Month: February 2022

Although COVID-19 has drastically impacted education across the board, the number one change that can be seen concerns academic integrity. With online tests and quizzes, it is nearly impossible to monitor every individual student. That being said, cheating is now at an all time high. Online resources, working with peers, etc. all are more common than ever before due to the adjustments in learning the pandemic has forced.

With the newfound prevalence of academic integrity on exams, the question of quality of education is brought up. Are college students passing their major-required classes due to outside help on tests? Are high schoolers not truly learning necessary academic skills since they can just google answers? Are students really benefitting long-term with the online changes made to their education?

Not only is cheating more common, it is also extremely normalized now. Throughout my senior year, the biggest impact of COVID hit academically. I saw some of the top students in my grade resorting to whatever means necessary to maintain their good grades, regardless of whether or not they actually retained the material. Teachers began to make more assignments “open-note” which led exams that were not the same format to be even more difficult. By opening tests on computers rather than pencil and paper, unless there was a lockdown browser in place, nearly every single exam had students cheating in one way or another. Not only is this an issue of integrity and honesty, but it makes me wonder about the college students who did the exact same thing on tests.

 

Our future doctors, nurses, engineers, CEOs, etc. are potentially not learning the necessary information they need for their future careers. Although sometimes having access to your own notes on a test is beneficial, having open access to google and other online resources seems to be doing more harm than good at this point in time. Without any strong way to monitor these cheating methods, they have only grown more and more prevalent. I noticed that for me personally, just two or three weeks ago I had my first in person, no notes exam for the first time since the beginning of senior year. The anxiety and stress I felt was odd considering the test was the same format I had been exposed to for the majority of my life so far.

I’m not saying that we need to go back to fully in person tests, with no peer communication, no notes, and no online access, but I do think that for exams and work that is truly trying to get an idea for where students are with their knowledge, we need to recognize that the data may not be quite accurate. COVID has shown us a lot about who we are as students and educators, but it has shown us to get a little lazy more than anything in my eyes.

 

In my last post I explored how this global pandemic has had negative impacts on learning and education in America, so this week I decided to look into the opposite idea. Today, I want to look into some of the positive effects.

Students and educators alike have adjusted to learning remotely, which has greatly improved typing skills, computer awareness, and even small things such as email etiquette. Although students that are younger have faced more challenges navigating their education online, they have overcome these obstacles and learned new skills that will be very important as they grow older.

Elementary, middle, and high schoolers alike have become more tech-savvy than ever before. Students now know how to manage their workloads to work more independently with less direction, which prepares them for college and future jobs. Things like sick days and weather situations are less challenging now because students are able to access their work from home or another location. It is easier to get caught up on missed work since nearly everything is available online for students to access anywhere.

According to this article, not only are students and teachers becoming more aware of how to help each other and stay on top of work, they are all learning how to shift priorities a bit to make a better environment to learn in. With the pandemic, many families faced new hardships that they were unprepared for. In this newly technological world, people are beginning to emphasize the importance of students’ mental health and wellb

eing, as well as that of educators alike. Conversations are easier, resources are more readily accessible, and communication between students and teachers and parents is offered through more options than ever before.

Resources such as Zoom and

Google Classroom are being used now as part of daily life for students, and in some ways being implemented into adult jobs. Overall, people are much more understanding and respectful of others now that we are aware of how hard this pandemic has hit some families.

Although there are so many negatives about COVID-19, taking the time to look at the positives is extremely important. Building better relationships inside and outside the classroom thanks to new online resources will help prepare young students for their futures, and will allow educators to help on a more personal level when needed. I know that for me personally, just having the ability to Zoom into high school classes on days I was sick helped me feel a little less behind and more on top of my workload, which helped me feel better in other aspects of my life as well.