Online Education: A Review

Due to the current situation, the coronavirus pandemic, many aspects of daily life have had to change for both adults and young people. One of the elements that has been transformed is education. For most of Colombia's schools and universities, face-to-face classes were canceled since last Monday March 16 to contain the spread of Covid-19, which has led institutions to create a different educational plan and face the situation. This is why schools have switched to teaching their classes virtually through different platforms. In the case of our school, Santa Francisca Romana is using the Classroom tool and Google Meet, among others, which have brought certain benefits and disadvantages for students and also for teachers. In my opinion, as a student, I feel that this system can help students to carry out activities outside of school more easily, although at the moment it is not easy due to the

virus, and I think that this experience can help us to be more responsible and autonomous since, finally, each one of us must decide to enter the classes and do the assigned activities. In the same way, considering that having to be in our houses either because of the quarantine or because of the schedule that must be met, we can enjoy more time with our families. However, I have discovered some shortcomings in this method of studying or teaching. To start, some teachers may think that because we are in our houses we have more time to work, so several subjects have sent quite long assignments. Additionally, some classes have passed the designated times. I feel that leaving our houses helps us to have diverse views and thoughts; we are living a situation that does not allow us to do it. The fact of being in a different place from home and sharing with different people seems important to me.

In the few days that we have had this great change, we have already missed several things. The first and the one that I need the most is being able to see and share with my friends since, when we arrive to school, the first thing I did was meet with them and talk about what had happened the day before, about a series we were watching or of anything that distracted us from academics for a while. Having face-to-face classes seems to me to be better since, although we may have distractions, it is easier to focus again and follow the thread of the class, which has not happened to me as much in any of the virtual classes. Yesterday in the virtual philosophy class, I started to see my cell phone until I realized the class was about to end. This would not have happened at school since I can't really use my phone and my friends or the teacher would have called my attention. In addition to this even though it is proposed to have virtual classes of subjects such as physical education, choir, emphasis, etc, these are subjects that must be face-to-face since it is not the same.

In conclusion, I think that this educational system has both pros and cons that depend on each person and their criticism. However, in my opinion, I prefer face-to-face classes and having to go to school.

By Laura Gómez, 10thB