Distance Learning during a Pandemic
As for today, COVID-19 is the most discussed topic in the world. The spread of Coronavirus has impacted the format of the educational process for most universities and our university, ITMO, is no exception. ITMO has moved to distance learning, providing online classwork. That is why I want to share with you my distance learning experience.
In my opinion ITMO teachers are extremely flexible. They worked out a distance learning plan and explained it to students. I can only imagine how hard it is to make it happen in a short period of time. According to this plan we have to use the app called "Zoom" to communicate with teachers and our group at a particular time. So, this process is similar to a class before the pandemic.
I want to share with you some tricky situations which students and teachers are facing during distance learning. The only problems for students are sound and connection quality. Sometimes it is tricky to understand your groupmate because he has a terrible microphone. But all of these problems are temporary. I’m sure that in the near future distance learning will make up a huge part of our lives and that is why everybody will have a great headset. As far as I’m concerned our teachers have the same difficulties as we do and even more. It is hard to understand what students are doing during class. For example, he can watch TV shows and pretend to learn because no one can see him and his screen (or screens).
The biggest problem of distance learning for society is the inability to work with some devices which we can use in our university labs. It can be a crucial problem in the future, because we may have specialists who have no idea how to use their knowledge in practice.
Everyday we waste a lot of time to get to university. In my view, the biggest advantage of distance learning is saving time. Because of distance learning all I need to do to be ready for class is get up from bed and turn on my computer.
As for me, distance learning is a laborious occupation. It is difficult for me to focus on something at home. I’m used to the fact that my home is the place where I rest from work. Also, I have my whole family, including my little brother, at home because of the pandemic, so the house is full of noise. But things are going better now compared to the first days. I started to adjust my life to distance learning. For example, we have a deal with my brother that he can’t enter our room during a certain period of time. Also I organized my table, because discipline helps a lot.
I’m a big fan of sport and my favorite sport is football. I played football very often during PE class before the pandemic. But now, it is tricky to do it while we’re encouraged to stay at home. That is why instead of PE classes we have online broadcasting where our coach demonstrates exercises which help us to keep fit. Also we have to record exercise as homework. I’m glad that I can do at least some kind of sport during the pandemic, without it I would go crazy.
For some of us distance learning can be a great alternative to traditional learning. But don’t forget that human beings are social creatures and we need to interact with each other not only online but in real life as well. University gives us an opportunity to combine the learning process with social interaction. That is why I hope that everything will go back to normal soon, so we can see each other at our beloved university Be healthy!
