This week in class we talked about the positive and negatives of online learning. This is a very relevant topic for students who experienced online learning during the pandemic. Some of the negatives include the lack of social interaction and the side effects of screen fatigue. However, some of the positives were a shift towards more project based activities instead of tests and the flexibility online learning provides.

Personally, I think COVID changed the way teachers think about learning and how they are assessing students. I really enjoy hearing about how teachers are more concerned about the well-being of students rather than just looking at the content. It also appears that there is more of a focus on having students understand the concepts and project-based activities instead of just memorizing certain concepts for a test. At the same time, I think with online learning there was a higher amount of students who felt isolated because there was less social interaction. When I was finishing up my undergraduate degree, I had lots of classes online and it felt like there wasn’t as many opportunities for student socialization. A lot of my professors talked for the majority of class time and I found it really difficult to pay attention. I did have lots of classes that had breakout rooms, but those always felt a little awkward to be in. I took a lot of French classes and in most breakout rooms that I was in, people spoke English even if we were supposed to be speaking in French. Sometimes, it felt like no one wanted to engage at all.

I think some classes work better for online classes than others. For example, my art classes were very community based and it relied on having a certain studio space to work in. When all of this went online, it was a lot harder to stay motivated and it felt like we were missing the social interaction and being able to learn from one another.

Overall, there was a big shift in learning after the pandemic. I think that we have learned lots about both the positives and negatives of online learning. Now that we are not obligated to learn online, I think there are a lot of positive changes that have been implemented such as more activity based learning and being more concerned about student wellness.