Distance learnig's impact

By Chris Lopez

Distance learning is something that needs some getting used to. Both students and teachers had their fair share of difficulties when adjusting to learning/teaching from a distance. But what sort of issues are teachers and students facing?

Before anything, to say one is definitively better is than the other(Distance/in-person classes) is difficult because “the two generally show that distance education is as effective as in-person education” when it comes to effectiveness. Said Stacy Lee Kong of Roger’s Media

Students have expressed their struggles in keeping up with the amount of homework being assigned to them, and teachers have shown struggle in adjusting to teaching through a device.

Students have shown that they aren’t as focused in a virtual classroom as opposed to an in-person class.

“I think it's much harder to pay attention… it's not really a classroom setting.” Said Ulises, a Yerba Buena student.

“It’s very difficult cause I'm in a very different environment, I'm not used to being at home and working from there.” Said Sergio, another Yerba Buena student.

Distance learning has also had an impact on student ethics when it comes to schoolwork.

“I got lazier… I feel like my work ethic has worsened… distance learning has made me more susceptible to cheating.” Said Ulises

“Quarantine has made me a lot lazier… I’m mindful of my work… but I have a lot of missing ones[assignments].” Said,Sergio

And students have shown mixed emotions about distance learning Overall.

“It’s unviable… like it’s good for now but it can’t keep going on… eventually, something is eventually gonna break[fail]” said Ulises.

He said “I get the whole jist of it(distance learning) but it's still kinda complicated, cause like there’s so much homework, it does get overwhelming so I dislike it(Distance learning) a lot.” said Sergio.

And when asked about how he felt about distance learning Sergio said he enjoyed the convenience of distance learning but disliked the difficulties he encountered when trying to focus on his device, and he didn’t like disconnection he felt has been more frequent between students and teachers.

When it comes to teachers, optimal training may be needed. To better understand how to instruct by a distance.

A school in San Diego called “Atlus” has trained teachers to instruct students through a device. They have spent “27 years” training, and “developing curriculum that engages” their students with their devices. According to the PR Newswire.

And because of “atlus’” preparation, they have become one of the few schools to ever receive the “Presidential Malcolm Baldrige Award for quality and performance.” According to PR Newswire.

But teachers who haven’t had any time to adjust to giving instructions online have had difficulties adjusting to having to deal with computer issues.

Sergio explains “Teachers don’t really understand students have problems with [the] internet..this one student came in late… He (the teacher) was debating about it, his stand on it was “you just have to press one button and be on time,” what he doesn't understand is that people have lag.”

And as most students are very aware of, teachers have given big amounts of homework.

“There's so much homework and everything, it's overwhelming.” Said, Sergio

“One day there’s gonna be too much of a workload...It does get too much” said Ulises

But in summary, distance learning has brought up challenges for both teachers and students. But as time passes by, both teachers and students will become more efficient in the way they go about distance learning.