Looking at How Online Learning Has Affected College Students
Abstract
A global pandemic resulting in the shift from conventional teaching to online teaching has brought on questions that many are asking. How can online learning become the modern way of education? How has online learning as a result of Covid-19 affected the education of college students? Multiple studies have taken place to answer these questions and all have yielded results that leaned toward the fact that online learning negatively affected students’ education. One study showed that as a result of the global pandemic and online learning adapting to the new style of teaching had been a struggle. With many students feeling frustrated and disconnected from their professors and classmates. A second study showed that a significant amount of students and professors preferred conventional teaching to the latter. Online learning can’t be the modern way of education as there are too many pitfalls with the idea.
Introduction
A major educational shift came in the early months of 2020 when a global pandemic by the name of Covid-19 forced students of all levels to change and adapt their methods of learning. With quarantines in effect, schools and colleges had been shut down and online learning had become the new method of education. Students remained at home and through the use of various communication softwares such as Zoom, an American communications technology company that provides online chat services, would continue their learning. Forwarding to the present year after months of adapting to what has become the new normal certain questions arise. Questions which have been growing in importance with colleges gearing up for the return of their students to in person classes. Addressing the main question, how can online learning become the modern way of education? Primarily focusing on college students, how has online learning as a result of Covid-19 affected their education and how has it affected those who were planning to dorm but were forced to stay home? Some studies and surveys have been performed regarding similarly proposed questions and resulted in a lot of the information which will be looked at in this lab report. The understanding of how students felt learning online and if online learning had been effective could lead to a modern era of pure online learning and the need for in person classes to be none.
Materials and Methods
The materials used for this lab report are various sources that are listed in the references section of the report. Two of the sources are scholarly articles which have exhibited experiments on questions similar to the ones that are being discussed in this lab report. The methods which were used for finding information for the lab report were reading various articles that provided information based on the main research questions. CCNY’s library databases were used to find scholarly articles for the lab report and other sources such as The Washington Post to find other important information. One particular article focused on a survey which had been done by researchers from the Faculty of Public Administration at the University of Ljubljana along with partners all over the world. The survey’s focus was understanding the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on the lives of higher education students. The survey looked at aspects like how the students felt with the new style of learning, how the students coped with the situation they faced emotionally. Another study was done by the Saudi Medical Journal which had the objective of understanding the views of undergraduate medical students and their staff on conventional vs. online learning methods. A questionnaire was designed in which a 5-point scale was used to determine how the students and staff felt about conventional teaching, online teaching, conventional examination and online examination.
Results
In the first study higher education students all over the world described that “the lack of computer skills and the perception of a relatively higher workload prevented students from perceiving a higher performance while adapting to the ‘new normal’”(Aristovnik). The study also found that the students tend to exhibit boredom, anxiety, and frustration while being part of online learning. 392 responses from the United States displayed that there was a below average satisfaction in terms of the ability to access a quiet place to study. In the second study by the Saudi Medical Group the results displayed that students favored conventional teaching over online teaching, “the mean score of interest in conventional teaching being significantly higher than that for online teaching (35.4 [+ or -] 7 versus 31.8 [+ or -] 8.3 points; t = 6.1; p=0.001). Similarly, the mean score for conventional examination was slightly higher than that for online examination (16.2 [+ or -] 3.4 versus 15 [+ or -] 3.8 points; t = 4.7; p=0.001)”(Hanafy). For the professors the mean scores presented that there was a significant favoring for conventional teaching. Despite the general results favoring conventional teaching, attitudes and final grades for online examinations proved to be higher than those of the midterm conventional exam.
Discussion
Online learning truly can’t become the modern way for education at least not at this point and time. With Covid-19 a global test trial was produced and along with the two studies talked about in this lab report the main result was Covid-19 impacted college students’ education negatively. The first study showed that students around the world found that adjusting to a completely technological style of learning was seemingly difficult. Many found themselves to be bored and or frustrated while taking part in online classes. The second study proved that both professors and students display a significant favor toward conventional teaching rather than having online teaching.
The downfall to online learning comes from the fact that students don’t have to directly participate in their classes. For the most part students are not required to keep their cameras on which allows them to go off and do other things rather than pay attention to their professor. Online learning has a certain optional feel to it as if classes aren’t a real requirement and paying attention is something that students don’t have to do if they don’t feel like doing it. “Sometimes, Orozco will look at her phone during an online class – and then catch herself. But her phone isn’t the only thing sapping her attention. Once, when Orozco was visiting her family for a long weekend, she accidentally left it in the dining room, where she had eaten lunch, before starting her class in another part of the house. Even though the phone was elsewhere, she found herself staring out the window, zoning out”(Supiano). The lack of enforcing students to learn and the lack of connection between students and professors were both results of the pandemic and a negative effect on students’ education. To those who were hoping to get away from their homes and dorm covid had a big impact as well. For some it meant a chance to learn responsibility and the aspect of living on their own, while for others dorming meant a chance to escape with whatever situation they faced at home and focus on their studies.
Conclusion
Overall, a fully online learning experience is not a viable option for the education of college students. With Covid-19 introducing online learning to students around the world many faced the negative aspects of having to sit in front of a computer screen for multiple hours a day. Students found themselves to be doing anything but paying attention to their classes. A lack of responsibility and connection came with online learning that has resulted in many wanting to return to in person classes. A different way in which technology can be integrated into education needs to be sought after as switching to a fully online learning method isn’t ideal for most students.
References
Hanafy, Safaa M., et al. “A comparative study of online learning in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic versus conventional learning.” Saudi Medical Journal, vol. 42, no. 3, 2021, p. 324+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A654302811/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=8a1e94ca. Accessed 26 Mar. 2021.
Nova, Annie. “Your College Closed Early Because of Coronavirus. You Might Not Get Your Money Back.” CNBC, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/03/13/why-students-arent-getting-refunds-after-coronavirus-college-closings.html.
Supiano, Beckie. “The Unsettled Semester.” Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 67, no. 8, 11 Dec. 2020, pp. 1–8. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=148194855&site=ehost-live.
Svrluga, Susan. “For Some Students in Need, Campus Is a Safe – but Lonely – Place to Live during the Pandemic.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Dec. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/12/29/college-students-dorms-life-pandemic/.
