The feeling of attending an online class is mixed: Asmit, UPES

These are first-hand student accounts on how our young population is managing to keep their exam prep or college course work going from the confines of their homes. In case you want to share your lockdown study experience, write to us at publish@shiksha.com.

The current situation has drastically affected the lives of every person. As a student, I am also experiencing the same. Life is different nowadays. Students now attend online classes instead, office workers work from home and hardly anyone steps out until it is very important.

The feeling of attending an online class is mixed. Not all faculty members are the same and not all teach in a similar way. Some start their presentations and keep on teaching until a particular topic is over. Some start a YouTube video and stop at short intervals to cleat doubts. Some send informative notes so that students can learn from it for a lifetime. So, all these modes of teaching are different in their own way and it varies from student to student to prefer a particular mode of understanding.

Personally, I would prefer learning in my own way. I just want notes, a pdf file of a book if available, and some YouTube links of best lecturers suggested by the faculty for a particular topic. For me, online classes have less respect than the normal classes in a room where you can learn with the faculty in a better way.

I will not prefer an offer to opt for an online class. I would rather study on my own, find my mistakes, and then rectify them by myself. This is a proven technique that has helped me prepare for difficult exams like boards and JEE Mains. Though, both online and offline have their pros and cons. An online class seeks to boost up the speed of the syllabus. If a faculty takes more time to complete the syllabus of a subject than he has a great chance to opt for the online class and complete it on time. Online lectures can be accessed from anywhere and you are not required to be in a classroom for the same. However, an online class is hardly taken seriously. Students may sit idle all the time and the faculty will not know about for long. Students also do not ask so many doubts as they will in an offline class. Faculties have enormous resources but they also sometimes feel low because they are not used to this type of teaching and students also do not respect them as they do in an offline class.

I am finding new hobbies to learn. I cook sometimes, do some yoga, and listen to some of the best podcasts available on the internet today. Mental peace is another major thing that needs to be achieved in today’s world, so I regularly do meditation whenever I feel low.

I am always keeping myself in the race. Regularly learning the subjects, completing assignments on time are some of the things that are now a part of my daily routine despite the situation. The university as of now has postponed exams to be commenced from 6^th July. All the other assessments, which will be left such as lab exams, lab experiments, will also be conducted at that time.

As of now, I am not thinking about any competitive exam right now. Nevertheless, I am practicing for the placement exams. I am regularly in touch with the aptitude tests and learning the skills required to crack an aptitude test and be prepared for interviews. I am also enhancing my coding skills and spending more time in coding than earlier.

I do not involve my parents during my classes, as the dignity of a lecture would be badly affected. We should treat the online class as an offline class where parents are not there and should focus on learning rather than engaging parents and family into it. Students need to focus more on their education than ever as the period after lockdown will totally depend on how skilled a person is.

About the Author:

Asmit Piyush is currently pursuing his B.Tech in CSE with Business Analytics and Optimization from University of Petroleum & Energy Studies. He's an enthusiastic writer and fond of data analytics.