by Andrew Waterfield ‘20

The entirety of the learning community is currently in uncharted territory, as schools are closed and education has gone online. And while many schools around the world are struggling to adapt, Sherwood seems to have gotten ahead of the curve with a new grading policy and multiple systems in place to connect students to teachers. With this new system of learning, many teachers are releasing assignments online at the beginning of the week to be done by that Friday, leaving students to adapt with their own strategies of tackling schoolwork.

This new system gives students who struggle with the traditional framework of schooling the opportunity to experiment with different ways of managing work, and some have found greater success learning online than they ever did in traditional school. Some have found the workload itself more bearable. “I’ve got a lighter load, but I’m understanding the concepts way better,” said junior Andrew Wischman. For Wischman and some other students,  having less work and more time to do it allows them to take their time and wrap their heads around the concepts they are learning. 

The lighter workload is not the only benefit of learning virtually. Some students have found the recorded lessons to be a useful tool. “It’s really helped me to understand math more,” said senior Ryan Sandoval. “Being able to pause and rewatch a lesson to take notes and study makes such a difference.” In a normal classroom setting, students have to make the most out of each class. Missing key notes by taking a bathroom break or dozing off has been a problem for many students, but the opportunity to revisit and pause classes has eliminated that issue. And for those students who made the most of learning in class, they now have the opportunity to gain even more information from each lesson than before.

Another one of the largest benefits of online learning is that students have the opportunity to work at a pace that best suits them. “I can work faster and be more efficient and understand topics more because the assignments are spread out more. I can work at my own pace, and I’m making the most out of each assignment and actually learning things that I like,” said sophomore Priyanka Navale. 

Each student learns differently, and the hard structure offered by traditional school isn’t always accommodating to students. But when students have the option to work at their own pace, they can tackle assignments in ways they could not before. There are still many drawbacks to the online learning process, and it isn’t always equitable to all students across the board. But for the students who were struggling with aspects of in-school education, online learning has provided them with an opportunity to shine when they otherwise could not.