Online Classes: Experiences & Recommendations

Ever since I was a kid, I always studied in a traditional way; I will go to school, the teacher will discuss the lesson and return home and do my assignment. When the pandemic came, I switched to online classes. The setup is through applications like learning management systems and video conferencing software. Each one of us from teachers to students has accounts that we use to access LMS. Inside the LMS, teachers provide classes where we can read and watch lessons during asynchronous. In synchronous classes, on the other hand, we use video conferencing apps to meet our teachers and classmates. Sometimes we tackle our lesson again even if it is already in LMS but most of the time, we do class participation like the presentation of group activity or just standard recitation. Then after synchronous classes, the next day will be asynchronous again to answer our activities.

It seems perfect, right? However, online classes have their advantages and disadvantages. Its strengths are you can manage your own time, you do not have to spend money on transportation, books, uniforms, projects, events, and canteen food; while its weaknesses are you are on your own, more on self-study, internet speed differs on where you live resulting to inequity of resources and understanding of lesson and unresponsiveness of teachers.

It is cheaper than face-to-face classes because you are not gonna pay for the facilities provided by the school but at what cost? Your socialization skills, your time, and focus because there are a lot of internal and external distractions, and your happiness. Let's be honest here, many students enjoy going to school because we sometimes use it to escape the problems we have in our homes. We can interact with our teacher and classmates; we will chatter with our circle of friends until we part ways, looking forward to the next day despite the pressure of school work because we have each other's backs.

In an online class, what you only have is a reflection of people through their camera lenses. Sometimes you can only hear their voice; sometimes they do not respond at all. You will feel more lonely and hopeless as days passes, longing to go back to physical classes so you can feel your's and others' existence once more.

Despite all of that, I can give you websites you can use to make your assignments easier so you can have more time for yourself, your mental and physical health.

1. Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.

On PC you can use this on your browser as long as you have a google account. On phones or tablets, it can be pre-downloaded depending on the brand of your phone while you can also download it from the playstore. It is the perfect alternative to Microsoft Office because it is free and you can use this to collaborate with your friends or your classmates.

2. Canva

A free image editing website for PC and application for phones. You can use this to edit pictures and videos. I mostly use this to make digital edits for assignments like brochures, travelogues, slogans, posters, and presentation slides. You can also collaborate here.

3. Grammarly

An online free grammar and spelling checker. You can use this on your browser whether it is a phone or PC as long as you log in. It can function as a simple word processing website with advance grammar checking algorithm.

4. Mathway

Like the previous website, this can both work on PC and phones as an ordinary or complex calculator. The good thing about this is it explains how the problem was solved so it is very reliable when double-checking your computations.

5. Plagiarism Detector.net / Dupli Checker

When writing texts like research, you can use these websites to check the number of plagiarized sentences in your work so you can edit them, citate them, and paraphrase them.

6. Quillbot

Speaking of paraphrasing, this tool can help you paraphrase texts in various ways even in the free version. It is very useful for writing factual texts.

These websites helped me finish a lot of quality outputs in less amount of time because they provide features that are easy to learn and understand. Please note that I'm not sponsored, I'm genuinely satisfied with the website's services for students like me who are studying in online classes. I know there are more websites out there and you might find what makes your assignment easier.

In my free time, I usually do my hobbies like writing and drawing so when the synchronous class went by and assignments start to arrive again, I am recharged and motivated to continue because, in online classes, you are awarded in time and fewer expenses but not in relationship and experience. We should manage our time wisely and use our free time to take care of ourselves and hone our skills that are not taught in school because it can help us in our future endeavors like college life or work life while staying healthy.

I'm saying this as a graduating student. My experience is less exciting than in traditional classes but I manage to showcase my media editing skills because of the online class. I don't know if I will also take online classes again when I go to college but I'm thankful for the hardships and accomplishments I made in my home because they helped me to become a resourceful, persevering, and intelligent individual when facing problems in my life.