After a two-week spring break turned into a six-month quarantine, many students and workers around the world were forced to submit to functioning entirely online as a new normal. Through various video chatting and work-submission programs, many adapted to the change and persevered through technological challenges. Now that schools like Episcopal are beginning to bring back their kids, many are wondering was/is the online experience a preferable method? Or is live learning the merciful end to the online learning experiment? 

When asked about whether online education or in-person was preferred, Morgan Farrin ‘21 said, “I enjoy learning at school live because I am energized by getting to see my friends, and I like having the routine of a normal school day.”

Though getting to wake up at 7:55 AM and simply bringing your laptop out in order to attend class was easy and manageable, many agree that the long break from social interaction and “normal” routine threw them into a slump.

Others remark though that being back to school under current conditions feels strange when having to interact with masks blocking one another’s faces. A new layer has been added to basic interaction that has been honed over the course of human history. 

Adapting to COVID-19 has been a challenge on a variety of levels, with many needing to protect susceptible loved ones and themselves. Live learning is not the same as it was before and has been required to be modified for the safety of everyone.

With many debating the next steps in continuing to go back slowly but surely to what we once called “normal life”, online learning and live learning have both been experimented with and altered to keep children safe in the midst of a global pandemic.

Image courtesy of @episcopalschooljax, on Instagram.