Distributed Learning

This week we focussed on everyone’s experience with online learning and I thought I would use this opportunity to talk about my online learning experience.

I remember earlier this year when post-secondary schools were shut down in the spring and how I knew in the back of my head I wouldn’t be back to see my friends but it still didn’t feel right to say goodbye. At first, I dreaded online school and would often forget when classes were and would find myself out and about and then remember that I was supposed to be an hour into a political science class which had just completely slipped my mind. This was a major issue during the spring as all my professors were using different platforms and some were not even doing any online component, the semester had just ended basically other than a final email in assignment with little to no instruction. So wrapping my head around going to class when there was no class to go to was hard and I would often get distracted by my family and forgot about my classes. The spring was a write off in terms of attending classes for me. I am glad I was still able to complete all of those courses with satisfactory grades but to me, the spring felt like a trial run for actual online school this fall.

I was worried about online school in the fall but I felt more comfortable learning from home than at campus. My worries sprouted from my grade 11 online English course I took which had me so completely unmotivated that I had to drop the course halfway through due to knowing I would not be able to complete any of the work. My online learning anxiety continued to grow as the spring of 2020 did not go as planned and I continuously missed classes and hated the structure. But as fall came around and classes began something amazing happened, I learned to really enjoy online school.

Online schooling gave me the opportunity I needed to grow as a student. In my previous years, I have always been the student that would start projects as late as possible. I would always get assignmetns done on time but I would never leave time to go over anything or time to sit on a topic and think about exactly how I wanted it to turn out. This is a habit that left me with a lot of overarching anxiety in my life and did lead me into a brief couple of months of struggle with school. Now I do not know if my study habits have changed because of my struggles or because of online schooling but something is different from this year to the last.

Last year was one of the first years I truly struggled in school. I couldn’t grasp the subjects and it actually mattered if I understood them or not, unlike in highschool where you can still get good grades without knowing any of the information thoroughly. I found this to be quite a large change as I was no longer just flying through school work like it was nothing anymore. I struggled to budget my time well and had to learn how to properly study as I had never really had to use that skill before. This continued throughout all of last year even when class went online.

Once this semester arrived though, everything was calm. The storm felt as if it was over. I do not know if it is because I have so much more energy from not having to converse with people all day but my schoolwork has skyrocketed. I am able to find the time to work on projects that leaves plenty of time before the due date and I am able to motivate myself very well now. Online learning also gave me a lot of extra time due to no longer needing to commute about 1.5-2 hours everyday. So this could possibly be where I am finding the time to work on assignments.

I feel as if there are many benefits that come along with online learning but the most valuable ones for me have been being able to wear pyjamas in class, making healthy lunches at home, being able to mute yourself/turn off your video, not having to commute, not having to carry around books everywhere, and lastly being able to get to class with the click of a button.

I think online learning serves as an amazing substitute for in person which I honestly may prefer more. Of course, I miss the connections that are made through in person learning but I took notice in the fact that in person learning usually results in me not knowing everyone’s names and barely talking to people outside the group you end up spending time with. WIth online learning I know everyone’s name and can distinguish many of their voices. Thanks to breakout rooms I feel as if I have gotten to know many more people than I would have with in person learning. This has been a positive but I am very excited for the day when I get to meet everyone in person.

Overall online learning has been a great way to stay connected to school throughout the pandemic and I honestly will miss it a bit when we go back to regular in person learning.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash