COVID-19 is not just a health crisis but also education crisis for me.
First, since the virus affects our life, all of our classes have been conducted online and I’m having a hard enough time concentrating on my online courses as it is right now. I’ve already got a lot of homework and now, every day I have to do my assignment until midnight.
Second, Also, It’s harder to communicate with classmates by using ICT tools than we did before. So for my seminar, some activities are difficult to do them online and I do not have time to think about activities for members to improve their English skills instead of the activities we used to do.
Finally, When we do online courses, we have to think about the digital divide. If some people have a great network and computers but others don’t, there would be a big gap between them in terms of education.
COVID-19 definitely has a great impact on our lives and education and I hope everything will be normal soon.
I feel you are having a hard time now because of a lot of homework and the lack of interaction with your friends. I also miss attending face to face classes with my friends. I was always excited to go to campus to see friends and talk about our daily life. Now I know how it made me happy and gave me the motivation to study. I often get motivation by seeing my friends’ great English presentations and messages. It’s difficult to keep my motivation without them.
In addition, because you are a seminar chief, you have more stress and burden this year. Conducting a seminar online is very difficult, but I believe you can do it; don’t hesitate to ask for a help from other seminar members, they will definitely help you. Also, I am always here to support you!!!
I really hope everything will be normal soon too.
I am also spending a hard time because of lots of homework. I am bad at using a computer so it is so difficult to post something online or to have my homework done only by my computer. I know it will make my computer skills improve but now it is hard and too much work that was not needed in a normal life.
It’s amazing how much using technology changes how we have to handle learning. I think it’s especially bad for L2 learning, because microphones and cameras (and telephones) amplify the problems of understanding another language. It’s even harder when people have bad internet connections. As an instructor, it’s an inequality that’s especially hard to be fair towards — because patchy video and audio are basically annoying to try to work through, so it’s much easier to focus on the students who have working internet.
It also really reveals a digital *literacy* divide between students who know how to use computers and those that don’t.
I have no idea how long this will last but if it keeps lasting, then they need to think up some new ways to handle this. Unfortunately, the switch to in-person may be just as bad with social distancing.