The Effects of Remote Learning on Education

By: Odin Wunder

The original transition from in-school learning to remote learning in March of last year was very challenging for both students and teachers. In the current school year, WHS started using a hybrid model which includes in-school and remote learning. Most students have adapted to these changes, but not everyone is working as productively as they would have without remote learning.

A great source of confusion for some students seems to be the school schedule. The school has started to use the hybrid model for students to come to school physically for two days a week, the rest of the week being remote learning days. This was originally quite confusing, but most students have gotten used to it since then. 

There have also been some other changes to the original schedule. For example, the shortened remote learning days, where the schedule for the day had to be provided to the students by the teachers. There have also been days where the schedule was changed with little notice, confusing students as to whether it was an A or B day, or what schedule was being used for the day.

This is quite the problem, as students will not be able to learn effectively without a proper schedule. Wethersfield senior Lew Zelez was asked what their thoughts were on the remote learning schedule. They responded with this: “The remote learning schedule doesn’t give students time for breaks or time to catch up with assignments, which will lower productivity and learning overall.”

As he had stated, student productivity does not seem to be as high as it was with regular in-school learning. Some students find that remote learning has made them less motivated to complete school assignments, and as a result, are doing much worse in all of their classes as opposed to how they did before remote learning was put into place. Many of these students have switched from full-remote learning to the hybrid model because of this.

The education system overall is suffering in these times, which is seen in both the rough scheduling and the lack of student productivity. But these are not the only issues. Lew Zelez had more to say on how the education system has been affected by this: “The education system has been heavily impacted by remote learning which can be seen with how little the teachers are able to teach and how little the students are able to learn.” Judging by what he had said, the teachers are affected by remote learning as well, perhaps even more than the students.

Remote learning has had a major impact on the education system and the overall learning process. As of now, no one knows when the current pandemic will calm down, and until it does remote learning will most likely stay the same. If this is the case, then the current generation of students will be at a major disadvantage when it comes to the education that they should have received in their last years of school. 

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