Learning on Zoom: Same Quality or Total Disaster for College Students?

By Lina Romero

​Almost a year ago, colleges announced the switch from in-person to virtual classes due to COVID-19. And as much as my school, Virginia Commonwealth University, insists we are still getting the same education, I disagree. I’ve felt a notable drop in the quality of my courses since the change, and I know I’m not alone in this. It’s not all on the professors, though. In my opinion, online learning just doesn’t engage students the same way that being in a classroom does. It also enables cheating, fails to facilitate good discussions, and makes group projects even more painful than before.

​Speaking personally, one of the biggest challenges is paying attention. I’ve always struggled to sit through lectures, and this has been multiplied tenfold since the pandemic started. Part of what makes in-person lectures more palatable is that you are stuck in a space dedicated exclusively to learning, as opposed to the comfort of your own home, which, for most of us, isn’t our productive happy place. Being on campus makes a lot of us feel more accountable.
 
While it’s true that those of us using laptops to take notes can easily become sidetracked, and most professors don’t actually reprimand us for phone use anymore, there’s still a degree of respect for your professors that is absent online. When I’m in a classroom, I’m more inclined to stay on task since I’m in the professor’s space, and if they caught me, I’d feel guilty. But now, with the push of a button, being caught becomes virtually impossible (pun intended).
 
The ability to turn off your camera opens up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of things you can do instead of paying attention to your lecture. And if it’s recorded, you might tell yourself, “Oh, I can just listen to this whenever." The security of that sentence will allow you to skate by all semester without opening a single recording until the week before finals.
 
Another important factor is testing. As an English major, most of the tests I get are essays or critical thinking questions. However, in my literature classes, when teachers assign a reading quiz, many of my peers have started Googling the answers and sharing them with other students. And I know from my friends with more technical majors that the tests they get are easy to cheat on now. Sure, professors can make you keep your camera on or invest in software that lets them see what tabs you have open. But what if you’re holding your phone below and looking things up? What if someone else is in the room with you, telling you the answers?
 
Zoom learning also hinders discussion. At least once a class, someone’s mic cuts out, someone’s camera freezes, or someone talks over someone else. Technical issues are par for the course, but interruptions often prevent introverted students from participating. And for many classes, participation counts for a grade. Although Zoom has a “raise hand” feature, I have yet to meet a professor who encourages its use rather than just letting us talk freely, resulting in the classic, “Oh, no, you go, sorry.” This habit leads to the more confident students dominating discussions while the rest of us are so busy emotionally preparing to turn our mic’s on that we miss the chance to talk.
 
The final problem is that some professors still have the audacity to assign group projects. Since meeting up in person is a peril to our collective health, we’re reduced to strained group Facetimes (or Skypes, if a member of your group ruins it by having an Android) in which little gets accomplished. The bulk of the final product is done through individual scrambling the day it’s due. While this isn’t a stark change from how group projects have always been, it’s crass to expect us to do group work during these trying times since we have to organize our own virtual meetups on top of the ones we’re already expected to attend. Most of us are already exhausted and burned out from staring at screens all day.
 
Overall, Zoom learning just isn’t as conducive or productive. The majority of my friends and acquaintances agree that we have not received the same quality education from VCU since learning moved to virtual. It was an inevitable change due to COVID, but I hope with the vaccines out, we can return to in-person classes as soon as this fall.