Val Garcia

Survey Response

I had created a survey that was meant to be given to secondary students, however since

that was not possible in my situation, I collected responses from my friends all of which are

college students. From their responses I’ve noticed that a majority had preferred in-class

learning to online learning. Many had stated how they missed going to class and being there in

person. And that now it has become more stressful and has anxiety. I’ve also realized that a

reading had said the same thing about Students K-12. In which, “Students who are isolated at

home because of school closures and social distancing mandates are juggling a lot mentally and

emotionally. They are negotiating a shared space with their family. They may be sharing devices

and limited bandwidth with parents and siblings. They may also be dealing with fear and

anxiety about the current health crisis (Tucker, 2020).” In a way, we are all feeling the same

way. When it comes to online teaching, I agree that students cannot spend 7 hours a day at

home in front of a screen and neither can teachers. That’s why I need to adopt a modular

approach in which I break up activities a smaller chunk. For students to self-pace themselves. I

can then take those elements and put them into my face to face class. In a way making it

flexible for myself and my students.

Another interesting note from the responses was how they felt about class discussions.

Most of the responses said that they tend to jump in and just give their opinion. Some had said

they always talk but not preferring to talk was greater than that. As of now, most of the

discussions I’ve seen tend to be blogs and online discussion boards rather than in class

discussions. Now the thing that’s troubling me is being able to use online discussions. The
problem with online according to a reading is that students don’t get engaged in them. In that

“Many students see discussion boards as a hoop to jump through to earn points (MV, 2020).”

Though the answer is just to keep it all moving in the intended direction I seek and keep

students engaged in the content and classroom. Yet, how can an online discussion compare to

an in-class discussion when they’re not in any way similar and both have different outcomes?

Or how can I make Online discissions engaging as in-class discussions? Is something that

troubles me. Yet even though I view in-class discussion superior and more engaging, online

discussions have its place and perhaps I can make them engaging.
 References

Tucker, C. R. (2020, April). Successfully Taking Offline Classes Online. Retrieved September 20,

2020, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/summer20/vol77/num10/Successfully-Taking-Offline-Classes-Online.aspx

Teacher Guide to Online Learning. (2020, September 10). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from

https://michiganvirtual.org/resources/guides/teacher-guide/