Author: raquel

This week in class we talked about Distributed Learning, which was quite interesting considering I have been experiencing distributed learning for about a year now. For my reflection, I will be sharing the list of the pros and cons of online learning that we discussed in class, as well as my one personal thoughts.

List from class:

Positives:

• You can all type at once
• No commute
• More homework and personal time
• Wearing pajamas and doing class in bed
• Not taking the bus.
• You can multi-task a lot more things on the go
• Lectures can be recorded a lot easier, discussions are saved
• Notes are accessible online
• Ability to multitask during class.
• Less gas money
• More sleep
• Don’t have to worry about forgetting things at home
• We get to meet people’s pets!
• Closed captioning on zoom calls
• Being able to have people’s names and pronouns right there in case you forget

Negatives:

• Tired bodies and eyes from too much screen time
• Lack of ability to study with/connect with classmates
• When the internet is down, no accessibility to class
• Hurts looking at a screen all-day
• I feel like I am way less active and do not get the fresh air I need
• More home distractions
• Hard to do homework after already sitting at the desk all-day 
• Tech can really be a pain and not always work when you need it/want it too
• Get tired easily
• Back pain 
• No resources for more hands-on classes (music, art, physical ed, tech, drama)
• Headaches (from the screen)
• Difficult to connect with profs

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ZKVzGxBedlHexl-S3lpZy_6UfIcWRZxkUBp1qcGeo4/edit%23&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1616201792258000&usg=AOvVaw1h1nJi9NAvRPVZHTinxv3V

Online school definitely comes with some advantages and some challenges. When it comes to my opinion about online school, I find it really hard to disassociate my feelings about online school and my feelings about the COVID-19 pandemic. Personally, I am an outgoing and sociable person that cherishes the space for connection that can only be provided by in-person learning. I consider myself to be very lucky to be a part of a cohort with all the same classes as my peers. By seeing familiar faces every day, I have gotten the chance to create relationships and feel comfortable speaking up in classes. This is not always the case. I have a lot of friends from different faculties and different Universities who have had not as good experiences. I would say that for most, online school is uncomfortable, boring, and frustrating.

In all, I think that there is definitely a time and place for online learning. Post-pandemic, I think that this year will be seen as a time for adapting and growing. Though I would have never planned to have such an extensive online learning experience, it forced me to further my understanding of online learning and how I can use technology to enhance the learning experiences of my students in the future.