Effect of Online Classes on Mental Health this Pandemic

Dale Ros Collamat

Daleroscollamat15@gmail.com

Academic Essay

March 28, 2021

 A novel coronavirus, better known as Covid-19, was first discovered in Wuhan, Hubei

Province, China, in 2019. In over 200 countries, this disease has been spreading across the world.

This led to an action by governments to forcibly introduce travel bans and lockdown to minimize

the spread of disease (Akpınar, 2021). 

This pandemic forced the closure of physical business, sports activities, and schools by

letting all institutions switch to online platforms. Moreover, because of the closure of business &

the restrictions of travels, it greatly affected people's living & working conditions, and even the

world's economy has been remarkably slowly decreasing. The universal availability of covid-19

testing kits and accurate, rapid testing procedures is instrumental in detecting SARS-CoV-2

infection and immunity. Globally even until this day, competition is present in every university,

laboratory, and company in solving this pandemic (Mary et al., 2020).

           This rampant shift to the new normal has greatly influenced students of all age groups.

The continuation of the spread of disease, restrictions of travel, and the closure of educational

institutions worldwide are expected and have a significant effect on education, social life, and

student's mental health (Chaturvedi et al., 2021).

           Hence, circumstances arise, especially to people's mental state of being. It amplifies the

psychological pressure of each individual and unconsciously enters the "stress" state.

Furthermore, it greatly changes their mental, social, and even physical being when people enter

this state. As Mary et al. (2020) say, "If people cannot adapt to the pressure smoothly and relieve

the stress state, the continuous existence of stress will turn into anxiety and depression, which

will cause them to harm to [sic] themselves or others and even affect their daily life, social

intercourse, [sic] and work.”

 Because students, especially college students, are a unique group of social people. They

are more prone to pressures from all aspects of life, ranging from their daily practices, schooling,

emotions, and even employment opportunities. Furthermore, Liu, X. et al. (2020) stated that

because of the immaturity of psychological growth and the instability of feelings, psychological

dispute sometimes occurs when facing a chain of physiological, psychological, and social

adaptation problems. Also, students who experience fear, worry, anxiety, and other negative

emotions are more likely to appear in sudden, life-threatening, and uncertain situations because

of the present extreme pandemic condition.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was already worldwide awareness that traditional

higher education is severely challenged (Gallagher et al. 2020, p1.). The succeeding paragraph

will explore and assesses teachers' and students' advantages, disadvantages, challenges, benefits,

and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on online learning on learners' and lecturers' mental health.

Covid-19 has proven to be a significant troublesome across the world in regards to human

life. In education, because of its physical restrictions, online learning was adopted. In Apkinar's

(2021) study, one of the significant findings is increased mental health concerns among the

students. It has been observed that the distance from peers and lecturers, the lack of knowledge

of technology use, the absence of guidance and counseling, and numerous distractions related to

an online platform have attributed to these health issues.

           In this pandemic, two keywords popped up when continuous learning opportunities are

discussed, and these are synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous learning is when a group

of students is working together simultaneously, and asynchronous learning is when a piece of

information passes on with a time lag (Lynch, 2014), meaning that students have the same

material but in different places and time. An example of synchronous learning is zoom classes
online, where this platform allows the teacher and students to interact lively, a recreation of a

real-time classroom experience. This gives the teacher time to support the students emotionally

and socially who missed seeing their teachers and class (Hutchings, n.d.). The studies showed

that participants have regular communication when using synchronous online learning, prone to

stay on task, feel immense of participation, and had more excellent task/course accomplished

(Lynch, 2014). 

In the study of Dr. Gregory Hutchings (n.d.),

Asynchronous learning is more agreed upon, as more students cannot attend classes on

time. In his study, asynchronous learning is preferably used as it allows the students to

answer materials at their own pace, time, and schedule. It also allows the students to

review their answers as many times as to make it to perfection. The advantage of both

types of online learning is that synchronous learning is recreating a familiar classroom

environment, and in asynchronous learning, the students can review their materials at their

convenience. The disadvantage is that not all students can make it to class in synchronous

learning and may miss out. Also, in asynchronous learning, the student-teacher lacks in

connection; socially and emotionally. (p. 1)

There are also many challenges to students during this pandemic. In the study of Adedoyin

and Soykan (2020), there are several challenges listed: (1) technology, (2) socio-economic

factor, (3) human and pets' intrusion, & (4) assessment and supervision. 

In technology, it focuses on technological devices and the internet. Different institutions with

their students and faculties were significantly dependent on technologies that have proven to be

challenging to provide this equipment. When teachers and students have bad connections, they

are likely to be denied access to online learning. Another example is when a student has an
outdated device and when trying to download its program, it is incompatible with the browser.

Also, in this research, it was cited that some students had accessibility problems where

instructions are difficult to follow; an example of this is that a teacher posted on the

announcement page that a particular class is moved to a different date, and one student still sends

an email asking if classes are withheld or not.

           Students have different socio-economic statuses. In most developing countries, large

numbers of learners come from low-socioeconomic families. As seen and observed, online

learning is expensive; a laptop/computer and internet connection are needed before online

learning is used. In the study of Adedoyin et al. (2020), "research findings on students with no

internet access are to do during this Covid-19 pandemic show that as the level of poverty

increases in the community, the rate of internet accessibilities declined rapidly and by

implications, students with no or low socio-economic power to afford broadband connection are

most vulnerable to fall behind or encounter additional challenges to meet up with others in online

learning (p.4)". Studies have also shown a strong connection between poverty and stress (Kokosi

et al., 2020). Baticulon et al. (2020) recommended that learners' significant challenges from low-

socioeconomic families include, but are not limited to, technological devices, support systems,

personal aspects, and family. It was revealed in the study that the reasons mentioned above result

in students' fear of repeating an academic year if they enrolled in online learning. Thus,

combined with the obstacles of accessing the needed technology, it exacerbates the learners'

psychological distress (Baticulon et al., 2020).

           Human and pets' intrusions are most likely to happen during classes online. Unexpected

appearances or interruption of humans and or pets; where dog barks are heard, or cats play in the

background, or family member or friend walks by, may distract or lose focus on the classes.
           One of the vital challenges of online learning is the assessment and supervision of the

faculties. Instructors have different methods and measures to ascertain that they have gained

knowledge and understanding in their courses. Teachers may assess their students through

exams, tests, or quizzes. In online learning, the instructors' supervision is limited, making it

difficult to manage and monitor cheating (Arkorful et al., 2014). The grading system for this

pandemic is also complicated because instructors cannot claim that each student is getting the

same educational experience, which may add to faculties and students' stress leading to mental

health problems (Flaherty, 2020). 

           The psychological impacts of students during this pandemic are very rampant. According

to Irawan, A. et al. (2020), "this pandemic carry [sic] not only the risk of death from a viral

infection but also psychological stress for people throughout the world (p54)". The study further

discusses students' psychological conditions, where students are (1) saturated with online

learning and (2) have emotional disorders.

The research further shows that during the first two weeks of online classes, students

were very active and participative, but as the weeks go on, online learning's eagerness began to

decline. In the following weeks, students became bored. Boredom in students occurred due to

social conditions in the environment, where physical distancing and prohibition to leave the

house makes them bored. Anxiety then increases and gets severe because of a lack of

interpersonal communication. Moreover, there are no interactions and face-to-face meetings

between the student and teacher it makes learners bored. The second psychological condition is

the emotional disorder, where students have emotional disturbances due to numerous tasks and

assignments, making the students busy on their own to accomplish their tasks. It has also shown

that social support can lessen the psychological distress of this pandemic. However, because
online learning has no physical interaction and social interaction is limited, verbal and non-

verbal communication is incorrectly used. A lack of social support makes learners experience

emotional turmoil. To lessen emotional disturbances, few students seek to build communication

with teachers to endure assignments that they think are difficult and burdensome (Irawan, A. et

al., 2020). 

           In the study of Mukhtar et al. (2020), there are multiple benefits of online learning,

One is flexibility: (1) remote learning, where distance learning is helpful during the

covid-19 situation, and education may continue even if the situation persists. (2) Easy

administration, where teachers may mute/unmute mics and video and can check if

students are attentively listening or not. (3) Accessibility, where students who have

questions and are not confident enough in their answers may contact their instructors

anytime through emails and chats. (4) Comfortable, where they can comfortably (can

place themselves anywhere at home) and effortlessly (may not take a bath or wear nice

clothes) attend classes and learn. Second is student-centered learning: (1) Self-directed

learning, making the students more active and has more time in self-study. (2)

Asynchronous learning, where some platforms can record and upload all lectures and

anytime students can browse it (p.29).

The online platforms, despite being the practical alternative to traditional learning and

have proven that it is the primary source of mental health among students and teachers, online

learning must manage the student-teacher interaction amidst pandemics, continuing academics,

and embrace one's educational development. The lockdown has taught us essential vital points;

one lesson is that it is appropriate and timely for authorities and the government to recognize that

online learning has downsides and disadvantages. They must strive more to ensure that this
learning alternative is equally accessible for all students and is implemented in such a way as to

optimize learning.
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