As we approach the fourth week of classes, students are having to learn how best to take on busier workloads in an online setting with exams, quizzes and paper deadlines becoming all the more common. Initially, learning to navigate the different approaches to online school at the very beginning of the semester was hard enough.
As the semester goes on, it has become easier to acclimate to different teaching styles, but as coursework gears up, it is just as easy to fall back behind. For me and almost all of my peers, the unique challenges of online learning still prove to be incredibly difficult to adapt to.
In some instances, students have been given additional responsibilities to teach themselves course material. For students who have taken up fuller work schedules as a result of more flexible class schedules, this is both a blessing and a curse. Though it does allow for more adaptability, it is also the cause of significant stress as it places the onus of instruction on the student.
Online learning requires much more discipline on behalf of students. Deadlines tend to be more frequent, days blur together when sitting in the same spot for hours and weeks on end, and the lack of face-to-face interaction with peers leads to lower morale.
Without regular reminders of due dates, it is easy to lose track of what is going on. Staring at tiny boxes all day can be isolating and mind numbing without taking some time to unplug, unwind and enjoy nature. Simulating the experience of classes is just that– a simulation.
At our current moment, there are no real ways around this current approach to learning that does not put the lives of students, faculty and staff on the line. It is not what anyone would want, but is what we have to work with for now. Students simply want to return to some semblance of normalcy, to the comforting rhythms of everyday life out and about with the faces of friends and strangers alike.
If everyone continues to practice safety measures, and more importantly if our lawmakers take their responsibility as leaders seriously, hopefully we will not have to repeat the far less than ideal circumstances of this semester.
