"The change was enormous"

How do you personally experience this special situation?

The change was enormous. During the first two and a half years of my studies I came to ETH to learn together with fellow students because I find it better to separate work and leisure time. So my room was not at all designed to study there for several hours a day. That's why I first had to re-design it. This also included creative solutions. For example, I converted "Basisprüfung" books into a pedestal for my laptop. I also created a green screen to spice up the exercise session in the lecture "Electromagnetic fields and waves" of Prof. Novotny, which I teach. And I also bought a clip-on microphone so that my conversation partners don't get headaches because of bad audio quality.

What is the hardest part for you?

There are two aspects in particular: First, with the exception of short walks, now my life takes place in the same 15 square meters all day long. You have to restructure your way of working to fit the circumstances. Second, I miss my social contacts. Of course we can meet via videocall, which we do, but it's not the same as being physically together.

Are there any positive experiences or ways of working that you will probably keep after the corona crisis?

I think a positive aspect is that you learn how to deal with a completely new situation. This requires a degree of adaptability which you have to acquire and which will certainly help in other situations. What I also find positive is the efficient and constructive way everyone, administration, lecturers, assistants and students worked together to switch the entire lecture and exercise programme to online just in one weekend. Many long established habits had to be changed very quickly. But out of necessity, virtues emerge that will hopefully be preserved for longer, especially with regards to the materials or resources that are available.

It varies a lot. Some of them are already used to do a lot on their own, for them it was probably not a big change. For others it is more difficult. I have heard of some students who had problems motivating themselves because they were no longer in their familiar surroundings and had hardly any social contacts. But you have to keep in mind that for many of them, in addition to isolation, they are afraid that they themselves or their family could become ill. This is not easy to deal with and a great burden. We at AMIV and also at VSETH have tried from the beginning to reach out to these fellow students.

But of course it is also a big change for us at AMIV. We will also learn from it and new offers – which we are currently working on – will be maintained in the time after Corona, if they are well received.

The AMIV has launched a platform for the formation of study groups. Do you know how many groups there are now? And what are your personal experiences (and those of your fellow students) with it?

Frankly, this was a bit of an experiment. We thought that it might be especially difficult for those who normally have problems to make contact. Therefore, they can contact us and we will organize fellow students who are studying the same subjects so that they can exchange ideas or at least meet for a virtual coffee. It was not meant to be a "mass product" and so it was also not used as one. Nevertheless about 40 people have contacted us in the meantime and we hope that joining a group makes the situation easier for them.