'My Online Learning Experience as a Student This Fall Has Been Great' (Opinion)

‘My Online Learning Experience as a Student This Fall Has Been Great’

By Larry Ferlazzo — November 24, 2020 4 min read

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Larry Ferlazzo

Opinion Contributor, Education Week

Larry Ferlazzo is a former award-winning high school English and social studies teacher of more than two decades. He is currently a volunteer tutor to English-learner newcomers at a local school and to youth in juvenile hall.

This series highlights contributions from students in my classes.

In Part One, Cathy Liu, Julia Yang, Eliseo Angulo Lopez, and Masihullah Shafiq shared their thoughts.

In Part Two, Luis Diaz, Samantha Nicole Vicedo, Cheyenne Lo, and Manpreet Rana contribute their commentaries.

Today, Lyna Nguyen, Nono Loek, and Rachel Anjel “wrap up” this series...

Teachers ‘have been really understanding’

Lyna Nguyen is a junior at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif.

My online learning experience as a student this fall has been great. What’s working for me is I like the 40 minutes in class and 40 minutes asynchronous time to work on our assignments. I feel like teachers have been really understanding and helpful of what we’re going through and how difficult it can be. I find it more relaxing for me because everything is organized through Google Classroom, and it puts a little stress off of me because I disliked feeling disorganized and anxious.

What is not working for me is sometimes my time management is off, and it can be a little stressful how teachers assign work really close to the due date of other class assignments. I’d rather have the assignments’ due dates spread out throughout the week. Sometimes, there are technology difficulties, which can interrupt my learning experience. Everything is also online, so it can take a while communicating with teachers. Overall, communication is delayed, and it can be difficult reaching out to teachers and asking for assistance. Even when I need help with a certain assignment, it can be difficult learning and processing information through a screen. Other than that, I appreciate teachers trying their best to make everything work during this pandemic.

‘Internet classes save time’

Nono Loek is a senior at Luther Burbank High School:

In my experience with internet classes, the good far outweighs the bad. Internet classes save time, and saving time is important to me. The studies are structured much better than I expected. I don’t really see a difference between the online and offline structures. Group work is done in separate rooms, and I think it’s not that bad, because we also learn a lot in online classes.

I sometimes miss the interaction with people, making long-lasting friendships, which is extremely important for all of us. At home, it’s hard to force yourself to take a break. I think this pandemic has t probably transformed education. Most of the things we found to be impossible have now proven to be possible.

I actually really enjoy distance learning, but sometimes I want everything to go back to normal. I also like how I don’t have to wake up at 6 every morning. I like that with learning online, I can relax more, as well as think more. What I don’t like about online learning is that it can take me up to a whole school day (6-7 hours) to finish assignments.

‘I understand teachers are trying to keep us safe’

Rachel Anjel is a senior at Luther Burbank High School:

My online experience this year is kind of boring because I don’t really get to see friends in school anymore. And I thought it was going to be fun using Chromebooks. Sometimes it can be difficult because sometimes the Wi-Fi doesn’t work or it can be slow. I sometimes feel bored because I can’t spend or hang out with my friends.

A good thing is that we have this app called FaceTime, so whenever I’m bored, I can just call my friends. We talk and play while we do our homework and have fun. But at the same time, I think having an online school is bad because I hate sitting in my room the whole six hrs. I remember saying I like online school, but now it’s getting boring. I think it would be better if we went to school. But I understand teachers are trying to keep us safe.

Thanks to Lyna, Nono, and Rachel for their contributions!

(This is the final post in a multipart series. You can see Part One here and Part Two here.)

The question-of-the-week:

What has your online learning experience been as a student this fall? What is working for you and why? What is not working for you and why?

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

If you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn’t include ones from this current year.

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.