Students making adjustments for Distance Learning
By Yasmeen Masri
It’s been several months since all the students went to face-to-face school. At Timber Creek High School, there is a choice for the students to either attend face-to-face school or online school called “distance learning.” As comforting as it sounds to do school on your bed or on your couch, it’s not as relaxing as some students at Timber Creek say. However, many students do think distance learning is the way to go.
Since Timber Creek is an all digital school there have been many technical problems. Due to the circumstances of Covid-19, it has been more difficult to fix these technical problems especially to the students at home. A requirement to fix the laptops is to fill out a tech request. This notifies the administration and they send you further instructions to when and what you can do to fix the issue. “For the first quarter I was struggling with a broken microphone and glitchy screen. I was unable to use my voice during interactive lessons and it was constantly making me late for class. I had to send 3 different tech requests to finally get a response, and I finally got a new laptop after a couple weeks,” stated freshman Giannah Sprague, a distance learning student at Timber Creek. It took Sprague about a month to resolve the issue. Freshman Amy Ruben is also a distance learning student at Timber Creek. She said, “Yes I have faced some tech issues. One being that my laptop dies frequently, and secondly it does not adapt to my charger. So because of this issue, online schooling is a little more stressful because my laptop has to be constantly plugged in, and can only charge at certain times before the computer stops letting the charger adapt to it.” Ruben has filled out a tech request but hasn’t gotten a response yet. Many students are having trouble with the technology and because of Covid-19, it hasn’t been easier on the staff or the students.
Many students are having a difficult time adapting to distance learning. For example, some students are more stressed due to the amount of work and keeping up with the work or the less attention they are receiving at home from the teachers. “We are getting the same amount of work, but keeping up with the assignment seems more stressful than if we were in person. I feel like the teachers pay less attention to the students who don’t go face-to-face,” said Sprague. There is a split between face-to-face students and distance learning students. Some students at Timber Creek High have been able to be more interactive and are able to do hands-on lessons. She also says that she would’ve never imagined that she would be talking to her classmates through a chat box. “It’s stressful; it’s harder to focus, and having big distractions at home are one of the reasons why it’s been harder to do online school,” said Ruben. These distractions can range between social media, friends, or even family. A student could be in class, but gets distracted by a notification from a text message or from social media. “I do feel more stressed because some of my teachers are giving more work because we’re behind so it is a lot as a student,” Ruben stated. However, students think distance learning is the choice to choose. “Yes, I think online school is the way to go knowing that COVID-19 cases are currently increasing. If students have the option to do Launch-Ed, I think they should, to keep themselves, their families, and others safe.” said Sprague. As of today, world-wide and the state of Florida are drastically increasing with Covid-19 cases. However, more students are choosing to go face-to-face as the school year continues.
Students at Timber Creek High have two options to attend school. Either its online school or face-to-face. Some students have chosen distance learning due to it being the safer choice. However, various students also think it’s been more stressful due to the distractions at home which is making them fall behind, and because some teachers are assigning more work. No matter what learning mode you chose, students are able to receive the education they need no matter if it’s through a computer or in person.
