As someone who has been attending school mostly virtually for the past year now, I am biased towards thinking that in person learning is better than online learning because I like in person learning better. Through research and experience teaching, I see the other side now. I accept that some people do really well with online learning and enjoy it even more than in person learning, but it's not necessarily something I can fully understand.
I prefer in person learning because I learn better from it. Even as a college student, I struggle to sit through online classes without switching tabs to my emails or scrolling through messages on my phone. When I was in person, there was a feeling of shared camaraderie where the other students were sitting paying attention so I felt obligated to also do so. During an in person class, I would never blatantly go on my phone and completely ignore a professor's lecture, but online I can get up and do whatever I want. Maybe it's just a lack of focus or self control, I'm not sure, but there is a massive difference between my ability to pay attention in online classes vs in person classes.
This semester 3 out of 4 of my classes are in person. I know that having in person classes fundamentally impacts how well I learn during class because when I have attended my in person classes online this semester, I barely pay attention. Sometimes I only listen to 5 minutes of a lecture before my mind wanders and I begin working on something else. However, when I attend my classes in person the majority of the time I can pay attention to the entire 1 hour 15 minutes of my statistics class and at least an hour of my other class. These numbers aren't tiny differences in my attention span and focus, these are massive differences between my ability to learn online and in person.
Not only is my ability to focus severely impaired during online classes, but online classes also make me miss casual social interactions. Last semester, I only had one in person class each week and it fundamentally impacted my mood because I wasn't going out and doing anything or talking to other people during the day. Instead, I sat alone in my room most of the time attending virtual classes and working on homework. While I now better understand this lack of social interaction helps students who were previously bullied, I still hesitate in saying that online classes work for everyone.
Although I've focused on the negatives, I want to acknowledge that without the advanced technology we have today, online learning would be impossible to perform at the level we are currently using it. For that, I am grateful. I am grateful that in a pandemic I still have the ability to learn. Not only that, but I'm also grateful that I have access to reliable wifi and the other necessary technological tools to utilize online learning. I can't say the same for more rural areas in the U.S. where access to reliable wifi is limited or for families who don't own multiple computers or laptops.
Does this mean I would continue with online learning if I had a choice? No. I definitely wouldn't, but I also recognize my own privilege in my ability to continue learning in a remote fashion. I am curious about what the future of education looks like in terms of if there will be more online options now that most schools are equipped for it. I will include a post later where I recap some articles about the future of schools after the pandemic.