Problems with Virtual Learning

Kaylee Van, Reporter

Unlike any other school year, this year’s first nine weeks was a new learning experience for all students, as it was entirely online for every secondary school in the district. Students were faced with many new challenges throughout the quarter, from many technical difficulties to adjusting to the learning style.

“A common issue I’ve seen in my classes are people being unable to join the meeting or getting disconnected from one, due to bad internet connections,” Sr. Brandon Nguyen said. “There were also times where Microsoft Teams would not load the assignments and it would not save any work for some reason. I think the number of problems have reduced compared to when we first started, but it definitely isn’t completely gone.”

In addition to all the internet problems and issues within Microsoft Teams, some students have found it harder to retain or learn in this new learning environment.

“I still believe that virtual learning is the least effective and most bland way to learn. We are just being fed a large sum of knowledge and hoping to take it all in by the end of the semester,” Sr. Viet Nguyen said.

With everything being online, there is not much interaction within the class compared to before. Students don’t get as much one on one time with their teachers for any help and they do not have many opportunities to collaborate with their peers.

“I’m also losing a lot of social aspects of being at school,” Viet Nguyen said. “I truly miss my friends and teachers that I would normally be able to see.”

Not only is virtual learning a new experience for students, it is also the teachers’ first time teaching their class through a screen instead of in-person.

“Having a class that’s solely based on kids collaborating and working with each other, this has been a new challenge for me,” sculpture teacher ChezaRae Jeanes Nagel said. “However, this whole experience has made me much more tech savvy. I learned to record my critical content so I don’t need to constantly repeat myself for those who are falling behind because of technology issues, or if they just need to see the process again.”

Although there are some downsides to not being able to learn in a normal classroom setting, there are some ways in which virtual learning is favorable.

“I originally thought learning online would only hurt and not help me in any of my classes,” Sr. Jayden Bui said. “Now that we have been doing this for several weeks, I find that virtual learning is more beneficial to me. I’m much more focused than before and not having other classmates distract me is a plus.”

Virtual learning is definitely not for everyone; whether the students choose to stay online or go back, this past quarter of adapting to online school was a huge learning opportunity for all of us.