In March 2020 the Disease Covid-19 caused schools to close down worldwide. Due to the pandemic, students were forced to take classes online until around 2021- 2022, because of this many students were getting used to the life of being indoors all day and taking classes online. When schools started to reopen again many students were affected by this huge change, many were already used to indoors and online so changing back to in-person again was hard for many students. Now multiple students have adjusted to in-person again however which learning format was the most effective?
Due to students getting accustomed to online programs, many students lost a lot of their social skills in the process. “It was a big change and then all my social skills got bad because I wasn’t interacting with people until I came back in person,” said Cheyenne Harbin, 9. While online classes might have been great for students to get laid back many do not grasp the idea of how COVID has impacted us mentally and socially.
Although Online school has downsides there are positives as well. “A benefit from being online was I could be able to listen to music whenever I did my work but like in person I wouldn’t be able to do that,” said Ariana Kurtui, 9. There are also other benefits such as “You get to sleep more, get to wear pajamas all day/comfy clothes, and I would say, you get to eat whatever you want, not what the lunchroom provides.” Harbin said.
Another way online classes are beneficial is that you can learn how to become more independent, Improve your problem-solving skills, and more. “I feel like online is better because you can get the work done faster and it’s independent so you have to understand it or else you can’t do the work, and if you understand it when you come back and the teacher reteaches. It’ll be easier.” Amisa Banfield, 10 said. Online learning gives students a way to figure out what they did wrong and also uses resources outside of classes to learn topics they have not grasped yet. Letting students get used to learning on their own and also adapting to difficult situations where they feel frustrated.
Even though online learning does come with a lot of benefits, some students also prefer in-person learning since some may have trouble learning and can have face-to-face help from their teachers, becoming more social, and meeting their friends. “I prefer in person because it’s easier to talk to people and ask questions and I like group work and group work is more fun in person,” Banfield said.
In conclusion, some people side with online while others side with in-person, both of them have their positives and negatives. Online classes provide independence and flexibility, while in-person allow social interactions and face-to-face learning. In the end, it all depends on the type of person and how they learn, everyone is different and everyone learns differently and most importantly figuring out which learning format is best suited for the student.
