The lab report allowed us to perform experiments and also use outside sources to prove or contradict our hypothesis.
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Final Draft
Shadman Rahman
Professor Moser
04/21/2020
English 21007
Is Remote Learning as Effective as In-Class Learning?
Abstract:
As we have shifted to remote learning over the past couple weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have experienced a new method of learning known as remote learning. This new learning method has both benefit and drawback, however the drawbacks are more noticeable. Results from a survey and online sources can show us what the effects have been from remote learning.
Introduction:
When the COVID-19 outbreak had begun, there has been an abrupt shift from learning in-class, to learning at home or also known as remote learning. The City University of New York ( CUNY ) made this shift overnight, which had been difficult due to the fact that most students and instructors have not been exposed to the idea of online learning and how to utilize the system. This shift wouldn’t have been an issue if students had the proper learning environment. Remote learning isn’t the same as in-class learning due to the lack of facilities available. The methods used to receive the data that will be presented, was completed from a survey that had been distributed to the subjects from the experiment. Also, online sources were taken into consideration with the data.
Materials and Methods:
To obtain the information required, the data was recorded from a survey that had been distributed to select student in the City College of New York ( CCNY ) campus. These students are attending the same writing course. The Information was taken through Google Forms. All the data received had been compiled into separate charts. The controls in this experiment is the time when this information was taken, which was March 27th,, 2020, to April 2nd , 2020 . Also, another control variable is he campus the students were in. Most students from different campus’ most would likely have different views. The materials used for this for this experiment were a smartphone or computer, internet connection, and Google Forms. By using these materials, we can find the result for the effectiveness of remote learning. The information was taken two weeks after college campus’ had been closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this is when the transition to remote learning was the most difficult. Not because of its difficulty, but due to the lack of experience the student have had. The only difficulty found in this experiment is that a small majority of the subjects would answer dishonestly.
Results:
After conducting the experiment. These are the result recorded:
Graph 1: Graph 2:
Graph 3: Graph 4:
This information is based off 15 subjects, all in the same English course and college campus. Also, as mentioned, this information was recorded from the date range of
March 27th, 2020, to April 2nd,2020. The First Graph displays that 93.3% of the subjects lost focus during their lectures, this is about 14 of the 15 subjects who agreed. The second graph displays that out of the 15 subjects, 93.3% procrastinate on getting their assignments completed, this means that only one subject reported that their urge to procrastinate hasn’t increased. The third graph shows that 86.7% of the subjects preferred learning in class rather than their own homes. This means that only two out of the 15 subjects preferred learning in their own homes. The fourth and final graph shows that there is 13.3% of the subjects have friends or family members that do not have access to a computer or laptop to utilize for remote learning. That is about two of the 15 subjects who responded “NO”. Some Drawbacks found from this experiment is that there was most likely one subject that answered the questions dishonestly. This is suspected because in the results, there is always one answer that doesn’t really make sense. This is found in graphs one and two, where only one student answered “no” while the rest of the subjects answered “yes”.
Discussion:
From the data found, we can analyze the data and see what they really mean. From graph one, we noticed that almost all of the students get distracted during their online lectures. The loss of focus result in the students to have worsened academic grades. The students won’t be able to take in the key elements from the lecture and utilize them for exams or assignments. If this was in-class learning, instructors would emphasize to their students to remain focused so that they can do their best. There will be no discipline for focus in remote learning. In the “USA Today” article, “Remote learning during coronavirus: How to make your home into a workable school”, by Jennifer Jolly, it states, “The hardest part of all might be getting your child to focus. That smartphone glued to their forehead isn’t doing them any favors” ( Jolly 1). This explains to us that the biggest issue students face is using their smartphones during their lecture, making them lose their focus.
Graph two, shows as mentioned that 14 out of the 15 subject now procrastinate more. This urge to push back the need to complete assignments is nothing new. Even in in-class learning, students would procrastinate. This wasn’t that much of an issue because students would have the proper environment, so assignments would normally get done eventually. However in remote learning, there is more assignments that need to get completed. Also, there is always an instructor that encouraged their students to get their assignments done, now there isn’t.
Graph three shows that the environment of where someone is learning is very important. 13 out of the 15 preferred in-class learning. This is because our learning environment is very important to increase focus and reduce or eliminate distractions.
Graph four shows how there are still students who don’t have the technology to attend remote sessions. From the graph, there were two subjects who knew someone who lacked the technology for remote sessions. Two is still too much, everyone should have the opportunity to learn. They shouldn’t be required to have the resources needed. For example, in the New York Times article, Has Your School Switched to Remote Learning? How Is It Going So Far?”, by Micheal Gonchar and Shannon Doyne, it states, “ but there are still big disparities by income, race and the education level of parents” (Gonchar/Doyne 1). This means that there are still families that cannot afford to purchase the equipment needed. But, there are also people who lack the knowledge to use the devices.
After reviewing the results, this data is very supportive to the claim, that remote learning isn’t as practical as in-class learning. Some changes could have been made to make the data more accurate, such as doing in-person interviews with the subject. Also, more students from different campus’ and locations could have been considered to have more diversity in the information recorded.
Conclusion:
To end things off based on the information found, we can conclude that remote learning isn’t as effective as in-class learning. We have determined that most students get distracted during their courses. Many people also lack the knowledge to use technology for remote learning. Also, there is still a small percentage of individuals who can’t afford the equipment to be able to attend remote learning. Sure, remote learning is more convenient for students. However, it still isn’t as adequate as remote learning.
References:
Gonchar, M., & Doyne, S. (2020, March 30). Has Your School Switched to Remote Learning? How Is It Going So Far? Retrieved April 21, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/learning/has-your-school-switched-to-remote-learning-how-is-it-going-so-far.html
Jolly, J. (2020, April 01). Remote learning during coronavirus: How to make your home into a workable school. Retrieved April 21, 2020, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/03/31/how-to-make-home-workable-school-during-covid-19-crisis/5077629002/
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1a0cm1TrKwgGuWJi4Y_5OYbL00GuSmGkRTiQ5_yMOOuY/edit#responses
