Reporter:
With New York schools closed until at least April 29th, and most universities closed for the school year, online learning has become the new norm for students across the state. Unfortunately, all’s not well when it comes to Zoom and the other online classroom platforms. Syracuse sophomore Neha Penmetsa says moving to virtual school hasn’t been an easy transition at all.
Neha Penmetsa:
It does definitely like affect grades, and especially for college students, cause like when you think about it this is the stuff we’re learning for like our future career and stuff, we’re kind of losing out on that experience.
Reporter:
Elementary, middle and high school students are facing similar difficulties, with many students reportedly unable – or unwilling – to even show up to their new online classrooms. The issue for many students? Internet connection, says Neha, and reports show that younger children are facing the same problem, with massive divides in attendance between wealthier and poorer areas with better or worse wifi.
Neha Penmetsa:
For me personally, I think the main issue has been like wifi connection, and I think that’s probably an issue for a lot of people.
Reporter:
It’s just one of many challenges brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Lucy Cardon, N-C-C News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) ― As COVID-19 continues to spread across New York and the world, yet another aspect of life has had to shift online… to mixed reviews. Online school: we thought it was the wave of the future, but, as it turns out, it might just be the wave of now! In fact, with many of the nation’s largest school districts shutting down in-person classes for the rest of the school year, millions of students from preschool to grad school have been thrust into the worlds of Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, Google Hangouts, and the myriad of other online learning platforms. It may be high tech, but it’s not all good: whether it be lacking WiFi, poor health, or newfound economic responsibilities, many students are facing obstacles that make succeeding in online school more difficult than before.
“All of the sudden you see that so many people are having to use [WiFi] in the home 24/7, when usually, especially for people like me, they probably have their parents going to work every day, so it’s just not being used 24/7,” said Neha Penmetsa, a Syracuse University student who is currently taking online classes from her home in Texas.”…because of that, the connection’s gotten worse, so it’s even harder to actually be able to take part in the online discussion.”
Slow WiFi isn’t the only issue; even in areas that have issued laptops to students, like much of Central New York and New York City, many students rely on public libraries for WiFi – libraries that are now closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Times found that some schools with large low-income populations – and students with little to no internet access – reported classrooms with less than half of their students actively participating. To deal with the problem, some school districts have started looking into alternative options for students, like summer school, an earlier start in Autumn, or a required repeat of each student’s current grade.
Neha Penmetsa on Online School:
So, for me personally, I think the main issue has been like WiFi connection, and I think that’s probably an issue for a lot of people because all of the sudden you see that people are having to use it in the home 24/7, when usually, especially for people like me, they probably have their parents going to work every day, so it’s just not being used 24/7 in comparison. But now it is, and I think because of that the connection’s gotten worse, so it’s even harder to actually be able to take part in the online discussions and the online classroom experience in the first place, so like the fact that you don’t even have connection to that as well is an issue, and I think also on top of that it does definitely affect grades, and especially for college students, cause when you think about it this is the stuff we’re learning for our future careers and stuff, and we’re kind of losing out on that experience that we paid so much money for, so it really sucks.
