Virtual Learning Research Paper

It is fair to assume that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted our lives. From how we work, to how we learn, the pandemic has forced us to change many facets of our daily lives. One of the changes we are experiencing as a result of the pandemic is the transition to virtual learning. For the past year, many students have conducted their learning from home by engaging with their teachers and completing all their requisite schoolwork, via the internet. As a student, I am aware of the obstacles and challenges that virtual learning poses, and I decided to investigate how these obstacles impact students' overall academic performance. I chose to focus this research specifically on children because they are affected by this experience in a different way. I wanted to explore how virtual learning creates a unique set of challenges for kids and how this affects their overall student performance, and whether they felt engaged, supported, were successful academically, and if age makes a difference.  In order to do so, I conducted research, questioning ten elementary and middle school students from the Edmonds school district, ranging in age from eight to fourteen, about their virtual learning experience and how it influenced their academic success. In addition, I then gave these kids a mock test based on their grade level to see if what they are learning in virtual school is effective and is sticking with them. Lastly, I compared the report cards from the previous years to get a full understanding of the factors that influenced their student performance.

The first thing I wanted to do was learn more about how these students approach their online education. I began by asking them a series of open-ended questions about their virtual learning schedule. Since all the participants came from the same school district, the virtual learning took place in a similar manner, with classes beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 3:30 p.m. These children spend approximately three hours a day on video meetings with their teachers and two hours on their computers doing their own learning. They are also offered a one-hour lunch break, as well as smaller breaks during the day. This schedule is similar to their in-person learning schedule, but rather than meeting with their teacher, in a physical setting, they have video meetings. 

After establishing their learning environment, I focused on the students’ engagement and support. I asked the subjects if they feel as engaged with their teachers, in virtual learning, as they did in face-to-face classes. All ten of the participants reported that they are not as engaged as they were in regular school. When I asked where they get the extra help when needed, all the students responded that they do not get it from their teachers. Rather, half of the participants said they get help from family members, two said they get support from other sources, and three said they do not have any help with their schoolwork outside of what they receive during their classes. I further wanted to find out about their engagement level, so I asked them if they follow their schedule and attend all online classes. Eight of the children stated that they try to attend all their classes as much as possible, while the remaining children stated that they seldom attend classes and prefer to spend their time on their computers doing anything unrelated to school. Then I inquired as to what they did during the time allotted for other online school activities. Six of them stated that they spend the majority of their time doing school-related activities such as homework and so on, while four stated that they spend the majority of their time doing non-school-related activities. 

After thoroughly interviewing the students, in an effort to understand how engaged they are academically, my initial assessment is that all of the factors that determine student success are challenged due to online learning. In order to consider this further, it was important to determine whether virtual learning impacted the students’ grades while five students said it had a negative impact on their grades, three said it had no effect. When two students said it helped them improve their grades, I asked further as to why they believed it has benefited their grades, and one student said, "Online school really improved my grades because it gave me more time to do the assignments and quizzes at my own pace." Both students went on to say that, despite spending less time with their teachers and having a low level of motivation, the pandemic has limited their other activities, giving them more time to focus on their studies without being distracted. But for others, the loss of motivation triggered by a lack of social contact with their teachers and peers, was cited as the explanation for their poor grades. “It feels like teachers are just shoving stuff into our heads and we don't really get to see or talk with our friends and the teacher,” one student said, “It really makes you unmotivated to do anything.” 

 During my interview, I noticed a pattern among the students: most of the elementary school students expressed heavy disengagement with their teachers and poor grades as a result of online learning, while the comparatively older middle schoolers expressed disengagement to a lesser degree and none of them mentioned poor grades as a result of virtual learning. I spoke with the mother of two of the children I interviewed regarding this issue; she has a 14-year-old teen whose grades have improved after enrolling in online school, as well as a 9-year-old boy whose grades have declined since the pandemic. She noted that her younger son's problem is that he does not complete his schoolwork without supervision. This mother works all day, so there is no one to supervise her children, and her son does not always complete his assignments and homework. She related an incident in which her youngest son had 39 unfinished assignments that he had to finish in two days. “Kids really do whatever they want, and most of the time they don't want to be sitting in front of a computer doing homework, so unless a parent or someone is there to control them, it is really difficult for a child, and that is the biggest challenge for them.” This is the case for the majority of the children I interviewed; they are lacking key help from their school and teachers, and it is up to the parents to fulfill these responsibilities; however, parents may have other preoccupations and jobs, making it difficult for these children. I then asked her how she felt about her teenage son's online learning, and she said that he does the majority of his learning on his own. “If he doesn't understand [something], he googles it or looks it up and finds it out, and plus he doesn't need additional guidance because he knows how to use his tools, but younger kids don't know where to look for help” she credits access to the internet and the independence online education offers students as the reasons her oldest son is succeeding in online school, but these same factors are also harming her younger son. Following my interview, I provided a test to these students to determine how much information they have retained from their online learning.  I devised the test to assess their math and reading abilities that their grade curriculum requires them to have. Each subject has 20 questions, and I gave the students an hour to complete the test. Seven of the students scored below average on the exam, while the rest received an average score. Although some students thought their grades were improving, they still performed poorly on the test I gave them. So, after they finished the exam, I made them retake it, but this time I allowed them to look up any resources they needed to answer the questions and told them to take as much time as they needed. I wanted to do this to see if giving the students more freedom would improve their performance. Overall, the students performed better in the second round than in the first, but the older children performed far better, with some younger children showing little progress. The older kids used the internet and YouTube tutorial videos to answer the questions on the second round of the exam. The majority of the younger students did not want to retake the exam and quickly gave up. This demonstrates that these children are not performing at their academic potential, but the older children are more adept at using tools that aided them in their learning.

Finally, I looked over their report cards to see how the previous year's results compared to this year's. Furthermore, the report card appears to show that four students' overall scores were downgraded, while six students' grades improved.  Four of the kids who performed better were middle schoolers while the two were elementary students. This demonstrates that middle school students’ excellent grades in virtual school rather than younger elementary students.

In conclusion, the impact of virtual learning on children's academic performance differs between elementary and middle school students. Younger kids in elementary school are struggling due to the lack of support and supervision online school has created. While middle schoolers are thriving in online school because it gives them the freedom and time to do things their own way. But one thing is certain: all of these children are losing their passion and excitement for learning, their engagement with their teachers and peers is diminishing, and their overall motivation is dwindling, which is why we must concentrate on how we can create a better virtual learning environment that benefits everyone in every way.