Online School 2.0
New year same scenario. We should be well used to this now, after all it’s our third lockdown. We never thought that we would come full circle, and it wasn’t too long before we did. Shortly after waving good riddance to the conundrum of a year that was 2020, we found ourselves slap bang in the middle of another Level 5 panic attack. Everything including “safe” school environments were shut before we could even blink. This meant for students across the country including myself a return to online learning after the best part of 7 months without it.
Frustration is the word of choice for many students when relating to online learning. You don’t have the same routine or approach to learning as you normally would if you were going to school every day. Firstly, everyone is guilty of waking up two minutes before their first class at 9:00 which is down to a lack of routine and schedule, you aren’t going to be late for any bus these mornings and there is no bell ringing in your ears at 8:55 either ( apart from the alarm at 8:58 of course). The structure of the school day is out the window, you have to double check that you don’t have a live class before you decide to have your breakfast most mornings and only the super disciplined tend to stick to the 1:00 pm to 1:30pm lunchtime. Meanwhile the rest of us are firing up the Foreman for a quick “ham and cheese toastie” before legging it back to our desk in the nick of time. But even that is a phrase that has fizzled out recently. For instance class may start dead on time or five minutes late, it all depends on the duration of the game of “chicken” played subconsciously by the students before class, the game consists of students waiting in the google meets lobby while the teacher is in the call by themselves, the game of chicken then ensues with the winner being the person who eventually takes one for the team and joins the call first. Once one person finds the guts to join, seven more then join within seconds like someone is after offering up free Super Bowl tickets.
The Super Bowl itself could have been used as a tool to keep our knowledge of mathematical equations up to speed but only one stat jumped out from the rest. That was of course Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl. That is one for every time I disconnected from an online class last week as a result of poor internet. I know it is a first world problem, but it can drive you insane sometimes leading me to believe that the time before the internet existed was a million times more peaceful. It’s so bad sometimes that you would put serious thought into firing the router against the wall in the hope that it may work. The urban people are immune to this problem, but the country people have faced the brunt of it over the past few weeks. This can set those students back as they must allow for extra time to upload assignments and download online resources.
The communication is also another big factor in online learning, there is a lack of interaction in online classes between students and teachers. Don’t get me wrong the teachers are trying their very best but you would have to feel sorry for them sometimes because they might as well be talking to the wall sometimes as no one does or is willing to switch on their camera. I can’t say I find all this enjoyable because I don’t and you probably don’t either so the day online school will be a thing of the past will be a day in your calendar to look forward to.