” she said. “与同学面对面交流要容易得多.”
他说:“这学期我没能交到很多新朋友. “I do have friends in most of my classes though. 通过分组讨论，我和一些同学建立了联系.”
Despite the struggles, 接受采访的学生们的感觉是, 而远程学习并不是他们的首选方法, they still find it valuable.
巴斯比说:“我认为春天的经历让我们做好了准备. “That was way worse.”
Penn State First
而大多数国际学生选择上述两种选择之一, for a specific subset of students — those living in China or Korea — there was a third option available.
“因为我们知道一些新生将无法去美国.S. because of visa restrictions, we started thinking, ‘What would it look like to offer students a residential experience in their own country?’” said Brian Brubaker, director of education abroad in the Office of Global Programs. “So we began to talk to our partners.”
One of Penn State’s partners — CIEE, or the Council on International Educational Exchange — had already been thinking along these lines. 推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜和CIEE已经合作了30多年, so the partnership was already well-established.
中国国际推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜在多个国家设有中心和工作人员. So, Brubaker’s team worked closely with them to identify possible areas of interest. At the end of the process, when all was said and done, 人们在两个地方发现了浓厚的兴趣:上海, China, and Seoul, Korea. Now, there are over 400 students studying in Shanghai and almost 40 studying in Seoul.
上海的学生在华东师范大学上课, 而首尔的学生上的是龙世大学, one of the top universities in Korea. Students take a combination of on-campus, asynchronous online, and synchronous online classes; some even register for direct Penn State classes as well.
“So far, my professors, TAs, 助理助理在回答我所有的问题时都很有帮助, from coursework to life in Shanghai."
-- Donglong Liu, a Penn State First student.
Many established Penn State students from the Chinese Students and Scholars Association have taken leadership roles as RAs or Orientation Leaders at the Penn State First program. Recently, two of them – Ang Chen and Yufan Wang - were elevated to Student Program Coordinators.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how much these students have risen to the challenge,” said Anna Marshall, program manager of Penn State First Program. Marshall works closely with the Chinese student organizations at Penn State and took a leadership role in establishing the programs at Penn State First.
Students appreciated the opportunity to experience a taste of American university life before coming to the United States. Penn State First ran an official orientation, 让学生接触到大学的文化. In addition, 三名来自PSU上海校友分会的校友, 张浩伟(上海校友会会长), Peipei Chen, and Moly Gu, visited students during their orientation on Aug. 23. The Shanghai Alumni Chapter will continue connecting with PSF freshmen in Shanghai by inviting students to visit their firms during Fall 2020.
“我很感激能在上海PSF度过大学时光. 我非常感谢推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜为我在中国提供这个机会,” said Yi Li, another PSF student. “在这里学习一个新的环境，认识新的学生真是太棒了.”
“I am curious about college life, so I am delighted that PSU offers this opportunity in my country for me to study here,” said Xujia Liu. “I can also get familiar with US college environment while learning new things and embracing different experiences in Shanghai.”
They are all looking forward to stepping foot on a Penn State campus for the first time — whenever that may be.
李说:“我非常期待加入PSU的美国校区。.
Next challenges
As the University plans for the spring semester, 国际学生将面临更多的障碍和艰难的决定. 有些人可能是第一次踏上推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜的校园, depending on the course of the pandemic; others may need to continue to study remotely until the coronavirus pandemic is under control. Follow virusinfo.infographil.com for the latest updates.
