{"id":64997,"date":"2022-03-02T15:50:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T22:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=64997"},"modified":"2022-03-04T09:57:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T16:57:26","slug":"some-students-still-adjusting-two-years-into-online-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2022\/03\/02\/some-students-still-adjusting-two-years-into-online-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Some students still adjusting two years into online learning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Saitsa’s volunteer coordinator, Bekah Callaghan, stands in front of a table outside of Saitsa’s resource centre on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (Photo by Julia Doten\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>he pandemic has made many of us much more familiar with online learning than we may have been otherwise, with many SAIT<\/a> students who would have opted for in-person classes having to take their courses entirely online.<\/p>\n

A<\/span>lmost two years on, the biggest struggle facing some online students continues to be isolation, with education experts and advocates stressing the importance of continuing to reach out and stay connected.<\/p>\n

“For two years, I\u2019ve just spent my time in my house,\u201d said Tyrone Dizon, a student in SAIT\u2019s information technology diploma program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely missed out on talking to people and getting to know people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bhavneet Dhaliwal, another SAIT student who completed SAIT\u2019s medical laboratory assistant program last year, also noted struggles taking her courses online.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my class said they prefer to have it online because they don’t have to get to school by eight o’clock, but I think the majority is more leaning towards having in-person classes,\u201d said Dhaliwal.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re forced to pay attention, then you’re forced to actually listen and focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I would have been better in classes, and it would have been a lot easier if it was in person. I know personally, I did the entire course in my bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) conducted a crowdsourcing survey near the start of the pandemic in April 2020, which was completed by over 100,000 post-secondary students in Canada.<\/p>\n

StatsCan noted that, \u201cAmong participants who reported that all of their courses had moved online, almost one in ten (7%) reported they were unable to complete some or all of these courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadian Psychology, a peer-reviewed journal, also published a study looking at psychological distress among university students during COVID-19 in Feb. 2021.<\/p>\n

The study found that, \u201cstudents without pre-existing mental health concerns were more likely to show declining mental health, which coincided with increased social isolation among these students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest danger to being online is isolation. It’s like the illness of online learning,\u201d said Amy Burns (PhD), associate dean of undergraduate programs in education at the University of Calgary\u2019s Werklund School of Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking sure that that sense of community exists and that there isn’t this feeling of isolation is what allows you to really engage in those important learning moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAIT\u2019s student association Saitsa<\/a> advocates for students and offers activities, programming, and volunteer opportunities. Saitsa also strives to improve and maintain student mental health through their Mental WHAT program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest danger to being online is isolation. It’s like the illness of online learning.\u201d – Amy Burns (PhD), associate dean of undergraduate programs in education at the U of C\u2019s Werklund School of Education<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI think that a huge part of your academic success is your extracurriculars,\u201d said Saitsa\u2019s volunteer coordinator Bekah Callaghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a lot of students, that’s how they meet their friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is also some really innovative stuff happening around how you do things online,\u201d said Burns.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can create an excellent community online; this is not something that has to be done face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saitsa is still facilitating opportunities for students to get involved in their community\u2013 even if from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoin any clubs that you’re interested in, and get connected as much as possible,\u201d said Callaghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd remember that we’re here to support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Saitsa’s volunteer coordinator, Bekah Callaghan, is pictured at the front desk of the Saitsa resource centre on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Saitsa is a non-profit organization. (Photo by Julia Doten\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pandemic has made many of us much more familiar with online learning than we may have been otherwise, with many SAIT students who would have opted for in-person classes having to take their courses entirely online. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"Story 2 JD","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,2,510],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-64997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-campus-2","8":"category-saitsa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64997"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65152,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64997\/revisions\/65152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}