From the beginning, online schooling was a new frontier for most. In general, online schooling is very different from learning in-person. At the beginning of the year, teachers struggled throughout to find an appropriate middle ground between the two. Now, looking back, online students have begun to notice changes in the way they learn due to this new environment. 

The perception of Schoology and online school has vastly changed for many students as they have become used to the learning platform and the obstacles of online school. 

“Being an online student has been something I had to adapt to,” junior Phuong Tran said. “The learning environment and experience is no longer the same, and it’s much harder to interact with the teachers and students. I had to become more organized electronically and be independent with each of my class times. Overall, I feel more self-dependent for my learning rather than relying on the teachers because it’s difficult for them to help virtually.

There have been many notable differences between online and in-person instruction during the first grading period. While online students are challenged to turn in assignments at midnight and communicate with their teachers through mass emails, in-person students have more access to materials, as well as more freedom when it comes to schoolwork. 

“The biggest difference is the lack of interactions we receive compared to those who are in person,” Tran said. “The classroom environment we once had is no longer there. Online students talking to each other is rare because once we’re in the classroom, it’s focused on the lesson at hand.”

Even the daily routine for online students has changed.  These students no longer have to wake up at 6:00 A.M. and worry about eating breakfast and getting ready. Instead, most students get up 5 minutes before their first class and only eat when they are hungry, opting to just take their laptops into their kitchens with them.  

“At the very beginning, I was treating it as if I was in regular school, but now I learn faster and pick things up a bit quicker since my environment is so much different than it was last semester,” senior Litzy Santos said. “Because I am a Sky Dancer my routine has somewhat still stayed the same, but I will say that I do enjoy having extra time in the morning or the days that we do not have practice. I get to sleep in a little more than a person who has to go into school.”

Inevitably, the online students will return to in-person schooling either this year or next. However, the lessons they learned during their time online will forever follow them. 

“The way online school has changed me is by learning to really discipline myself and having to ignore the urges of just going back to sleep or just staying on my phone the entire time versus me being at school having to focus because there are no other distractions,” Santos said. “For example, at school, the only real distractions that I had was just talking to my friends and that’s it.”