'The challenges I've experienced with online learning'

Athlone native Graham O'Brien is a student of sports management and coaching in AIT. A former international cyclist with the Ireland under-23 team, Graham shared his thoughts on the challenges he's faced with remote learning this year.

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My own experience of online learning has been a strange one. I understand that online learning is necessary for the times we are in, but it's undoubtedly changed the way we interact with lecturers and how we, as students, take in information

I am someone who enjoys the practical side of things. My course is sports-related, with a lot of practical work, so needless to say that made going online a challenge for me and many other students around the country. Which is not to say it's easier for students who are not in a course with much practical work.

The social side of on-campus interaction and the many other benefits it brings make it difficult for students to adapt to endless days spent looking at a computer screen at home, often from 9am to 5pm.

Factor in the extra work that must be done on assignments after these lectures, and you can spend twelve hours looking at a screen. Some days it's from 9am to 9pm, with very little interaction.

As a former Irish national team cyclist, I am someone who is always eager to get outside and exercise. However, with the current online learning situation I have found myself becoming more fatigued and less motivated, and I am not someone who is normally short on motivation.

I feel that many of the problems lie with interaction levels between students and lecturers, with the main issue being the length of the lectures. We are still doing two-hour lectures as if we were on campus.

On campus, a two-hour lecture is fine. There is ample interaction between both the student and lecturer. Often, if someone is not paying attention in a lecture hall, the lecturer will spring a question directly at the student which immediately gets their mind back on track. We take notes from the board, answer questions, and have regular exams.

Now compare that to online lectures where, if a lecturer asks a question, it is regularly met with silence. In most cases, students' cameras are off and their microphones are on mute. There is no immediate pressure to reply. I know from talking to fellow students, that there have been times when they were off playing PlayStation, or even asleep, during some of their lectures.

I'm not beating around the bush here. These are key issues that a lot of people are overlooking.

In my opinion, colleges think that once attendance is ok, everything is 'going good'. But attendance online is not the same as attendance on campus. Attendance online could mean leaving the lecture playing upstairs while making lunch downstairs.

In my view, online lectures need to be considerably shorter, with a big increase in interaction. It seems as if lecturers are being forced to continue the same length and style of lecture that they were doing on campus.

I know from talking to friends elsewhere that the online learning issues I'm writing about are being experienced in colleges and universities right across the country. They are not confined to any particular college.

Just because we are in a difficult situation, with this pandemic, it doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking for better ways for both students and lecturers to work during this time.

In order for students to interact more, the overall delivery of lectures has to be adjusted. A 20 or 30 slide PowerPoint presentation that is used on campus shouldn't be brought over to online learning.

Shorter lectures of around 30 minutes will limit the distractions that can occur during one-hour or two-hour lectures. Incorporating more interactive scenarios, such as quick class tests, and a 5-minute summary at the end of a lecture, would guarantee more interaction online. I think it would help make lecturers more enthusiastic about online learning, and thus would have the same positive impact on students.

This is one year in particular that I feel I can give honest advice to students completing their Leaving Certificate. Sixth year students are currently studying online, and that gives a good indication of what learning online is like as a college student.

If you are finding that it's going well, then great, keep going. If you are finding it difficult and are struggling to learn, then I would suggest other options until college is back on campus. Perhaps finding a job and gaining experience in a field similar to what you're interested in until the situation subsides and colleges return to on-campus learning.

If you can't find a job due to the pandemic then consider other potential options such as getting an online business up and running. There are lots of possibilities, even in these restricted times.

Don't get me wrong; I am all for gaining an education and I have been a distinction-level student right up until online learning came about. Many students are simply not suited to this style of learning, and I am one of those.

In the meantime, best of luck to the Leaving Certificate students. For the current college students, I believe change has to happen if we are going to continue on in this way. I know for sure that if online learning continues into my fourth and final year, where I have to complete my thesis, I will be looking to take a year out.