Razita Aunia Astari | Architecture
With this December being our ninth month implementing online learning, the social phenomenon brought by COVID-19 has taken a toll on everything we find normal in our lives. Everyone has been pushed back inside their own homes, mixing both their private and work environments into one space. The effect this “new normal” had on different people were both positive and negative. For students, especially, the possibility for online learning to be applied until next year raises a question on how much this will affect their well-being and academics.
The decision of remote learning was not something new, as many open universities and online courses had already relied on the method for years. But the outbreak of the virus pushed everyone, even courses that had always been 100% face-to-face to adapt. Courses such as architecture and art majors rely heavily on their studio working time that usually extends further into the night, or even until the morning. The availability of their studio open hours is what allows them to work on their drawings on appropriate spaces and tables large enough to fit even A1 and A0 sized paper. The introduction of online learning has forced these students to carry all their work from their homes, with whatever table surfaces they have at home, surrounded by their home environments that might not be suitable to work in.
Of course, this applies to every other course learning from home right now, as the learning environment a student is in definitely affects the efficiency of the information is retained by the student. Having to focus amidst the sounds of your family member cooking, or the next-door neighbor’s dog barking is nowhere as comfortable as a classroom designed for lectures. Not only that, the availability of supplies and technology in everyone’s home varies, and it is hard on students who do not have access to fast internet or a laptop to carry out their sessions.
Going back to architecture students, after observing the online working experience for one and a half semesters, there is an apparent difference in the quality of work between students with access to a printer scanner and those who are using a phone to scan their works. The craftsmanship and technique of the manual drawing can sometimes be lost due to the bad quality of the photo in their presentation.
Additionally, the well-being of students is also something greatly affected during this pandemic. If you open social media nowadays, you can see the countless posts students have made regarding their lack of motivation during this remote learning. Constantly being given assignments to do because teachers assume that they have more “free-time” on their hands by being at home, increases the pressure and stress the student goes through. Not having a place to separate the working and resting space also means being constantly surrounded by your schoolwork. The number of students getting anxiety attacks and mental health problems has also increased with the isolation and lack of physical contact with other people.
Despite all of the drawbacks, online learning does give the student more flexibility with attending their classes and doing work. It has also made it possible to have back to back classes without moving from one building to another. Some parents have also expressed that staying home has allowed the family to have more time together.
The long-term effect online learning would have on the academic results of the students are still to be seen. Whether this method should be implemented even after the pandemic is over is something that needs further discussion, but for now, we can only adapt and get through it day by day. Hopefully, this can become an experience we can all grow from individually.