ATHABASCA – The thought of returning to online classes due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases again, hasn't been sitting well with some students and families, but now, with a second round of remote learning for students at Edwin Parr Composite School taking place throughout December, many are painting online learning in a whole new light.
The second time around has gone a lot more smoothly than the first time schools across the province were locked down in March. Having just a little bit of time to prepare themselves was also helpful.
“The school definitely put in a lot more planning and thought process into the second lockdown than the first,” said Gr. 11 student Jaden Bibaud. "The teachers have been doing a great job on going over material and assisting students who are having trouble with their studies.”
“This time we were actually given a warning of when schools would be closing, unlike last time when it was extremely abrupt,” agreed Gr. 10 student Rockie Bennett.
The transition to at-home learning has just been a better overall experience for students, even the actual learning.
“I like the Zoom call approach because I find the lessons a lot easier,” Gr. 11 student Kaiya Halliday explained. “Just having more structured classes makes it a lot less stressful.”
Rather than being assigned all of their work on a weekly basis as had been done for the end of the 2019-2020 school year, students are now meeting with their teachers and classmates online at the same time as they would if they were on school grounds, completing their lessons in a timeframe no different from their regular class schedule.
“Although the lockdown during the spring had a lot more flexibility, the class work students received was very basic and the topics were difficult to fully understand,” added Bibaud.
This time another change made to the protocols was the possibility for students' marks to continue changing throughout remote learning.
Halliday, for one, agreed this was the proper measure to take.
“This is something we have to get used to. If grades couldn’t change, I could see a lot of students simply not doing the work,” she said. “I think there comes a time that you need to take responsibility for your own education and the choices you make. Having flexible grades keeps you accountable.”
Bennett, on the other hand, disagreed: “It is extremely unfair. I know people who can’t focus unless they are in a physical classroom.”
Though many aspects of at-home learning have changed between lockdowns, the decision to cancel final exams was kept in place.
“I know many kids struggle with remote learning,” Halliday said. “I feel like if they had mandatory exams like any other year, it would just cause a lot of unnecessary stress on students and teachers.”
“I believe finals being cancelled was the right decision due to the circumstances,” said Bibaud. “Especially now when we haven’t fully covered topics from the year before, which is making new material harder to cover."
It's not perfect, but it is better than last time.
“In-class learning will always be better than online,” said Bibaud, “But with Alberta having one of the highest active cases per capita, social distancing is the biggest factor in reducing the spread of COVID-19.”
