Article 6.3 – My Experience with Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Brief Reflection

Alexander Primrose*

My online school experience has been a wild time, even though I am home. I started off wondering how I am going to learn all of this during online schooling. It has turned out that I have awesome instructors who help me to overcome all the setbacks during this time. Learning online was strange to me; I did not know how teaching could be conducted online, and I did not know what to expect from online learning. A good thing for today is that we have a good set of technology at our hands. Without computers and other gadgets during this time, it would have made it harder to learn, or how else would we get our education without digital technology.

Online learning is different from face-to-face learning, but with all the resources online, it can make it bearable for us to enjoy education. We have done a lot with online learning once we are engaging and interested in learning. I love doing all the educational mini-games for concepts and special terms in my literature course; I find them very interesting as they keep me engaged and wanting to do more with specific topics. Of course, online learning has its ups and downs. It is not fun sitting in the same spot for hours, but it does make me get my work done. What else is there to do nowadays without any social activity during the pandemic right at our door? I want to keep my family safe by staying home as well, and I will be forever grateful that I am still receiving an excellent education through online learning. It has motivated me to work more because I get to be home with my family, and most importantly, with my children. I also get to achieve my education from the comforts of staying at home.

I have enjoyed my time learning from home, and I find it both challenging and rewarding. The learning is about the same—it just takes place on a computer and without anyone around me. The only thing that sucks is I cannot have that connection with my fellow classmates in the classroom. Losing physical contact with my peers on campus is tough because associating with them face-to-face will bring a nice touch, and having that companion to help the learning process. Visiting and chatting with peers and instructors and hearing many different perspectives on the topics will create a more encouraging learning experience. I find that these can be done through online learning through Zoom meetings and group discussion, but I have a different feeling, and I find it to be a bit awkward as there are more distractions at hand with background noise and other distractions. With online learning, I find that some things are out of my control, and I have to deal with loud noises and other things that may go on in the comforts of home ,distracting you from important slides and discussions. Other than that, I find online schooling to be quite fun and interesting during the pandemic, as we have unconventional ways of learning.

I have one bad experience during online schooling through this pandemic. I lost my laptop due to it being dropped, and it was challenging to get a computer instantly. I had to order it online, and shipping currently takes a longer time than I thought. Meanwhile, I had to catch up on many assignments. So, I went back to see whether I could use the old laptops I had, but the first would not turn on. I did not think I was going to complete my courses. I could not even go to the store and buy a new laptop as they were deemed to be “non-essential” in the code-red restricted Province of Manitoba Public Health Orders due to the spike in COVID-19 cases. It became very upsetting because I had been working hard for all my courses during this difficult time. Now I got so far behind, and I was panicking thinking I would fail and not accomplish my goals for this term. I wanted very much to complete all my courses, and I wanted to have a good term.

As time went on, I had to improvise and use my phone to attend lectures and participate in class discussions. It was a tough time for sure, as I had three laptops crash on me. I dropped the first one, and it broke; the second one even would not start; the third one was too slow to use and opening the browser took way too long to load any web page. This posed a dilemma as I needed good access to these internet resources to help achieve my online school goals.

Getting a new computer was difficult during the pandemic because everything had to be ordered online and shipping took a long time. Moreover, it was expensive and hurt my financial wellbeing. I badly need a computer to continue with my education, and I managed to get one ordered from Winnipeg before the term was up. Ordering a computer from a store in Winnipeg sped up the shipping process. I had it shipped from Winnipeg by bus overnight, and the laptop arrived at my local bus depot by the next morning. The laptop arrival literally saved my studies at this urgent time.

Computers are indispensable for online learning. I did not believe that I could recuperate from all my broken computers if the new one did not come at the right time. It was difficult, but I managed to keep a positive attitude when I had no computer to work on my assignments. I did not think I would get all of my assignments done in time, as the lack of a computer pushed me back considerably. Thanks to my cell phone, I could still attend lectures and get access to all of my courses. With all the digital devices, I was able to keep up with my assignments. Some of my professors also gave me an extension so that I was able to do my assignments when I received my new computer.

Online learning during this pandemic has taught me to better adapt to situations with flexible schedules so that I could complete my assignments on time. It is a tough adjustment at first, but when I get the hang of things, I feel that it is a great way of learning, especially being at home during this pandemic. I love being with my loved ones while accomplishing all of my education goals. I cannot wait to be done with my Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education. I want to be a teacher who can contribute to every student’s way of learning, as my instructors have done for me. Seeing how much my instructors care for students makes me feel so proud that I am working towards a great profession.

After this pandemic is over, I cannot wait to earn my Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees. I am extremely excited to achieve all my University goals. I hope we all get to walk across the stage to receive our diplomas as I think it would be fitting for all the students that had to do online schooling and hearing their story on how they had to cope with their online learning situation. We are incredibly grateful to still receive an education, and I cannot wait to tell everyone how wonderful online learning really is. I genuinely enjoy it as it is a great new way of learning and still an opportunity to get my education. Everything is a new learning experience in the world we live in today during the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Please see article “Reaching My Academic Goals During a Pandemic” on page 49 for author’s biography, photo, and instructor’s remarks.