Face to face back-to-school delayed again? Wondering if online school will take over?

It feels like online learning has been going on for years when in reality it has only been 6 months. Being isolated and working day in, day out makes students feel as if the days are longer than they actually are, this is what it feels like to be stuck in an online learning loop.

Covid-19 has changed the education system forever. Students are faced with a significant change having to move from physical learning to a full online learning system. Although the numbers of covid-19 cases vary from one country to another, school closure has been persistent throughout and online learning has been a global change. With this sudden drastic change, many people were wondering if adapting to a new system would be chronically  stressful.

We interviewed some students in Trinity College, and they shared their thoughts on the situation. One of the students, who we shall call Mike for the sake of privacy, said

“I really want to go back to school. It’s boring to stay at home every day. At first I was very excited because I didn’t have to go to school, but gradually I found there was nothing to do at home. Without the teacher’s supervision, I became more and more lazy. I was afraid that my grades would go down. How do I deal with my spare time? I often watch American TV series and English movies to keep my English. Once in a while I go to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities yet I hardly do any exercise, I guess I’ve put on a lot of kilograms in the last few months”.

It is clear from their response that they are stuck in an online learning loop. This can be seen from the fact that they feel lost without teacher guidance and have become lazy to the point where they are afraid of the status of their grades. This student has not been very productive with their time in lockdown and has not been coping as well as others.

Another student, Helen (alias) has a different experience to Mike,

“Although I miss my teachers and classmates very much, I think it’s good to have online classes at home. It’s a safe and efficient way to do it. Not having to go to school saved me a lot of time. Because I live far away from school, it usually takes me about an hour on my way to school. I can manage my study time well at home”.

As ‘Helen’ mentioned, time management and self-regulation are problems commonly faced by students during this online learning period. It’s a challenge to youth. According to our survey, around half of the students are willing to go back to school, and half of them prefer to study at home.

The times we are living in now are new to us all. Most of the students are not used to online schooling and working from home, by now after 4 lonely quarantined months we have gotten used to it. However that does not mean students are working efficiently, we feel like it’s safe to say that we are all watching lectures, doing homework and waking up to the beat of our own drums.

Working to our own schedules does have it’s fair share of problems however, since our lecturers now give us 3 days to watch the lectures, we have become lazier due to procrastination. Whereas when school was still face to face and lectures were done in real time, students had to be on time so as to not miss attendance. Since the lecture times are now very lenient, students are putting off the lectures for later more often, this leads to the students forgetting which lectures they have watched and they may end up missing some.

Before the pandemic, our days were organized and structured by school, work, organisations, and other groups we were involved with actively. However, until then organising our days would be our own responsibility. Here are some tips on how to structure your day in order to stay focused and on track!

Create a checklist & rewards!

Preparing your day beforehand will help you go through your day without a worry. One way you could plan your day is by creating a checklist along with a reward. Ensuring that essential tasks are done by ticking off your checklists gives you a sense of satisfaction itself, however, when a reward is incorporated, it makes the whole experience better.

This process is called gamification. It’s a process which puts a twist on ordinary tasks making them more fun as well as encouraging engagement with the participant. These rewards don’t necessarily need to be big, a small reward will give you a sense of satisfaction and push you to achieve more.

Create a work space

Having a designated workspace with everything you need around you is crucial to maintaining an organized day. By creating an area specifically for work or school you are more focused and motivated to do the essential tasks because it mimics the idea of an “office” or a “classroom” excluding the long commute. To do this, simply clear an area and prepare all your work or school needs, this way you are not easily distracted by irrelevant things like games, social media, etc.

 Taking breaks

Taking breaks is highly critical when it comes to work and school because your body naturally demands it. Most people think that taking breaks is equivalent to procrastination which means less work is done, however the more time spent on school and work often leads to less time for sleep which has a major impact on one’s performance during the day.

With the situation happening at the moment, it is unclear whether or not schools will reopen soon, you may be stuck in an online learning loop until then. However, we have given you the knowledge needed to break out of the same monotonous loop and become more productive.