From School to Home in Less Than Three Seconds

It’s week 2,000 of quarantine and Donald Rivera is losing his mind. Will alternative learning, like online education, actually help kids from K-12 continue their education from where they left off? Rivera is a senior at King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles, Calif. He is an athlete at his school playing multiple sports from soccer to volleyball and basketball in his free time with his friends. His last season of volleyball was about to begin before the COVID-19 restrictions were implemented. Everything changed for him, especially his education.

The transition from being at school to going online has been difficult for Rivera. He went from waking up, eating a quick breakfast, heading to school, attending classes, and ending his day at practice.

Rivera was taking six classes that included AP Psychology, Honors English, Honors Economics, Marine Biology and Pre-Calculus. He enjoyed going to class everyday and had the opportunity to hang out with his friends and learn from his teachers.

“I miss having good talks in class like talking about work and discussing how it’s related to your lives,” Rivera said.

But now he wakes up, gets out from bed, and walks less than five feet to sit at his desk and start his online learning. He expresses that there are too many distractions like watching Netflix, playing video games, random trips to the fridge and taking naps throughout the day.

Rivera logs onto Schoology to receive his assignments for the day. Schoology is a platform that King Drew and many other schools from LAUSD are using to provide the new alternative for learning. “As school closures continue, district leaders are working to adopt distance learning as a vehicle to continue teaching and learning. We’ve put together a number of resources to help you keep learning going anywhere, anytime during this unprecedented time. As school closures continue, district leaders are working to adopt distance learning as a vehicle to continue teaching and learning. We’ve put together a number of resources to help you keep learning going anywhere, anytime during this unprecedented time,” stated on the Schoology website.

Rivera shares that he is not used to this kind of learning. “It’s different because in school, we talk and have a conversation. We learn the material that the teacher is presenting but with Schoology, we. only watch videos,” Rivera said. “Our teachers aren’t teaching us in these videos, it’s random strangers.”

The class that he struggles with the most online is AP Psy “It’s a lot of information and the assignments are difficult to understand without being able to ask questions to my teacher,” Rivera explained. “Because this is my only AP class, I have to study for the upcoming AP Exams in May. It’s stressful and I have so much to review!”

Rivera was sent a message stating, “The teachers cannot give them zeros for grades. The grades that they had on March 15th, won’t be affected too much.” This gives him a bit of breathing space but he also expressed that it’s simply not the same, especially staying motivated. It is already a skill that most people and students struggle with. The senior states that he’s not as motivated to learn online than he was in a physical place.

Like a lot of graduating seniors, he’s going to miss out on going to Prom, Grad Night and turning the tassel on his cap and gown due to this quarantine.

This new transition is affecting a lot of people. The K-12 students are not used to learning through online education. They are struggling, with Rivera being only one example. Once the quarantine has been lifted, he can’t wait to reunite with his friends, teammates and celebrate his eighteenth birthday. Despite the current situation, Rivera has decided to attend Fullerton College in the fall of 2020 to play collegiate volleyball and soccer.