When the world first saw the impact of Coronavirus, everything shifted online for safety. Businesses meetings, school and college classes, and everything else you could think of started happening on platforms like Zoom.
Although school and college students initially had a blast, it was later that they identified that online classes were not so fun. Many reasons attributed to this problem but some things remained the same for most students. More than school students, college students suffered more because of online classes.
Some colleges are still conducting online college classes because of the latest Coronavirus variant-Omicron. This new variant has sent many countries in lockdowns & colleges and universities are also going back to the online mode of classes. It means that college students again have to prepare themselves for the challenges. The best way to deal with challenges is to know that they exist. So, in this blog, we’ll tell you 9 problems with online learning.
Network Issues
You may be having the best internet connection in the world, but it doesn’t mean that everyone has that. It could be because of their location, the cost, or other reasons. The point is that not everyone will have fast internet. You never know that person can be you.
As all the classes are online on platforms like Zoom, you can’t do without a good internet connection. If you do have a poor internet connection, your professor may not be able to see or hear you properly. You might not think of it as much, but it can be a problem when everybody is focused on their studies and some students are having network issues.
If you have a poor internet connection or it disconnects from time to time, you need to contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) ASAP to get it fixed.
Distractions
From your phone vibrating because of notifications to your cat randomly coming and sitting near your laptop, you’re surrounded by distractions when you study from your home. Although you can find solutions to distractions, there are some that you just cannot overcome.
The scenario is entirely different when you’re in your college because you have to focus on what the professors are speaking. You can’t afford to use your smartphone, roam here and there, eat snacks, or scroll Instagram. There are some rules you have to follow in lectures. But in your home, you’re free. Most students turn off their cameras in online classes and start doing other things.
Staying Motivated
Staying motivated in online classes is difficult because you’ll all alone sitting in front of your laptop. Moreover, most students’ rooms are an invitation for sleeping and not for studies. When you’re in your home, you may want to sit on your bed and attend classes. Most students do it and it isn’t uncommon for them to fall asleep in the middle of the class.
Another reason you’re not motivated during online classes is that you don’t move other than occasionally going from your room to the kitchen to get food. There’s no physical activity involved, which can be challenging for your brain because a lack of activity can lead to depression and other mental disorders.
Not Knowing What You’ll Learn
When you’re physically present in college, your professor informs you about the topics that will be covered during the semester. Your professor also informs you about the topics in online class but there you don’t have the opportunity to ask your college friends. But if you attended college in person, you’d know most students ask about a semester’s topics from their friends.
We feel that when you know what you’ll be learning in a semester, you can better prepare yourself for it. But when you don’t know what’s about to come, you simply give up and just focus on what the professor is teaching and not what they’ll be covering in the future lectures.
This is a big disadvantage and stops many students from knowing what they should and shouldn’t prepare. Some students also say that a lack of knowledge about a semester’s curriculum makes them less interested in the subjects.
No In-Person Interaction
Constantly looking at your laptop screen for hours on end can get boring and it is also not good for your eyes. But when you have online classes, you have no option other than to look at your laptop screen. There is no other way around it.
When Corornavirus wasn’t a thing, people used to love spending time alone in their homes. But now, the tables have turned and people want to go outside and do activities in real life. College students also want to attend classes in their college because they miss in-person interactions. It’s true that humans only realize the value of something when it isn’t there.
Another disadvantage of no in-person interaction is that college students’ social skills take a backseat. It means that they have to re-learn most things they knew about social interactions. You start to become bad at small talks and all other things you were good at before the online classes.
Completing Assignments
When you stay confined to your room, your mind starts suffering and you end up overthinking, having anxiety and some even suffer from insomnia. The issue with these problems is that your academics also start suffering. You find it very hard to complete assignments.
Assignment writing is something that is difficult even if you don’t suffer from any problems because it requires a lot of time, effort, research, and writing skills. Although some students are good at writing assignments, most students have a hard time doing them.
If you also have trouble completing your assignments, you can take expert help from Grow With Grades (GWG). We’ve been in the industry for many years and have native writers who’re experts in their fields. They write your assignments and make sure to do assignment editing (proofreading) as well.
Assessing Students
This point is not for students but for professors. We all know how crucial it is for professors to assess students and grade them accordingly in each semester. If you participate in discussions and volunteer from time to time, you can expect to get a good assessment.
But now that everything has shifted online, professors have to assess students from online classes. It’s extremely challenging because when professors can’t see students face-to-face, assessing them is no easy task.
Professors have to go the extra mile to assess each student because they can’t afford to do a wrong assessment, otherwise, it would affect students’ grades. So, they have to be extra careful while assessing students.
Identifying Students Who Cheat
As classes have shifted online, so have the exams. Students felt giving exams online would be tough. But soon after they realized that online was way better than in-person exams. That’s because students can cheat using different methods in online exams.
Whether you accept it or not, but college students are better at using technology and finding loopholes than their professors. Some students who’re good at coding or some that can use basic logic can find ways to cheat, no matter the strictness.
We feel this is a major disadvantage of online classes because the students who didn’t study end up passing the exams. And students who studied may fail because of a lack of proficiency with technology.
Monotony
When students do the same thing over and over again, they’re expected to feel bored. Similar is the case with online classes. When you attend online classes every day, you’re expected to feel bored because you sit in front of a computer screen every day at the same time.
If you attend college in real life, you can do so many activities, which you cannot in online classes. You can eat something, spend time with your friends, and study with them. There is variety in real life, which is difficult to replicate in online classes.
Conclusion
Although online classes are an advantage for a lot of students worldwide, there is no denying the fact that there are several disadvantages. In this blog, we discussed 9 problems with online learning in college.
We hope this blog will help you know that some very good things can also have disadvantages. If you liked reading the blog, share it with your college friends.
