The Effects, the Aftermath, and the Lessons of Virtual Learning

Learning virtually for the last year and a half has felt like going to a stay-away summer camp for the first time. It was a weird, foreign experience, that was fun, and in the end, you learned more about yourself than you want to.

Late March 2020, when the pandemic hit, college students were were sent away, taking as much as we could fit in our cars and on our flights, then told not to come back. What started out as a regular, spring semester turned into something unprecedented and unforeseen.

Dorms and lecture hauls were left empty as students were told that their classes were now going to be online. We looked around and suddenly we were attending classes virtually, with no knowledge of how or if we would ever see each other, or see our campuses again. Enter in that first time at summer camp feeling. The first few months of virtual learning came with the excitement and uneasiness of a new experience. However, a year later, that summer camp feeling is over, and we students have learned much about learning online.

So, what have been the effects, the aftermath, and the lessons of virtual learning? After contemplating my own experiences as a college student, and having conversations with students from different universities, here are a few

Convenience.

Virtual classes made learning convenient. Students were able to attend classes anywhere and anytime. Lessons and activities were available for students to work at their own pace as long as it was submitted by a certain deadline. Even with synchronous classes, meetings on Zoom or Team could be done from any place, any room, on your phone, in the car.

Survey the internet, and no doubt you will find students admitting to making breakfast or driving around while still attending classes. I find myself among those who engaged in other activities while learning. The options for muting yourself and your camera on these platforms made it easier to find yourself doing other things while attending class and learning.

Sherlonda Telusmond, a student at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, explains that virtual learning gave her the option to learn on her own time.

“I feel like the pros [of virtual learning] were having the opportunity to do my assignments at my own pace,” Sherlonda explains.

For some students like Sherlonda, this meant not having the restrictions of having to learn at a certain time, at a certain place every day. Instead, students had the ability to choose where and when they wanted to listen to lectures or take their assessments.

Aaron Fields, a film major at Georgia State University, found it easier to attend class and would listen to lectures while driving. However, Aaron explains that this wasn’t always a good thing.

“It’s easier to get distracted and feel disconnected because we’re all alone, “ Aaron’s accurate claims lead me to the next lesson.

Disconnection.

Virtual learning fostered environments where students felt disconnected. It’s hard to connect with people through a screen.

“In the beginning, I was not feeling Zoom classes. I felt really disconnected because no one really interacted during the Zoom calls,” Aaron explained.

This was a common experience during this pandemic not just for students but for the general public. After 12 weeks of social isolation and quarantine, the importance of in-person interaction became abundantly clear.

Virtual learning took away the necessary feature of social and physical interaction that happens within a classroom. Many of these interactions are small: gathering with your classmates before class time to discuss previous assessments or upcoming projects, moving your chair or desk to get closer to your partner for the assignment, or being able to hear your classmate’s thoughts on a question without the audio cutting out or lagging. However, these simple interactions are meaningful because they invoke that sense of community that overall contributes to the learning experience.

The bonding and connection that occurs between students who are learning together is difficult to replicate online but isn’t impossible. Although many teachers admitted to the difficulty they faced with online learning, by the time our third semester of online school came around, professors seemed to become more comfortable with teaching online.

“I think that now that professors have more experience with running a zoom class, they are learning how to make the class time more engaging and interactive,” Aaron admits. He also found that his experience with virtual learning improved as well, proving another good point.

Effort.

Virtual learning takes effort. It may seem counterintuitive, but online classes require a different level of effort and focus than in-person learning.

“I am also learning to engage with people better online. It was definitely a challenge at first, but, as I said before, it is better when everyone works together to make an online environment welcoming and engaging, “ Aaron points out a very important aspect of virtual learning: it takes everyone’s effort both students and teachers to make it an interesting and effective use of time.

I took virtual classes that were fun and informative because the professor made an effort, and so did we students. However, there were a couple of classes that were not so great because there was simply no effort made to conduct an engaging class.

Similarly, something that’s actually quite a phenomenon, is that virtual learning requires more focus.

“The cons [of virtual learning] would be the level of focus needed to successfully pass these classes…” Sherlonda explains, “I think it has changed me as a student because it has forced me to be more focused on completing things in a timely manner, which reduces the levels of procrastination.”

Maybe it’s the convenience that we discussed earlier or the fact that we’re more susceptible to distractions when learning at home online, but virtual classes required more discipline and more focus.

When classes are in-person, your mind and body understand that in order to attend these classes, you have to get dressed, go on campus, walk to a building, and sit in a class. I’ve realized that these things are easy for most students to do, simply because we’ve been students for a long time.

When you eliminate these things and attending class only requires pressing a couple of buttons, it requires more self-motivation and dedication or it’s very easy to get behind or slack off.

The majority of universities are returning to in-person classes this fall. It will be interesting to see how easy or hard it will be for us students to return to normalcy, or if there will ever be a sense of normalcy again. What will be the academic effects of a year and a half of virtual classes? What will be the social effects?

However, most of us students are excited to get back to our regular college lives and leave those long, memorable days of Zoom University behind us.