There are many aspects that come into play with today’s changes in learning due to the pandemic that everyone wants to see the end of. Some believe the online changes are for the better and some do not.

Three Northern Essex community college students were interviewed on the topic at hand.

Alicia Russell, is a mother of 3 and currently in the nursing program at NECC.

Her perspective was different and unique compared to the normal community college student entering after high school due to the changes in learning over the years and her busy schedule she is used to.

She reported that it is actually better for her learning online for multiple reasons. With working overnight shifts at a hospital and helping her youngest son Max Russell in second grade she finds there to be not much time to herself.

With everything being online she has a better time doing things on her own time usually “during when work is dead and or around the afternoon when everyone in the family is all set.

” “It is good that I am able to work around my own schedule and not on the schools preset schedule every week,” she said.

This understandably makes sense for any mother putting herself back through school and throws a different perspective of a college student into the mix. When asked if she struggles with not being able to succeed without face to face learning she stated “most teachers nowadays simply throw a power point up and read it to the class while we take notes. I feel I can do that on my own no problem online unless the teacher decides to put some more thought into the lecture, but beside that I’m all set.”

She did state that for certain classes she took in the past of pre-covid-19 that she enjoyed the face to face help as she did in her anatomy class with a “wonderful teacher” by the name of Professor Noel Ways.

The second person interviewed was Brian Benjamin who has just graduated high school and is taking communications at NECC in hopes of one day becoming a sportswriter.

Him being from a different generation and having different responsibilities gives him a different perspective. He does not very much enjoy the change to online schooling but prefers it to the remote learning that some other colleges are taking the opportunity to pick instead of taking class online in zoom.

When asked why is online learning better then remote learning he stated that learning through zoom can at times be “annoying staring at a computer for that long trying to pay attention to a lecture about a power point I can read on my own time.”

He also stated that “at least with just online learning I can take a break, so I don’t have to burn my eyes out.”

While making the situation comedic during the interview he speaks facts while “growing up people have always been told not to stare at screens all day.”

Staring too long at screens can cause eye strain, headaches, and even neck pain, etc. The next question was as to why just regular online learning is worse than in person and he stated multiple reasons. The first being that when attending a class teachers are there to remind you as to when something is due and you will always be there in class to get that reminder while as to online you have to keep up to date with course announcements on your own which makes it a little harder to remember.

“I can remember I had to do something for a certain day when I have to actually physically show up to class with it,” he said.

Another reason he stated put simply was just that he is a face to face learner as many are. Some people just cannot read something and be ready for a test, some need the in person teaching to help them get through something.

Lastly, Sara Levesque of Northern Essex is taking accounting. She is another fellow 2020 high school graduate but is trying to get a very different degree then Brian Benjamin. Most of her classes will involve math while most of his writing. She on the other hand enjoys the online learning. She enjoys this due to being able to do her work at her own pace with assignments being posted ahead of time more often then not to get them out of the way. She also had said that she considered herself to be a “self-learner in high school behind the computer so I’m fine with it now as well.”

If she has any problems with the work, she already had taken online to it anyways, she said.

These 3 people had very unique answers to each other due to different backgrounds and considering very different majors between all three and one being an adult mother student taking classes once again. This affects whether you like or dislike the online learning and shows three good angles of such to consider for what position you are in as a college student.