STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON SHIFT FROM TRADITIONAL CLASSROOMS TO VIRTUAL LEARNING DUE TO COVID-19

The aim of this article is to present student perspectives on the shift in current education system due to COVID-19 lockdown. It was completely unforeseen, unexpected for any of us to imagine what is coming through in march 2019…The entire world was under the strong force of this pandemic - suddenly everything came to a stand-still! Schools, colleges, creches, universities, restaurants and most of the shops were shut down with immediate effect. The Government issued orders of work from home for most of the employees; specially who had young children. People were in a state of shock not clear what is happening around! While writing this article, I conducted a research on group of students globally to understand the impact it created on their personal & professional life.

 The interviews were conducted in two stages using two target groups:

Group I         (07y - 14y) Video Interviews

Group II        (14y - 25y) Questionnaire

 As the Founder of RAY Academy Swiss I initiated Whizz Kids Series a special movement for Kids Empowerment to give them a safe environment to express their opinion! Provide our future generation with wonder wings & a virtual platform to express their voice! It was our sincere effort to know feelings of young kids through video interviews.

 Author: Is this your first experience with virtual learning classroom?

“Yes, my first experience with virtual learning classroom.” - Pamposh Khurdi

“No, this situation is not my first experience with online learning. After moving to Switzerland three years ago, I started virtual English lessons. It is, however, my first virtual learning experience with interaction, communication and teamwork with other students and sometimes teachers.” - Anvika Chatterji

" This is the very first time I am using Virtual Learning Network." - Min-Wen Cheng

 “This is my first time doing virtual learning.” - Gargi Manek

 “Yessss, it is the first time we are having online classes.”- Ridhima Wattal

“It is my very first time having online classes.” - Sheen Khurdi

"This is not my first time for Virtual Learning, I was taking my IELTs Class online and French Class online as well." - Xuefei Zhou

“Yes its the first time that I use virtual learning for all my courses in this term, I’ve had one or two online courses.” - Erik Alexander Torehall

“Yes, it is the first time I am having virtual classes.” - Nirvana Agarwal

“I have been taking some of my science lessons virtually via Skype and FaceTime so all of this wasn't very difficult task for me.”- Ansh Miya

 Author: Tell us about your transition to online classes due to present COVID19? What challenges did you face?

 “The transition into online school wasn’t as easy as I had initially thought. On the very first day, the server on the communication platform that we use for school completely crashed due to 1400 pupils trying to access it all at once — me being one of them. It was fixed soon after, but continued to be a recurring issue throughout the online school sessions. Frankly, it was annoying. Another difficult thing was maintaining balance between communicating with friends and actually studying. It sort of felt like a holiday, meaning the concentration level wasn’t high. Also, it was pretty difficult to get used to looking at a screen all day, I don’t know how my dad has been doing it for years for work!” - Anvika

“It has been pretty good, I am actually enjoying this new style of learning. I have more free time than before. Switching to zoom classes once a week was exciting as we had never done it in the past. Challenge was to do everything by myself, without teacher’s help…this has been bit hard and stressful.” - Pamposh Khurdi

  “Due to lock down my school was closed indefinitely. Session break was going on before the lockdown and our new academic session was supposed to begin from 16th March which was postponed due to COVID19. After a week our school management decided to begin new sessions through google classroom as well as WhatsApp. Initially there were many problems and challenges that we had to face. We had to complete many assignments in lesser time. Moreover we faced internet related issues while sending our assignments. We had to sit in front of our electronic devices for five hours straight which led to strain on eyes, backache problem and sprains in the neck. ”- Shubhika Seth

 "The transition from regular to online classes wasn’t as easy as I had initially thought. At first it was very strange not to have the teacher in front of me ; but hearing his voice via powerpoint presentations but you get used to it eventually." - Sheen Khurdi

"Many people have mixed feelings based on this situation, some people feel as though this is the worst, while others feel it is the best thing that has happened to them. However, in my opinion, I am neutral towards the situation. Therefore the reasons for these mixed options vary. We are now able to appreciate the extra free time but are severely missing friends and physically socializing with others. One of the biggest challenges I have faced is the workload, and not being able to learn with the same understanding as before, but at the same time, it is also difficult for the teachers to structure the lessons efficiently due to the drastic change from normal school policies." - Gargi Manek

“During the zoom class, we would have lot of discussions and some classmates have accent that I couldn’t understand clearly. Especially the voice came out through the microphone and then is computer. It is very difficult to follow certain courses” - Tzu-Hsien Yang

"The biggest Challenge I faced during the transition from face to face (F2F) to virtual classes is communicating with my teammates. When we ARE in actual classrooms, F2F, its more convenient, we can interact much more fluently. Also one great thing I learnt during this process is how to deal with problems, finish tasks virtually, I believe I will need this skill in my future as well." - Xuefei Zhou

“Trying to balance the need of studying at home and creating a working enviroment but not oversteeping it so that home becomes “work”. Balancing between studying at home and being at home.” - Erik Alexander Torehall

"For me it is not that hard because I had an experience of using skype to do projects back when I was in college. The only challenge will be efficiency, you might be distracted because of other things around you since you might be at home, and then it might affect the communication between people since you might have internet or technical problems. On learning perspective, despite the efficiency of discussion in the class, the information I receive in the class is same as in physical classroom. I am still trying to get used to the system. "- Min-Wen Cheng

Author: Impact on your mental health condition

“During the online classes sometimes I used to get impatient and anxious due to the work load and online tests. I was stressed as well because teachers gave us a lot of homework and we had to mail our work within two to three hours after the class.” - Shubhika Seth

"My mental health is pretty messed up. It’s not only the stress of online school (though that was a big part of it). I am inside of an apartment all day long, staring at a laptop screen which makes my head ache and my eyes sting. I cannot see my friends, which has considerably lessened my amount of laughing or even smiling which isn’t good. Also, I have nothing to do. It’s pretty traumatising." - Anvika Chatterji

" The online classes provide the children with a very safe and healthy learning environment as they are surrounded by their loved ones and this kind of environment helps them to enhance a child’s mental health while allowing them to thrive when it comes to academics. Also the children get a huge amount of time to rest, sleep, play, eat and also interact with their family members which in today's world is very important. " - Ansh Miya

" If I have a long session, for example, 8 hours without doing anything, then I feel exhausted by the end of the day." - Min-Wen Cheng

"I am a little depressed, I love to be in touch with people physically and now, I just can do it online. The lockdown in my country is being very hard to me and when I think about the future it makes me even sadder. It seems we will face this pandemic for a while, I am just waiting when is it going to end."- Miguel Corista

 "I feel as though online schooling as a very positive effect on a child’s mental health as you can finish your school in a safe and stress-free environment which is not always achieved at school. Secondly, several online school programs are self-paced and the students can work without the pressure of deadlines, by doing this they can spend more time on concepts that they find challenging with no urgency of catching up by a certain date. ISL’s policy includes that we have google meets lessons every other class so this gives students time to finish there work and have a little bit of free time away from the screens.” - Gargi Manek

Author: Do you have a physical fitness schedule, since you are having online classes almost whole day.

“My physical fitness is a complete mess, I am used to have badminton training sessions 3 times a week but nothing now as club is closed. I am supposed to start or at least do something at home but I am not motivated to follow it.”- Sheen Khurdi

 "My physical fitness has gone to the dumpster. It’s tragic, really. To be honest, all that strain on your eyes after school really leaves me with no motivation to exercise, it actually makes me want to lie down with my eyes closed. Although, I suppose I do work out during sports lessons but those are only twice a week." - Anvika Chatterji

“Not at all. Bought training equipment that has still not been unpacked for the past two weeks.” - Erik Alexander Torehall

"Not really because I prefer go to the gym instead of workout at home and I am not familiar with workout at home. Still will try to plan something for example dancing or muscle exercises." - Min-Wen Cheng

 "I have Physical Exercise in my time-table, 2 days a week in which we perform certain exercises and take a video to upload to classroom. I also have a workout routine that I do every day in the evening to make sure that I am staying active. Adding to that I also like going on walks, but I make sure to stay socially distant in order for everyone to be safe." -  Gargi Manek

 “Not really! I am becoming more lazy, watching movies and playing games in my free time.”- Pamposh Khurdi

"Yes, I have a physical fitness schedule. In the morning every day I do yoga for half an hour before my classes start and I play badminton with my family in the evening." Shubhika Seth

“Actually I do have a 30 minute workout schedule which has some of the most basic exercises, these consist of :Planks, push ups, Reverse crunches, Regular crunches and jumping.”- Ansh Miya

Author: Did you like the experience of home schooling? What you enjoyed most about virtual learning ?

 “Yes, it is a very interesting way to learn and it allows much more freedom. I can take as much time as I require for each subject without having imposed timings. I love having my own schedule - luxury to wake up and sleep late and have flexi-study hours ”- Sheen Khurdi

 “Home schooling has both good and bad effects. Good effect - I have more time to do things on my own, practice my hobbies, free time to work and play. I miss my actual classroom interaction with classmates and my teacher. We get weekly assignments from school via Microsoft teams.” - Aryavardhan Mundhra

 “I do miss school and my friends a lot, but I am trying my hands on doing different things. I started my new YouTube channel, started learning Japanese and cooking new dishes.” - Kanhai

“I like the experience of home schooling very much, it gives me lots of time to do other important activities. I have been home-schooled in the past; my mum used to teach me . These days we have no schools due to Corona lockdown, I am  learning periodic table and I remember all its elements.” - Nirvana Agarwal

“I miss real school but home schooling experience is ok. We get assignments every Monday with submissions on Friday. Also we meet virtually to discuss things with our team of 4.” - Paarth Chhabra

“I have more time now than when I used to go to school! I am working on Stop motion Film.” - Iris Bhattacharya

 “Online learning has its downsides, like stress on the eyes, no physical communication, the stress that comes with low network connections, etc. ... However, it’s not that bad. You can learn in your own style, your own pace, set your own homework and save the hassle of travelling to and from school every day. What I enjoyed most about online school is that I got to listen to music while learning, which motivated me to keep going and helped me get things into my brain.” - Anvika Chatterji

“Oh yes I absolutely love this home-schooling concept - it gives me more free time to play, study and plan other activites. I have been doing lots of things which I always wanted to do but could not really find time and energy on regular week days.” - Pamposh Khurdi

"Overall, I like the experience of online schooling as I am able to take my time to navigate the resources that have been given, and complete the assignments to my full potential. One of the major issues with online learning is, there are several distractions related to social media which can affect the time management of some students. For me, I like to put my phone aside for the whole day to make sure that I am being productive in my work. I have found this strategy to help me tremendously, and I would definitely recommend other students to try it too!"- Gargi Manek

"No, I prefer learning in the classroom. I have more free time." - Tzu-Hsien Yang

"Yes absolutely, I like the concept of the home schooling and online classes as I believe that it helps in making the students self-disciplined and responsible and another advantage is that it is very accessible and easier to focus. The thing I enjoyed the most is the environment of studying, as at school there are a lot of distractions like friends talking about some movie rather than discussing the math problem and it is also very noisy but at home I can study any place I like peacefully." - Ansh Miya

 The covid-19 lockdown challenged us in many ways, it bought about a sudden shift in the paradigm of education system. It was very interesting to hear and understand the global perspectives of the students, what they have been going through and how they are coping during this quarantine period. During my study, I discovered various interesting facts - most of them had been going through roller-coaster of emotions, some were happy, some bit sad, some ready to accept change and some learning new things for self- improvement.. In my conversation with younger kids, I was pleasantly surprised how well they were ready to accept change and move-on.

Upon reflection of my research I have come to the conclusion that our younger generation globally are flexible, ready to accept challenges and try new things. Its very normal they will face teething problems, it may take some time to adjust to new things but they are willing to try and adapt. We as educators needs to work upon finding the right balance - how we can keep the learning process meaningful, engaging and not spending a lot of time on-screen. Modify our lesson plans for virtual learning which will be beneficial for all types of learners.

 “Keep learning new things everyday; never say never..” - Ruby Bakshi Khurdi

Special thanks to following students across the globe who participated in the interview and contributed significantly for completion of my article:

Pamposh Khurdi, 12y, 8th grade, Haut Lac Villeneuve

Ridhika Wattal, 9y, UK

Nirvana Agarwal, 8y, Durg, India

Anvika Chatterji, Grade 7, Kantonsschule Zug

Aryavardhan Mundhra, 8y, 3rd grade, Zug

Sheen Khurdi, Gymnase de Burier, Switzerland

Ansh Miya, Grade 11( Junior), Dehli Public School Indirapuram,India.

Kanhai,12 years old, 1st year gymnasium (7th grade), Zurich

Iris Bhattacharya, 9y, 3rd grade, Oeberhausen Schule, Opfikon

Tzu-Hsien Yang, 25y, MIB2, Hotel Institute Montreux, Switzerland

Xuefei (Anna) Zhou, MIB2, Hotel Institute Montreux, China

Gargi Manek, Year 11, International school of Lausanne

Min-Wen Cheng, MIB2 -HR, Hotel Institute Montreux, Taiwan

Erik Alexander Torehall, BBA5, Specialization in Human Capital & Development, Sweden

Paarth Chhabra, Zurich, Switzerland

Ms. Shubhika Seth, Lucknow, India

Miguel Corista, MIB2- HR, Hotel Institute Montreux, Portugal

About the Author:

Dr. Ruby Bakshi Khurdi is an Award winning Inspirational Speaker, Emotional Intelligence Trainer, TEDx Speaker & is invited on various international platforms to deliver keynote. She has been featured in different reputed magazines globally.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RubyInspiresU/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/rubybakshikhurdi

Whizz Kids Series 2020 - video interviews

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLYxPdU_TpZ4G_YqjuR6FEXOJfOtHTESk