COVID AND
EDUCATION

This pandemic has radically transformed schooling—
how effective and fair is the change?

  

6C

Vancouver resident Caitlin Barker had to
do her exam for her Ontario university under
the careful watch of a security officer looking

at her through a webcam for three hours.

 

   

By Jessica Berget, Editor-in-Chief
and Janis McMath, Assistant Editor

 

Fr COVID ruined our summer. Now,
it’s ruining our fall semester. At Douglas
College, all classes are being held online this
semester—much to the dismay of students.
Many students are unhappy with the
prospect of a semester at Douglas completely
online. Take student Craig Allan for instance.
On his online summer semester, he states:
“The classes | have been in have consisted of
a lot of my classmates not really participating,
which limits the teaching. | do think | would
prefer online classes if they were properly
designed. Not having to drag myself to
campus or spend money on parking ora
U-Pass would be great, and | would have more
time to study or work after school since | am
not spending what could be two to three
hours on transportation every day,” he said.
Most schools are pouring salt into the
wound as many post-secondary institutions
are also not lowering their tuition rates or
refunding fees. Some schools, like Simon

 

Fraser

 

 

University

and University of
British Columbia are going
ahead with the scheduled fee
increases too. Douglas College says their

fees have not changed because students are
still receiving full credits for these courses

and that they are still able to use many of the
school’s services, even if they are delivered
alternatively. Yet many people, even Douglas
College English Professor Chris Maguire, have
called for tuition lowering because of the shift
to online teaching and the controversy of how
ineffective online classes are. Which begs the
question: is online schooling worse than face-
to-face instruction?

Arguments against online learning

One of the first and perhaps most obvious
cons of online learning is how autonomy can
be harmful in learning for many students. A
contemporary study concludes that direct
instruction is a big part of student success. A

  
  

 
  

survey
by the
Angus Reid
Institute resulted
in similar findings—60
percent of students say they
feel unmotivated and 57 percent
said they disliked the current learning
arrangements. In a CTV News article, Preston
Sauciukas (a Grade 7 student from Brantford)
weighed in on the issue: “It’s really hard to
focus because | have siblings and stuff all
around the place.” He also said that he found
it hard to ask his mom for help since she was
busy with his younger brother and sister.
Another contentious issue to consider is
cheating. Online at-home exams obviously