The global outreach of Coronavirus Pandemic had also affected the US students. With the quarantine restrictions in place, physical appearances to educational institutions were made impossible. How it affected the students in the US and how I resolved it when decided to do my math homework for me, is the topic of discussion.
1. Isolation:
Students hate isolation. You, as a student, were adaptive to the school or college lifestyle in the US, where you could meet your friends, talk to your mentor, have a beer on weekends, go to occasional parties. Quarantine restrictions have snatched it all. Many students, who had just arrived or were staying in their respective university campuses, were forced to live on their own due to the sudden imposition of lockdowns.
And if you’ve caught the virus, you couldn’t even go outside to collect food. While the online alternatives were prevalent, they are not as convenient as traditional ones during an emergency. And how could they be? Their workers were also quarantined during these times.
2. Group Projects:
Academics were severely affected during restrictions in the US. Group projects are meant to develop team building skills, and because some activities can’t be done alone. Quarantine restrictions proved to be fatal for the ongoing group projects.
As you were forced to stay inside, the plans you’ve made with your peers have all gone to vain. The methodology you used to outline the project ceased to exist. You were on your own. Your friends were on their own. You couldn’t meet, couldn’t effectively talk or discuss the group projects. Although schools tried supporting students to the best of their abilities, the lack of infrastructure to tackle this kind of global event was apparent.
3. Research Works:
Inaccessibility to labs, field works, softwares crippled the research works. The resources were logically prioritized for Covid-19 research. Most of the research projects were halted in the US. Some were pinned down. While the quarantine restrictions were being imposed, many researchers were only left with previous data that they kept analyzing for the next year.
What started with a 2 weeks of restriction, ended up being the longest ever in history. The research projects involving events that occur once in decade, were delayed by at least 20-30 years. Others, may be more.
For student researchers, data collection is the most critical part. Without ample data, the analysis would not be enough to conclude a research. And without field work, data collection is not possible. Which was halted due to the outbreak and restrictions.
4. Practical Classes:
Whether you are a high schooler or university graduate, practical classes are mandatory. While the theoretical classes were held online, practical classes were completely abandoned. It affected students all over the world. Without a practical approach, the theories didn’t make much sense either. Students lost interest over a subject that they previously were interested in.
You must have missed going to the lab and getting hands-on experience of the applications of your education. The absenteeism of lab classes made education less relevant to students who still were baffled about “what does calculus even do?”
5. Technologies Being Used:
We kept talking about how technology has made us lazy, how it has changed society to a worse version of itself, but throughout this time, technology has saved humankind to go back hundreds of years in history.
Schools and universities kept on focusing more on video tutorials from the very start of the pandemic. The exams were held online through various efficient proctored portals, the classes were managed effectively with Classroom Solutions. While everything couldn’t be solved with tech, most of it was. Students kept in touch with each other and faculties through social media and other means of communication.
The most prominent piece of tech that went on trend was conference video calls. With alternatives like Zoom and Google meet, it was now possible to hold a class with hundreds of students without attending physically.
