‘I lose focus a lot more than I usually do’: Sac State students share their struggles with virtual classes
Most courses moved online amid coronavirus pandemic
Students struggle to find consistency to stay on task as they continue their transition to online-only classes. Many fear their grades will not reflect their strength as students in regular sessions
April 8, 2020
In Sacramento State’s second week of online-only classes due to the coronavirus outbreak, students are struggling with academics in a virtual format.
Students like Hannah Rowles, a recreation, parks and tourism administration major, are having trouble keeping up with the new online workload. Rowles said her professors are assigning an excess amount of work on top of the assignments she already had to begin with.
“Professors, at least the majority of mine, upped the workload tremendously than previously when we were in class,” Rowles said. “I understand this is a difficult time but adding tons of extra work onto us is not how you are going to help us learn.”
Rowles said the long chain of emails that professors send with different information should all be in one email, and added that the busy work isn’t helping during this transition.
“I think there is a lack of communication between students, professors, and Sac State right now. Professors are doing what is easiest for them rather than actually figuring out what is best for their students,” Rowles said.
Students are not just struggling with how much work they’re being assigned, but with getting the work done in general.
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Rodrigo Garcia, an international relations student, said trying to do work online now is similar to what he experienced in 2018 during the Camp Fire.
“Unfortunately, I did see a difference in my school performance that has occurred within both of those semesters. My work quality has dropped quite a bit,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he’s previously tried to avoid classes that are online or hybrid because he knows he can’t adapt to that format. He has already missed two of his online English lectures.
“I always have issues with getting onto class and doing online assignments, it has been a struggle of mine going way back into high school. Just never been able to adapt into it for some reason,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he knows he’s not a bad student, but he does better when he can interact with a professor face to face.
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Like Garcia, child development and psychology major Carolina Ayala said interacting with her classmates and educators assists in her overall learning experience. Now lacking that, her grades may suffer, she said.
“I don’t have any more social interaction with classmates and I lose focus a lot more than I usually do,” Ayala said.
Ayala said she tries to keep her camera on during Zoom classes to prevent herself from going on her phone. She also said she lacks motivation to do homework and class assignments because she gets easily distracted being at home all day.
“Before school was closed, I would be on campus really early to do homework before classes and sometimes I’d have class and then go to work and come back to campus just so I could actually focus, but now I don’t have anywhere to go,” Ayala said.
Ayala said she feels like learning will continue to be hard for her and other students as the semester continues.
“I feel like students aren’t going to learn for the rest of the semester, it’s just going to be about getting the assignments done in time and getting all the answers off the internet,” Ayala said. “I understand the situation is obviously very extreme, but it sucks.”
Story continues below TikTok.
@justedgeLove being home. Hate having these classes online😭 ##foryoupage ##fyp ##xzybca ##viral♬ I AM IN FKN PAIN – ahmexium
“I think this accurately describes how I feel about online classes,” Ayala said in regard to the TikTok above.
