Impressions of Online Learning From Milton Students Worldwide

BY ELLIE MRAZ ‘21

As a school with 44% boarders, Milton has students zooming into class each day from all around the world. Some are jumping out of bed for their 8am math class, and others are hopping on after dinner. While online learning has taken some getting used to for all of us, students’ experiences have varied depending on their location and grade. 

Massachusetts- 

Annabelle Stoker, a senior from California, is staying in a family friend’s guest house in Weston for the next few months to both be in Milton’s time zone and have a shot at returning to campus as a day student if/when in-person learning begins. To Annabelle, the lack of consistency of online learning has been confusing. She says that “it seems every teacher has a different idea of what a flex period should be; some have mandatory Zooms, some have assignments that you have to do within that time period, and some give vague tasks that just need to be completed before the next class.” She says, “ I haven’t set a very rigid homework schedule for myself this year, partly because my day is a lot more flexible.” For Annabelle, spending so much of the day staring at her computer screen has been difficult. She explains, “I’ve been getting headaches and my eyes hurt and won’t focus after a while. Even in flex periods when I’m not expected to be on a Zoom, I’m on my computer getting other work done.” Looking back on past Milton years, Annabelle sees that “There are big parts of a Milton education that are not transferable to a virtual space, and while I don’t think I’ll be learning as much this year as I have in years past, I think the current setup is as good as virtual school is going to get.” 

As a new freshman at Milton, Abby Dunn has had to face the difficulty of starting at a new school without the physicality of campus life. She explains, “It has been difficult to make new friends as a freshman because it’s hard to get to know someone over Zoom. Luckily, I have a friend from my old school in almost all my classes so I can ask her questions and get help from her when I need it.” On the academic side, she says she does like the break flex periods provide from Zoom during the day but at times it has “been confusing to figure out which flex periods are Zoom meetings and which ones are independent work.” Abby tries to get her homework done during free periods and right after school ends before sports so she can relax for the remainder of the night. Abby says that overall “online learning is better than I thought it would be. It helps to be able to go into breakout rooms and work with small groups of people during flex periods and I really enjoy the sports Zooms that we have after school because it helps me to meet people in my grade that I might not have classes with.” Abby has a positive mindset in saying, “I think the experience has been as good as it can be considering the circumstances, and I’m hoping that we get to go in person soon!!” 

London - 

Eloise Maybank is a senior at Milton, living at her home in England during this virtual period. She doesn’t feel at a disadvantage by being in a different time zone as she states, “most of my teachers treat flex periods like regular periods (at least they have so far), and since they fit it with my time zones I personally don’t have a problem with them and I think they work quite well.” Eloise says that “online learning has been ok, but one aspect I didn’t think would be that bad is the sheer amount of time I spend at my desk looking at my screen. In the two days of school I've literally developed a twitch in my right eye from when I spend too long looking at my screen, and the only way I can get it to stop twitching is purposefully staring out my window to a deeper depth.” But overall she doesn't think her learning experience has been affected negatively, but then again we are only a few days in. 

Egypt- 

Youseff Ezzo is a senior from Egypt, a location which puts him six hours ahead of Milton. Despite the time difference, he states that flex periods have not been too bad because he can usually attend them. Regarding assignments, Youseff says, “I’ve been getting my homework done during free periods but pretty soon that won’t be enough.” He also realizes that he has, “less free time than usual since my school day takes up the majority of the ‘usable’ hours of my day (school is 2pm-9pm my time).” When thinking about online learning overall Youseff says, “I feel like in some classes such as math online learning hasn’t been too bad but in classes that are lecture based, classes can become boring. In classes that are more discussion based it is definitely harder to interact with one another.” 

Hong Kong-

Aleisha Sin, a sophomore in Hong Kong, thinks that online learning has been fun so far, but she has felt negatively impacted by the time difference. She says, “due to the time difference, most of my classes are with the same people as we are all 12 hours ahead. It would be nice to have classes with more people.” Aleisha has only been to a few flex periods. She highlights that she would like to attend them but can’t as it is too late. She says, “ I do feel like I’m missing out on some stuff especially when I have to re-complete the assignments the next day and it’s related to topics discussed in the flex period.” Homework wise, Aleisha works during the day. She says, “I actually feel like I have less free time because during the day I have to complete assignments and at night I have to go to school.”

Starting the new school year on Zoom all day is definitely a big change compared to pre-Covid times. We’re slowly adjusting to new schedules, dealing with eye strain, and trying to make the best of what hopefully is just a temporary all-remote school schedule.