Online learning. 

Something we have all grown very familiar with over the last year and something I, along with many others, have grown to disdain.

Even though my hatred for online learning increases exponentially with every zoom meeting and notification about a posted asynchronous class lecture, I believe right now online learning is the safest, and therefore best, option.  With the severity and deadly nature of the pandemic, it is in everyone’s best interest to social distance and stay out of large crowds until enough of the population receives the vaccine and we reach herd immunity.  We cannot do this in crowded classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, and lecture halls.

While I agree this positive of preventing the spread of Covid-19 and saving lives dwarfs the negatives, making them seem insignificant in comparison, there are still many problems with online learning. 

One of the most important issues with online learning deals with technology accessibility and equity.  In order for students to be successful while taking classes and learning online, which is a struggle to adjust to in itself, students must first be able to have reliable and consistent access to the internet.  Among a great deal of people, including a disproportionate amount living in rural and low socioeconomic communities, access to the internet is simply not a possibility.  Currently in California, even after months upon months of online learning, an estimated 700,000 students still need devices like laptops or Chromebooks to do their school work and attend class.  An estimated 300,000 lack internet connectivity to ensure full participation in distance learning.  

Another major problem with online learning is how it impacts students socially.  While social isolation has become a common trend due to the ever-present quarantine, it is especially detrimental when students of all grades and ages are trying to learn.  According to Sander Tamm from e-student.org, “The e-learning methods currently practiced in education tend to make participating students undergo contemplation, remoteness and a lack of interaction.”  In addition to preventing them from acquiring team building and similar social skills developed through in-person learning, learning in an online environment hinders students from grasping their studied material due to a lack of personal connections with their educators.  Many students need to do that in person contact during office hours to go over work and fully understand everything.  Due to the online nature of their education, however, many students, plagued with zoom fatigue and a great deal of stress, avoid reaching out for extra help.  

Those are just two of the major issues with online learning.  

All things considered, online learning is not by any means perfect, but it is the best we can work with at this moment.  I believe everyone needs to wear their masks and keep social distancing so we can bid adieu to the black boxes of zoom and go back to traditional in-person learning as quickly as possible.