Due to the National Pandemic that is still occurring today, many students that live in the United States have a choice on whether to attend school in person or virtually. Some students who have been looking forward to attending school have had to make the hard decision of sticking with virtual school.

The change to online learning has been also very tough for students as most of them have never been accustomed to it. One of the main reasons why students online have a hard time learning is because they are used to learning in a classroom with physical space for them and their peers to engage with the teacher and the equipment needed for the curriculum.

“The fact that we are not put into a learning atmosphere combined with the limited connection we can have with our teachers one on one all adds up to a stressful unmotivated situation,” senior Angela Gonzales said.

Virtual learners are not able to get an engaging connection with their teachers in comparison to students on campus. This can create a lack of focus on the work assigned to the students, as some can’t understand the concept without reaching to the teacher for help. One of the only ways that a student can contact their teachers for any questions is via email.

In the end, teaching online requires similar skills to face-to-face teaching, but those skills must be mastered to an even greater extent as an online instructor,” Andrea Zellner said. Zellner is a Phd student at Michigan State University who has been teaching students online.

Online students can also become more distracted as they work in their household. It is easy to want to turn on the television or play a quick video game.  Maybe it is a quick snack. All these distractions make it more challenging working at home.

“Online learning has been unmotivating because all the work is done in one place. With online learning, I’ve had to do my homework and learn the lessons in the same place. There’s also no teachers watching to make sure that I’m doing my work, so it’s easy to get distracted by my phone,” senior Ashley Wandling said.

Online learners also have to be aware of managing time and keeping track of their schedules at home as they take a different approach instead of going from one classroom to another for every next period.

“Learning online is very difficult because you don’t have an instructor there to explain in front of you and it’ll take longer for teachers to answer any questions or concerns that you have versus them being able to quickly answer in person,” Skylar Brandt said.