The COVID-19 Reality: Did It Affect Students' Communication and How They Deal with It?

How has the pandemic changed communication amongst students?
The COVID-19 Reality: Did It Affect Students' Communication and How They Deal with It?
The COVID-19 Reality: Did It Affect Students' Communication and How They Deal with It?
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The pandemic came and changed our normal life. Schools shut down, and keeping a social distance became a lifestyle. It affected virtually all aspects of our lives and the pandemic didn't leave out student communication. Now, when they need writing help, they lack live communication with a professor, and such professional essay writing companies, like CustomWritings, are of much use for students to help them with tricky tasks. When a student needs a pal to communicate about their life, it is also an issue because all they have is mobile phones and social networks to talk to each other.

There's no doubt that the pandemic has affected the educational environment significantly. Schools were shut down, and there's been a disruption of the calendar. In countries with extreme situations of the pandemic, teachers died, and this made it increasingly difficult to set up online classes. How has the pandemic changed communication amongst students? There are pros and cons to how it affected student communication. Nonetheless, one step at a time, we shall consider its effect.

One of the most significant effects of the pandemic was the disruption of the community. There was little or no avenue to gather together in classrooms. A number of students found it difficult to make their rooms as conducive as the classroom. It's understandable because our bedrooms are where we relax and not work. Even workers had difficulty adjusting to work from home, how much more students. Now, it didn't affect everyone the same way, but it did affect a good number of students. This means these students had lots of struggles with communicating in the e-class rooms. 

The truth is that they find it hard to concentrate like they are in an actual classroom. They'd find it harder to communicate with their mates. The reasons are far-fetched, the classroom was the only meeting point for students during the pandemic. The struggle in communication was harder for those who lost loved ones to the virus. Even worse, some students lived with the fear that they may be infected because people down their streets were either dead or infected. It is a fact that communication can be hard to achieve and effective in light of mental and emotional instability. This accounts for why most of the schools never set up e-classroom facilities in the heart of the pandemic. In the heat of the pandemic, surviving the next day was what matters. Not education, nor classrooms, not maintaining communication with anyone.

It's hard to define the changes and effects of the pandemic by attacking from one perspective or direction. When some students may have had struggles coping and communicating, some had no struggles. These students had a thing for digital communication before the advent of the pandemic. So it was kind of their normal. They preferred doing things less physically, and they were good at making their bedrooms conducive for e-classes.

Research tells us lots of students struggle to interact with the e-classroom. First, there was a lack of motivation, this is because of the disruption of a sense of community. They felt isolated away from the real classroom situation. The average student has little or no interest in schooling. It's just cliché to go to school, but the school environment has helped them seem like they actually have an interest. This is something the pandemic has exposed, many students have little or no motivation for school. Having them attend school work from home needs something extra that an online learning environment can not afford.

Asides from this, the interaction online between students and teachers can never match up to physical classrooms. In physical classrooms, teachers could be very detailed and explaining of materials. The case is different in online classrooms. There are no chalkboards in the teacher’s home, nor are there physical objects the teacher can use to drive the point home. For example, students studying science courses may need more practical illustrations to get the point. Even, if the teacher struggles to communicate this some other way. The lack of motivation wouldn't afford the students the interest and attention span they need to get a grasp of study materials.

Communication online is far, and distant. A student can shy away from communicating online because they do not want to be in the face of others. If they were in the physical learning environment, they'd gladly find a way of reaching their teacher one on one. One of the most remarkable challenges of the online learning system is how students are unable to have a grasp of what they are taught. They have no idea what's going on, and this is because it's difficult to teach students their age digitally effectively. Through cache, they didn't have to learn digitally. It would take more to make them align to the new normal.

The absence of the physical presence of the teacher is worth everyone's concern. Recall how your teacher put you each step of the way when you weren't getting things right. They probably stood by your table and watched you solve each arithmetic. This way they were able to know where you're missing the point. This is hard to achieve in a virtual class, the best form of supervising happens over a screen. Even worse, through email interactions that can never communicate the reality of the students' dilemma.

Teaching goes beyond dishing material and making explanations. It extends to supervising the learning of the student. Taking them each step of the way, understanding what they are missing up, and testing and retesting them to access their understanding. Only teaching/lecturing can be facilitated in our e-classroom. No physical connection or worthy means of feedback is guaranteed. The student participation in the online chat box doesn't hold as dependable feedback. Anyone can say ok sir, we got that, move on, and whatever cliché comments to get rid of a boring class. What's even more frustrating for the student is, venting their frustration doesn't make anything better. Only a physical learning environment can do the trick.

E-learning needs lots of inclusions to meet the standard of physical classes. These inclusions must tend towards making communication more meaningful and effective. More importantly, it must help tutors school their students like they are physically present. Anything short of this standard is unacceptable and doesn't guarantee effective communication amongst students.

Disclaimer: Article has been created in association with HKSL MEDIA.

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