P.E.I. college instructor teaching online lessons from her car, where she gets faster internet

For the past several weeks, Holland College instructor Angela MacFarlane has been taking her classes on the road to overcome the challenges of slow internet.

MacFarlane, who is one of the learning managers for the college's one-year dental assisting program, says she was aiming to work from home during the pandemic but her internet was too slow to conduct virtual classes.  

Her solution? About three times a week, she packs up her computer and learning materials in her car and drives about 30 minutes from her home, to the Cymbria Lions Club.

There, at the Lions Club parking lot, MacFarlane sets up her makeshift online classroom and delivers virtual classes to her students from the back of her car. 

"As I'm sure many people are aware, internet access is a huge issue and I can say that a lot of instructors can feel the same pain," she said. 

'Times have really changed'

"Typically in the normal, non-pandemic way we would be there, more for them, they could come to our office anytime they would need to talk to us. Times have really changed."

In an effort to help connect people, MacFarlane's brother Chris, who owns and operates Red Sands Internet, has set up free Wi-Fi for anyone to use at the parking lot. 

I'm not going to lie, it's very uncomfortable.— Angela MacFarlane, learning manager at Holland College

"He bought more bandwidth for his customers which is available to me now and anyone else who needs it for free and I'm able to do my virtual classroom from the parking lot," she said.

"So the students are appreciative of that."

'She's really dedicated'

Dana Trainor, one of MacFarlane's students, says the shift to online learning has been challenging — but seeing her teacher's new work-from-car situation has shown her the lengths to which MacFarlane will go to adjust to the circumstances.

"She's going out of her way and doing everything she can to make the experience as easy as possible," Trainor said.

"She's really dedicated. If we have a problem with anything like, say we're not understanding or we need more hands-on before we learn from the book ... she's really good at listening to feedback and kind of changing her ways in order for us to learn better." 

While MacFarlane is happy to ensure her students get the best education possible amid COVID-19, she admits teaching from her car isn't the most ideal situation.

"I'm not going to lie, it's very uncomfortable," she said. 

To help, MacFarlane said she's started to pre-record virtual lessons — in part so that she doesn't have to be "crammed" in her SUV for what are typically one-hour-long lectures as often and to help some of her students who are juggling between their studies and parenting duties.

"They can listen to the classes at, let's say, eight o'clock at night after their kids are in bed." 

'Our teachers go above and beyond'

Students are being encouraged to listen to the pre-recorded lessons and write in their questions on a virtual discussion board MacFarlane has set up. 

However, she plans to dedicate several live lectures for classes that may fall before a quiz or exam so that she's available to answer any immediate questions.

"At the end of the day, we're so lucky that our teachers go above and beyond. They're very passionate about what they do," Trainor said. 

While the internet speed is improved at the club's parking lot, MacFarlane has been advised that she and her students should turn off their cameras to make sure the bandwidth isn't impacted as much by video.

"I miss seeing them and hearing them," she said. "They've been very supportive and understanding." 

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