Written by Roy Blank
Now that students can switch from My School Online to in-person learning, many questions arise about the difference between the two learning modalities and which choice has more benefits. To get to the bottom of this debate, I interviewed two students who have experienced both in-person and online learning throughout the school year.
Let’s take a look at Veronica Herrera’s perspective, a junior at MAST@FIU BBC who has had the experience of studying in both settings.
Mrs. Garcia's virtual and in-person students.
In which setting are you able to focus best?
“I think I pay more attention when learning in person because the interaction with others in the classroom is a key component to my learning process. Here in person, I am able to interact with my teachers and peers, even though it is social-distanced, in a better fashion than online learning.”
What is something you can do online that you are not able to do in in-person learning?
“I had the freedom to walk around while in class; I could be out-and-about while on a zoom call, whereas in-person I am bound by a classroom and a teacher. Even though it was more convenient for me, it was a bad characteristic of online learning because it caused me to pay less attention in classes.”
What is something you can do in-person that you couldn’t do online?
“I can go on walks to the bay in SeaCorps and look at animals. I can also see people and interact with them on a day-to-day basis while social-distanced, and it brings back a feeling of normality in my life.”
Where do you feel you are more connected with the classes?
“Definitely in person. Being in front of a teacher in person, I am more comfortable asking questions and feel more connected to the classroom since I have fewer things distracting me.”
Where do you perform best?
“In physical school. Now that I can pay attention better here and teachers do a better job keeping me on task. I do better in classes and perform better in tests and quizzes because of it.”
What was your reason for switching to in-person?
“I was sick and tired of doing the same thing every day, so my motivation for school-work was absurdly low. I had major attention problems in school, so I wanted to switch to focus better. And lastly, I missed a lot of interaction with my friends, so I wanted to be able to learn next to them.”
Next, I interviewed senior Karim Dergal, who has experienced online and in-person learning at MAST@FIU BBC.
In which setting are you able to focus best?
“I definitely focus better while in person. When online, I used to get distracted very easily throughout the day, and it would cause me to multi-task and spread my attention into multiple activities.”
What is something you can do online that you are not able to do in in-person learning?
“While learning online, having the freedom to walk around my house and getting food between and during classes is definitely missed. Now I just sit in class hungry, waiting for lunch to come.”
What is something you can do in-person that you couldn’t do online?
“While in-person, I get the opportunity to learn alongside my friends and socialize.”
Where do you feel you are more connected with the classes?
“I definitely get to ask questions more comfortably in person, but since most students are online, I feel more connected there.”
Where do you perform best?”
“In-person. I pay attention in classes better, and I have the support of my friends here.”
What was your reason for switching to in-person?
“I mainly just switched for the sake of seeing my friends again. It’s my senior year and I wanted to have a normal end to my high school career.”
Some in-person students in Dr. Nunez's classroom.
It seems that the responses of Veronica and Karim suggest that, for them, in-person learning is more effective when it comes to focusing in class, feeling connected with the classroom, and learning. In contrast, online education offers more flexibility, allowing for more time to slack off and distract oneself.