My Thoughts on Distance Learning
- YiLan Nelson
- May 28, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 29, 2021
Since quarantine began there have been two video conferencing apps that I have used. The first one being Google Meet, and the second one being Zoom. At first I used Google Meet for my high school classes, and then I used Zoom for my college classes. So here are my comparisons between the two video conferencing apps.

Google Meet
I found Google Meet to be really easy to use and intuitive since the teachers could send an invite through Google Classroom. I also found Google Meet to be easy to use, along with more secure. Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks using Google Meet, my school district banned us student's from being able to make our own meetings. It was after that, that my teachers didn't really use Google Meet for regular class. They would hold meetings where you could individually ask the teachers questions, but not everyone was required to be on the meeting. But other than that, regular class meetings were no more along with lectures. Which was nice, but I missed seeing my teachers, and the camaraderie that the meetings brought. For the rest of the school year, my regular high school classes were all online. And it was sad. It was sad that the assignments my classmates and I complained about doing, were know done at home in isolation.

Zoom
My college took a different approach towards distance learning, and that included Zoom. In my college classes, they utilized Zoom to continue regular class. I find Zoom to be equally intuitive and easy to use, but I feel as if the design of the app is outdated. The layout is very simple, but I feel like they could have done a better job at making it more modern looking. Another thing I noticed when my college began using Zoom was that every time there was a class meeting, everyone except for the teacher would be on profile view. I found this to take away the classroom feel, and instead made it feel as if I was the only one in a Zoom session.

Thoughts on Distance Learning
Overall distance learning has allowed me to work at a much faster pace, but has made the feeling of loneliness a more prominent feeling. I find that distance learning is the stuff of the future, but I never thought I would feel so isolated. I love how we are finding innovative ways to keep learning while keeping our health a priority. The main reason why distance learning feels so isolating is because you don't see everyone's face, since many decide to not show their face, and being apart of a lecture from home instead of a classroom is not the same. There is nothing that can replace actual school. Going to school, taking a lunch break, conversing with classmate and teachers is a special experience that can't be replaced. To me, a big part of school is the social aspect. It is the social interactions students go through that plays a critical role in character building and helps build communication skills. Without being able to physically be in a group project, you miss out on the nuances that make group projects so unique. And while many will say they hate group projects, I find group projects to be a perfect way to work on so many skills at one. You learn how to communicate with your group members, work out disagreements, pick up on social cues that are not verbal, and so much more. But it is difficult to have the same experience of working as a group if everyone is virtual. You can't speak on top of each other because in the end the thoughts will turn into static, and you can't work as effectively. Many times when I was in school working in groups, my group and I would make a plan and then work. Which allowed us to keep each other on track. Distance learning allows people to mute themselves, hide what they are actually doing, and they can also choose not to show their faces. All the things that are important in group projects are taken away when you do it virtually.
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