The way people learn is continuously advancing and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, learning has changed significantly. When the pandemic started, we were all in the dark about how to continue learning in such a confusing and complicated time. Luckily, the education system moved fast. Many schools and universities have shifted to remote learning, which was a difficult transition for both students and teachers. They provided us with sites like google classroom and zoom which seemed like an easy fix. However, the change wasn’t as smooth as it seemed. 

In a way, everyone had to relearn how to learn. Figuring out how to operate these sites took time and realizing their effectiveness was quite shocking. The first step the education system took was creating emails for all the students to use for the other platforms they provided us with. We used these emails to access our google classroom pages, which we used to join our classes on. We were given codes to join all of our classes and began figuring out how we were going to learn from there. Except we had to learn how to navigate the site first.

Finding out where and how to submit assignments had its learning curve but was easy enough. The only tricky part was getting my assignments submitted on time. I found myself missing the due dates for assignments and slowly falling behind. I began to play with the site and found the calendar tab, which changed my life. I was able to utilize it to its fullest extent, adding my own reminders on top of the ones already provided by the class I was enrolled in. Everything was clearly displayed and accessible from the calendar. Assignments that I needed to complete were even linked on the page. However, I still needed to learn how to operate the platforms my teachers wanted to meet on.

Looking back on it, figuring out how to use zoom was more difficult than it should’ve been. I could never find the meeting IDs or passwords, and then once I did I would join the meetings with my microphone and camera on while I was playing Fortnite or doing something else I wasn’t supposed to be doing. My teachers would hear me on facetime, watch me cook breakfast, or listen to me talk to my dog while I was walking her. All things I admit did not help me through remote learning however, classes were on zoom and we all could’ve done things better. I eventually put time into learning the platform and toyed around with the different functions we were allowed to use. I would join meetings and change my background to a tropical island, add Snapchat filters to my zoom camera, and even use virtual avatars when I got bored. However, the real struggle came when learning how to share my screen. For some of my classes, we had to create google slideshows and present them to the class, which at the start of the pandemic usually required all of us five minutes just to understand how to pull up the screen. Reflecting on this experience made me feel as if it was my first time using a computer and the same can be said for my teachers.

As someone who was born into a generation during the digital age learning how to use technology usually comes very easily to me after the first few times interacting with it. I would teach my parents how to set up their phones or televisions and during the pandemic, I began feeling that’s what I was doing with my teachers as well. I found myself teaching my instructors how to work these sites due to the fact they were not “tech savvy” as they would say. Once they made it onto the zoom call I would have to tell them how to access the waiting room, share their screens, or create break-out rooms. All while I was still figuring it out myself. Then when Zoom’s security issues broke the news, many of my teachers switched over to google meet and we had to learn how to use another site all over again. This time it wasn’t as difficult because they shared many of the same features just in a different format. We had to use many sites created by google during remote learning, one of them being google slides.

 I became more proficient in sites like google slides considering most of my assignments had to be made as slideshows. I never liked any of the bland slideshows I saw many of my other classmates making so I began to explore the web for ways to make mine more interesting. I discovered sites like “Slidesgo” and “SlideCarnival” that offered free templates that I was able to customize and make my own. I would play around with different fonts, colors, shapes, and transitions for hours until I got everything just right. Which ended up benefiting me when it came to grading and teacher feedback. My gym teacher ended up using my slides to teach her students how to do exercises and the specific muscles they worked out. Learning how to do assignments with google slides was fairly simple however, learning different subjects like math did propose a challenge.

Understanding precalculus was not an easy task during Covid. My teacher decided that zoom was not a useful learning tool so, I had to teach myself the entire subject through Delta Math. Like the other sites, I created an account, joined the class, and then began learning. However, I learned by watching an endless amount of videos and by doing practice questions until my hand was going to fall off. We also took our tests on the site, which I dreaded but, would much rather do now. The site also tracked my progress and provided feedback on my performance. I was able to see which areas I needed improvement on and focused on those topics. For problems I didn’t understand, I would use apps like Photomath. That explained how to solve the problem step by step, which helped me better understand the right way to solve the questions. I never thought that technology could be a better solution to learning than an actual teacher until this moment. However, it was just the situation I was stuck in, but the technology was able to help me make the best out of it. 

Even after the pandemic ended these sites still stayed in use. Google Classroom is still used to submit and grade assignments, while taking classes on zoom have become an option for students. Looking back on it, almost half of my high school education was online and I can’t remember most of what I learned. What I do remember is figuring out how to use these sites. Learning how to access my classes, upload my assignments and share my screen on zoom.