By Serena Ortiz
The transition to online learning impacted not only teachers, who have had to alter their courses, but also students who have had to adjust to a new and lonely learning environment.
One of the biggest issues with moving classes to remote learning is the lack of socialization. Students become isolated in their dorms or apartments and in turn, their social skills begin to dwindle.
The author of an article by The Washington Post, Valerie Strauss claims that a student’s experiences at school are among the most influential factors in their socialization. Students are suffering from social isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic and struggling with anxiety and depression now more than ever.
Additionally, Jennifer Katzenstein, director of psychology and neuropsychology at the Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, has observed the impact of remote learning on children of all ages.
There are several factors of remote learning that impact a student’s health such as:
- Increased screen time usage
- Altered sleep cycle
- Decreased physical activity levels
- Social isolation
“Increased screen time usage, especially for non-academic activities, has been found to be linked with increases in depression, anxiety and perceived attention problems,” says Katzenstein.
In an article by The John Hopkins News-Letter, Katzenstein claims that college students are struggling to create an environment free of distractions and develop the necessary organizational skills to stay on top of their assignments, these difficulties can affect students’ mental health.
“Online classes have impacted my grades negatively because without in person instruction, I often forget about the assignments I have due each week. It’s hard to devote my time evenly among five classes, so I’m always slacking in one of them. My learning has been fine with the online textbook tools that are provided such as sticky notes, the highlighting feature and the end of chapter quizzes. Taking tests and having lecture PowerPoints, however, have been difficult to stay focused on because there are so many distractions,” says architecture student Riley Ransom.
Since there is more responsibility on the students to get their assignments and exams done, more and more students find their grades slipping. Students are struggling to find ways to teach themselves the difficult material that they usually would be learning in a face-to-face class.
“My grades have been lower since having to switch to remote learning. I have been figuring out different and more creative ways to teach myself the material I am given each week. I don’t feel like I understand my assignments as well as I did when everything was in person. When I had face-to-face classes, I would go to class, have something taught to me and then have more assignments to complete on D2L to reinforce what I was already learning, but now I am just teaching myself the material I am provided and hoping I’m learning it correctly,” says nursing student Kayla Burnat.
According to The John Hopkins News-Letter, online learning has affected the physical activity of students. With a large campus like KSU’s students before the pandemic were used to walking a fair amount between classes. Without face-to-face classes, students are not able to walk to each class like they did before, and instead are stuck in front of their laptops for hours on end.
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