Today, we students do not ride our vehicles or walk to school. Instead, we wake up in the morning and do our tasks and here lies the problem. We, the students are tired of the unavailability of teachers in terms of communication, limited hours of lesson discussions, homework with inconsistent instructions, and projects that are not physically doable. I can say from experience and from other testimonials (K-12 and highschool students) that we have never been this pressured since the beginning of online learning. That being said, here are a few points that make online learning more inconvenient than face-to-face learning.

First, the teachers are uncoordinated. Students are unable to communicate with their teachers besides the class schedule. Students are supposedly expected to message the teachers via Google Classroom, Google Chat, and Facebook Messenger. With the given means of communication, the teachers do not respond to any of the students' queries. Teachers should be able to respond to such inquiries during weekdays.

Second, most teachers give excessive homework making it harder for the students to comprehend the given tasks. A study has shown that doing excessive homework for more than 2 hours causes stress, physical ailments, sleep disturbances, and depression. Additionally, excessive homework does not facilitate learning (Sayan & Meroglu, 2020). It has come to a point where students have to ask help from their family and friends.

Third, due to the excessive homework and lack of communication from the teachers to the students, parents have resorted to teaching their own children. This puts a lot of stress on both the parents and the students. Families who are undergoing financial troubles end up dividing their time for work and helping their children understand the lessons. What is the point of paying the tuition fee if the parents end up homeschooling their own because the teachers are unable to thoroughly discuss the lesson? Schools should allot more days for online learning (4-5 times a week) and to provide a group study for students with a teacher as moderator. This allows a screened discussion about topics and allows students to ask help from one another which would be available 24/7.  

Fourth, teachers should make the homework/projects more convenient for students. Since most students are taking online classes, one can assume that students use computers/tablets. Projects and/or assignments could make use of free softwares (i.e. MS paint, Microsoft Office, and Movie maker) instead of going for unrealistic expectations for projects (i.e. baking a cake). It saves money and time since the requirements are minimal.

Schools should try and hear out the students' opinion on their online learning. It seems fair since teachers do not know what position we are in. Students can leave suggestions in a forum for teachers and an evaluation on how effective online learning has been and what needs to be improved. This could be beneficial to both parties therefore making online classes easier.

Thank you for your time.

Lorenzo, Aaron

Reference:

Sayan, H., & Mertoglu, H. (2020, March 10). Investigation of the Opinions of Science Teachers About Homework. Journal of Education and Learning, 9(2), 232-241. doi:https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v9n2p232