Under the haze of the COVID pandemic, a brand-new way of going to class, online learning with zoom, was introduced to many students and teachers. Several previously online students returned to, or first arrived on, campus in February and were eager to share their unique and maybe once-in-a-lifetime experience on “learning without a classroom.”

Being online is one of the most challenging things that some of the online students endure during the past year. The lack of motivation for work, the “hard-to-coordinate” time difference, and the lack of social contact painted a different picture of a Kent class for some of the students of Kent. 

Julia Pepper-Loseff, a third former, expresses her hard times being an online learner. “Being online sucks! You are in an environment where you cannot see your friends and classmates, and the environment for learning is just not there.” Now, as she learns in-person amongst other students, she is extremely happy to be here. “It’s just great,” she says, “being able to access teachers freely during the day and able to talk to friends. I missed it.” 

Still, virtual learning does produce some positives. The idea of “learning freely” was something that students did not expect and remained positive about.

Kuan Liu, a fifth former, says that the idea of virtual learning has its own highlights. “The best part of the virtual learning was probably the fact that is granted us freedom in terms of joining the class. I can have the class anywhere, really, as long as I have WIFI connected. Also, as an international student from a different time zone, I could choose to have my class remotely or watch the replay later. It really brought an element of decision in our hands.”

“Also, the fact of being able to see each other’s faces was also one of the big benefits to take away. We could talk without our masks on, normally.”