How Did Remote Learning Really Impact Us?

By: Daisy Gonatice

Let’s take a look back at March 13th, 2020- the last day JHS students would sit in the classrooms, walk the halls, sit in the lunchroom, and see each other maskless. What initially was a two-week break turned into a six-week break, which transformed into the big question no one knew the answer of: When will we go back? We can all agree that the last two school years have been very interesting and full of new experiences. Focusing on the 2020-2021 school year, it was a year full of long Zoom meetings, 1-hour lunches, waking up at 7:59 to make it to an 8:00 A.M 1st period, and not seeing many of our friends and teachers. Remote learning had its ups and downs, but how exactly did it impact students? We surveyed to find out.

The highest number of responses for this survey came from the sophomore class, and the second-highest came from seniors. When asked to describe their experience with remote learning, most students stated that remote learning was difficult compared to in-person classes. Many students felt the difficulty came from distractions at home and not being able to stay focused, a lack of motivation, and an increase in workload. They also explained that they did not enjoy the long class periods, lack of social interaction, not being very connected with teachers, and issues with collaboration due to silent breakout rooms. However, remote learning did have its advantages. Students revealed that waking up later, longer lunch periods, flexibility, and the comfortability of being in bed instead of a cold classroom were some of the positives that remote learning provided.

Throughout the last few months, Washington State worked on the idea of having students come back to in-person school. Students and parents faced the options of going back to in-person classes through hybrid learning or staying home for the rest of the year with the 100% remote learning environment. April 19th, 2021 marked the first day that JHS students returned to campus. Why did some students choose to return? Survey participants stated that being at school physically would enhance their learning and help them stay engaged. Though many students decided that going back would be an advantage, others wanted to continue remote learning due to their anxiety.

This upcoming fall will begin a new school year which is planned to have students come back to campus 100% in-person. For some students that sounds amazing and relieving, while others fear the idea of having to return. But those feelings of anxiety are incredibly normal! Being away from our school friends for over a year made us much less social, and because of this has impacted lots of us mentally. Remote learning was such an unpredictable and strange circumstance that influenced us one way or another, and regardless of whether the experience was good or bad, we all should give ourselves a round of applause for the hard work and mental effort we put forth to make it through the year.