While online learning is not new, COVID-19 school closures have forced the expansion of online learning’s ability to connect students through the use of synchronous classes on Zoom.
In interviews with four students from Cosumnes River College, students discussed their experiences with online synchronous learning.
Kelsey Lightfoot, 26, a deaf studies major, said synchronous classes are better than asynchronous because of the set schedules and structure it gives online learning.
“I thrive on schedules,” Lightfoot said. “So, with asynchronous, I have to make the schedule myself, but if it’s synchronous and I have that zoom meeting I have to attend, then it’s somewhat of a schedule setup for me.”
Synchronous classes are scheduled zoom meetings happening every week on a set time and day. They have become a new feature of online learning and have either become loved or despised by students.
Lightfoot said she relies heavily on being able to simply chat with other classmates in sign language, but signing over zoom isn’t the same as face-to-face interaction.
“It’s just so hard, it’s not the same over zoom at all,” Lightfoot said. “It’s so 2D that it’s hard to tell what people are saying, it’s nowhere near the same.”
Accounting major Ariel Duong, 18, said this is her first semester taking synchronous classes, pointing out that not only do synchronous classes help her stay on track with assignments, but they motivate her to get up in the morning.
“I took morning classes that were synchronous to wake up early, so it does give me that motivation to actually wake up,” Duong said.
Medical biology major Delany Kingston, 18, offered a different view towards synchronous classes.
“Honestly, synchronous classes are kind of ‘eh’, because there’s a whole bunch of people in the class and no one is saying anything,” Kingston said. “It’s only really the professor talking.”
Kingston said she preferred asynchronous classes over synchronous because they allowed her to make her own schedule and pace herself while working on assignments. Live classes can be difficult to pay attention to and retain information from, but with recorded videos or youtube, it’s easy to pause and rewind.
Kingston also said she catches herself trying to pause the professor during a live meeting, or trying to rewind and hear what they said again.
“During a live zoom class, I’ll actually go to try to pause the video,” Kingston said.
Zoom offers other interactive features, aside from the video and audio connection, by having a chat box for all participants to use and a “breakout room” feature.
Breakout rooms are commonly used by professors to break classes up into groups to work on an assignment, or for the professor to get one-on-one time with students during class.
However, students have pointed out the downfalls of these features.
Duong said breakout rooms can be awkward and unhelpful because there’s no motivation to interact and classmates keep their cameras off and their audio muted.
“It depends on the people if I’m being honest,” Duong said. “It can be really awkward and silent.”
Ashley Garcia, 18, an English major said the chat box is helpful, but professors tend to turn it off if too many students are using it because it can be distracting from the lecture.
“Kids tend to go off on side tangents in the chat or they wanna do study groups in the chat while the teacher’s talking, so sometimes they just turn off the chat,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the chat has its benefits and its downfalls, but it’s annoying when teachers turn off the chat because typing a question in the chat is easier than interrupting a lecture.
A benefit of online, pointed out by Garcia, is students’ ability to connect anywhere with an internet connection.
Garcia said her mornings are easier with not having to worry about driving and traffic or waking up early to have enough time to get somewhere.
“Just being able to connect wherever you are, not having to worry about driving somewhere or getting ready,” Garia said. “You know how most classes allow you to have your camera off, I like part. I can literally be in pajamas and no one would know.”
While being online can make attending classes easier, Garcia said classes are less interactive and feel very lonely without being around people physically, and it’s nerve-racking to actually speak during a Zoom meeting. Being in a classroom physically, she could look around her and see others struggling with assignments and not feel alone.
Lightfoot, Duong, Kingston and Garcia all responded with a resounding ‘no’ and light laughter when asked to consider if Zoom and synchronous classes had provided the same learning experience as in-person classes.
“I think it’s a different learning experience definitely, but the in-person interaction can’t be replaced,” Garcia said.