Laura Chodoroff | Washtenaw Voice
by Grace Crandall
Staff Writer
When the pandemic hit, the first thing on every student’s mind was, “What’s going to happen with school?” At the start of quarantine, I was personally thrilled at the idea of kicking back and enjoying a few days off. Pretty quickly that took a turn, and the long weekend became the rest of the semester. When my school announced that class would go online for the rest of the year, I realized that I could no longer blow off assignments; I actually had to treat what I worked on with a laptop like what I worked on at a classroom desk.
But then something happened. I didn’t feel the same way I felt at a classroom desk. Between the Zoom meetings and the saving of dozens of Word documents, I lost the rhythm of the daily school grind. More importantly, my work became weak and sloppy. I was not trying as hard, because I found that I could succeed without putting in as much effort.
To be fair, most people were new at figuring out how to work a virtual world. But my attitude toward putting off work and putting in minimum effort did not enhance my virtual experience.
When in-person class resumed, I maintained this attitude of minimum input for maximum output. But what I didn’t realize at the time was that I wasn’t actually getting the most out of my school life. I took less notes. I got used to open-book tests. Three years later, these have become habits, and I notice that my ability to remember main points of class and even assignments has dwindled.
Earlier in the semester, I wrote a story about how online learning has become more prominent in the wake of Covid. In Fall 2019, WCC offered 19.8% of its classes in an online mode. Fall 2022 offered 30.2% of its classes online, along with the new addition of 16.7% of classes having a virtual (Zoom) offering.
Every year, online learning becomes a bigger piece of the educational world. And in many ways, this is a good thing. Students who cannot access campus can learn at home. Online school provides more flexibility for busy lives. And sometimes, it’s just nice to stay at home with the world at your fingertips.
But I have also noticed a tendency to dodge my work when it comes to online classes. It’s tempting to turn my camera off during a Zoom class, write the minimum word requirement in a discussion board, and ignore the emails announcing new assignments.
Of course, we can “check out” in similar ways when we are in-person. And it’s possible that this attitude online could impact our in-person performance.
ACT college admission scores have dropped to a record low in 30 years, according to a Forbes article from Oct. 2022. While test scores can be concerning, they are only one layer of the change that the education system has witnessed over the past three years.
In the wake of the new, we cannot lose the old. I’m not suggesting that we ditch online learning. What I am suggesting is that we need to make sure we do not lose the teamwork and camaraderie that comes from face-to-face interaction.
Different pressures and struggles await with the process of learning online. Just like we count on interaction and help from peers and mentors in a physical school setting, we need support in the online world as well.
Test scores are of temporary importance. Work ethic and formed relationships are important for life. A quiet confidence and a helping hand can sometimes be the difference between a diploma and a failing grade. There is no “catching up from Covid.” There is only the attitude and support for others that we bring to everyday. If we bring these qualities to the world of online classes, we’ll be more than the way we were before the pandemic. We’ll be better.
