Sydney’s Research Project

Sydney Davis

ENGL 1102

Professor Rebecca Weaver

4-27-21

Research paper on Will virtual learning takeover in person classes?

Over years computers and other electronics have improved and increased in today’s world in many aspects. People don’t use electronics anymore for just leisure they are starting to use it even more for business, school and much more! The world as of today depends on electronics more than anything! For example, during this Covid pandemic society has relied on electronics to get through everything especially when it comes to school for students. It helped students and teachers to be able to still learn and teach while doing social distancing. With change it can be a pro and a con, but will Virtual learning outcome be a pro or con?

Virtual learning has increased comfortability and convenience in classrooms now. Imagine the students that are too shy to ask a question in front of the class , now they won’t have to because one they can easily message their professor about any questions that they have or even because their classmates aren’t in the same space as them so it isn’t all eyes on them. A major benefit is that Nikki Eye pointed out that “students can be logged in from anywhere in the world.” (Eye, 1) Students can log on their phones to check grades and assignments at one easy touch! With every benefit it’s always a downfall somewhere around, because with convenience it can also become complicated also.  What if a student has bad Wi-Fi or in a dead zone and there is an assignment due, what does the student do then? Most of the time it’s either a late grade which takes point away from the assignment or even just plain out a fail. Then again that’s where comfortability comes in place, where students can ask their professor for more time because of their situation with Wi-Fi. It’s easier for students to ask questions through email then face to face, less intimidating.

What we also must take in consideration is that with comfortability it takes away from teachers and students socializing with one another. How do you build up a relation with your classmate when it’s time to do a group project or how do you build a relationship with your teacher when you need more time on a project? Well Ashley Brooks pointed put a good point that “It’s not ideal for a student to sit alone with their computer throughout their entire degree program” (Brooks. 1) Because there are no interactions of no sort it makes the student discouraged. Brooks also makes a point to make online class better is to “I recommend making an extra effort to get to know your digital classmates. You could organize a group video hangout and do icebreakers or facilitate a conversation.”” (Brooks, 1) Is it different yes, but it can make virtual learning ten times better. But then again you have camera phones that do video calls which can build relation, but does it take away from the relationship part that you should have in class settings? It’s a fifty percent that video relations can ease some students into being interactive and then it can also hurt a students social interaction also.

If higher education was fully virtual learning it would take away the experience of college life on campus. It would be cheaper in some aspect, but it would break the tradition that most students look forward to when graduating college. Without having a social life in school, it can possibly hurt the student’s academics which “social isolation shows up as a main reason for students to withdraw from their studies.” (Eye, Page 1). Academics are a big part of school, but students look for a social interaction also, it makes school fun for students but without that it’s just boring! Imagine teachers trying to make class assignments fun through virtual learning and then imagine teachers doing a fun assignment in person class, it’s a major difference and every class needs that social interaction.

A big consideration that we must take in consideration is students with learning disabilities. It’s already an obstacle for those students to learn in class, so to put them on virtual could be very hard. In a study students were asked how their attention level was while doing virtual learning and most said “they were distractible and had difficulty focusing on what they were doing” (N. Hollins, A. R. Foley,612) Imagine students that have ADHD who have trouble staying focus and now they are forced to do virtual learning which is low support for them. For professors it can be hard because how do they get the attentions of their students who need it the most through virtual? In some aspect’s students will get distracted by just a color or too much words on a computer screen, which it can make pretty hard for a student to focus. Virtually it would be a failure for any student to strive.

It’s not impossible for complete virtual learning, but it can be if all students from aspects aren’t accommodated. When thinking virtual learning you must take a lot of things into consideration like, finances, learning disabilities, dead zones, and social interactions. It is a long way to go before learning will ever be fully virtual. 

 

Annotated Bibliography

 

Wang, Y., & Decker, J. (2014). Can virtual schools thrive in the real world? TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 58(6), 57–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-014-0804-z

Hollins, Nancy, and Alan Foley. “The Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities in a Higher Education Virtual Campus.” Educational Technology Research & Development, vol. 61, no. 4, Aug. 2013, pp. 607–624. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11423-013-9302-9.

eye, nikki. “Online Learning in the Time of COVID-19: What Are the Pros and Cons?” Scholarship America, 4 Aug. 2020, scholarshipamerica.org/blog/online-learning-in-the-time-of-covid-19-pros-and-cons/.

Brooks, A. (2019, January 14). Breaking down the pros and cons of online classes. Retrieved April 27, 2021, from https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/pros-and-cons-online-classes/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academic Profile: Juliona Ledbetter

Juliona is a currently a high-schooler, doing dual enrollment, who describes her academic self as: Passionate, ever-changing, and productive. She is a person that tries to take what she has learnt in the classroom and apply it to the outside world, and in her own words, thinks that “being educated is such a powerful tool in our society and we should all have the pleasure of doing something that we love” (Ledbetter 2021). I think something that we can learn from her, is the fact that she has developed a resilient character, not only by changing her learning methods according to the structure of her classes, but also making the best use of her time and trying to stay as productive as possible. She is also very observant, saying that “I realized when I’m not productive, I fall behind and feel very overwhelmed. As a result, I try to do a little bit of work each day giving self achievable goals to complete” (Ledbetter 2021).

To try and see the entirety of Juliona’s academic self, we need to also explore her academic credentials and her influences. While in high school, Juliona chose to do dual enrollment to try and get more college credits and advance forward. She chose GSU, as there was a campus close enough to her house to go if she chose to, and knowing that her classes would be online for the foreseeable future, she decided to choose the Dual Enrollment program that it had to offer. She credits her family as being a big influence on her academic self, stating that they only hope for the best for her and want to see her succeed, this gives her enough confidence to go out there and make them proud. She also credits Dr. Andrea Hayes-Jordan, the first black female pediatric surgeon in America, as an influence, primarily because she had pursued a field that no one from her background ever did, and succeeded at it. The lessons that she takes away from her story is that she should pursue what she likes without caring for what other people think.

I certainly think that whatever Juliona decides to do in the future, with regards to her major and career, she will undoubtedly succeed, as she has shown the tenacity and the gumption to put her mind to whatever she does. Like all of us, she also faced struggles, she had said that transition to college for her was frustrating as she had to quickly learn to set aside all of her old high school habits. However, I think the part that we can all appreciate is the fact that she chose to perservere where most would have given up, and in the end, I think we can all learn that falling down doesn’t automatically make you a failure, but giving up does.

Lise Xu: Academic Profile

Hello everyone, and happy sixth week of the semester! Allow me to introduce one of our high school dual-enrollment students. I had the pleasure of getting to know Lise Xu and learning about her academic self. From the short amount of time I’ve known Lise, I can already tell she’s a patient and understanding person. She and I struggled to find the time to communicate because of my irregular work hours, so we decided it would be easier to communicate through texting. A random fun fact: after sharing a couple of details about ourselves, we found out that she knows the person that hired me for my new job. What a small world!

Lise is currently attending Riverwood International Charter School. She hasn’t graduated high school yet, but she chose Georgia State University for the dual-enrollment program because they offered online courses. This program is allowing her to complete all of her English credits from the comfort of her home. After she graduates this year, she’ll be going to a college in Georgia to major in cognitive science and minor in computer science. She’s determined to work in the field of digital/artificial intelligence technology.

My parents moved to America at a young age and had no idea how the educational system worked, and it was interesting to hear that Lise was able to relate completely. She connected with the “Taking My Parents to College” article by Jennine Capo Crucet, and it’s one of her favorite readings so far this semester. She isn’t able to rely on her parents for support because they lack the experience and knowledge about college, but they’ve created expectations for Lise. She has the desire to always be the best so she could share her accomplishments with her parents.

Lise’s most significant influence is her peers because she “thrives off of competition” amongst them. She believes one of the main reasons she succeeds is because she enjoys the feeling of winning. Her persistent and competitive nature pushes her to be more diligent and logical in her academic work. When I asked what she was proud of about her academic self, Lise revealed that she is proud of how diligent she became earlier in high school. She did mention that her competitive mindset eventually caused her to overwork herself. She finds herself using it as an excuse to distract herself from her work. I’ve never been competitive in my academics, but I have met many competitive people who perform incredibly well in their work and studies. I genuinely believe that she’ll recover from this burnout.

After we talked about our academic selves, we talked about what we could do to improve. Lise plans to limit possible distractions that could effect her course work, which includes finding excuses to procrastinate. She hopes to keep herself on the right path by organizing a list of goals in her planner. Her primary concern with starting college soon is the lingering question of what her experience will be like as a college student. “I fear that I will find balancing academics and social life difficult,” she says, and she knows it’s essential to build connections and prioritize her GPA. It’s definitely difficult to find that balance considering the Pandemic, but I hope Lise is able to overcome all of her obstacles just in time before starting college, and I hope some of her peers and her dual enrollment experience will allow her to be best prepared for whats to come in college.

Pranav Chandiramani: Academic Profile

During this assignment, I had the opportunity to interview and connect with my classmate Pranav Chandiramani. While interviewing him, I learned many things about his academic self and personal life; it was fascinating to know him. 

Pranav Chandiramani was born in India, and he is 18 years old; he graduated from a school in India. Still, he believes that the education system in India required many things to be memorized. After graduating, he decided he would like to go to college and get a Computer Science degree. Pranav is a first-generation student who is currently enrolled in history, calculus, computer, and English. Computer Science is an outstanding major for Pranav since his favorite subjects are math and computers; it will help him understand more and challenge himself in the future. 

The words Pranav used to describe his academic self are practical, hardworking, and adaptable. He is proud of how much effort he puts in to get through challenging content, and he feels college can be a place where the amount of content has little explanation, which pushes him to work harder. When I asked him how different was his high school academic self from right now, he answered, “In high school, things were given to us straightforward, but in college, it’s a little difficult figuring out stuff(Chandiramani).” I believe his transition from high school to college was challenging, but he had used the necessary tools that help him go through it. 

Pranav’s strategies are impressive; he explained how the time management video from week 2 helped him complete assignments in time. He is taking four classes right now, which can be very stressful. Pranav always tries to plan his week ahead; he tries to complete one subject a day and keep a buffer day where he can complete the undone work. Although Pranav uses specific strategies to succeed in college, he believes he is a procrastinator, and overcoming this would improve his academic self. 

Besides school, Pranav loves to indulge in sports and stuff. Like playing soccer, basketball, cricket, and badminton. I really like to see how well-balanced his life is, and even though he hasn’t decided yet upon his career goal, he puts so much effort into the things he cares about. I believe he has the right mindset for college, and it will help him accomplish many things in life. To conclude, getting to know Pranav had changed the way my academic self does something, and it was interesting to know my classmate’s background and ideas.

Citation:

Pranav Chandiramani Academic self interview 2021

 

Dagny Haim Academic Profile

Dagny and I got some time to know each other the past few days by email and texting back and forth, we started talking about many themes about each other and who we were as college students. Dangy was born in New York but she grew up in Georgia. She is a senior at Milton high school furthermore in her high school she participated heavily in theatre for 2 years as well as she was in Milton’s cirque program.

When I asked what her career goal was, she said that she wanted to be a zoologist/animal behaviorist, therefore I asked what was her inspiration/influence. Her response was that professionally her biggest influence in the zoology field is Steve Irwin. But in her personal life was her grandma. She is often very busy during the majority of the days but even if she is busy she finds time to do her schoolwork. Her determination and her passion about her goal and dreams is so high that you can even imagine what she is capable of doing when she decides to pursue her goals.

When we were doing the interview I asked her what was her biggest struggle in an educational environment, she said that her struggle is that she has a hard time asking the teacher’s for help and communicating with her peers. After she told me that I asked her if she thinks this problem can affect her goals or dreams, she responded that she is trying to improve herself in school and outside of school. This shows me that even though she is having trouble, her determination is bigger than her trouble, and thanks to that she makes me realize that I am not doing my best during this past year and that I need to improve myself no matter what trouble I have in the future or now.

After learning about Dagny, I understood that determination and passion can get you to your dreams. even if you have trouble or you don’t have time, Dagny is able to see her problem and try to overcome the problem no matter what the problem is. Even though people think that young people can be impulsive or that they are reckless just because they are young and they don’t think of the consequence. I believe that Dagny has a very clear goal that she wants to accomplish no matter what her obstacles are.

Manasvi Gaddam: Academic Profile

A driven, flexible, and innovative student with determination and passion describes the academic profile of Manasvi Gaddam. Being a high school dual enrollment senior during a pandemic has had it’s challenges for Manasvi, but she is determined to position herself into the lifestyle she desires. 

Born in Illinois, moving to Georgia at the age of 2, attending a private school, charter school, and then 2 public schools, life always moves pretty fast for Manasvi. Between studying, dancing, and a close bond with her family, Manasvi is able to balance a busy schedule and still give her best effort with anything thrown towards her. She started dual enrollment at the beginning of her senior year this year. Starting with a Government class last semester and now an English class this semester, she is set on starting college to take some steps closer to her dream career.

With her ability to adapt fast, achieve many goals, and have different perspectives of situations, she has earned a spot at Georgia Tech for her freshman year of college. As a hands-on learner, Manasvi struggled with being faced with online school during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, through all the struggle and hardships she faced, she still stayed focused on her goals. A source that has helped Manasvi through her online college experience so far is the GSU informational videos that give organization tips, how to communicate with peers and professors, and how to tackle online school. Her first goal was to get into a college, which she achieved. Now, she is ready to tackle college and is ready to grow into the person she was born to be. 

Life has many paths set for Manasvi and with all of these paths presented, she is willing to get into the world as quickly as she can. She will be attending Georgia Tech in the fall and plans to be a computer science major. Along with her life always moving pretty fast, Manasvi is currently taking as many AP classes and dual enrollment classes as possible so she can go through college with a breeze. After graduating college early, Manasvi has many paths she could decide to take. She could go on to law school and become a patent lawyer or continue her path with computer science and dive into machine learning for a master’s in Artificial Intelligence. 

Whatever path Manasvi decides to follow in her future, she will excel and continue to stay driven, flexible, and innovative. With these academic standards she has set for herself, you can plan to see her take on a patent law position, step into the world of computer science, or even a part of an Artificial Intelligence team. You can also plan to see Manasvi travel the world she has dreamed to see and start to have many connections with people outside of her close-knit circle of family and friends. She is comfortable in her close-knit circle, but she is ready to become the person she has set for herself and create her own life experience. The future for Manasvi is bright, with many high standards and a passionate attitude, nothing will hold her back from exceeding her own expectations.

Sources:

Gaddam, Manasvi. Interview. Conducted by Emma-Leigh Barfield.

GSU Keep Learning: Resources for Learning “What Organizational Strategies Can Help You in Your Online Course?”, February 2021

 

Caitlyn Eukre Academic Profile

 I wrote this essay based on emails and text interviews about Caitlyn’s academic self. I had questionnaires on her educational background, pathway, and ultimate career goal.
 
 Caitlyn took an economics class last summer, and this is her first year as a dual enrollment student. Even though she had a hard time in the registration process, she is enjoying her first dual enrollment year. Caitlyn is currently attending 11th grade at Morrow magnet school. She chooses Morrow because the school has an excellent program in a healthcare pathway and AP-oriented classes. She found herself would be unstressed in going to her home school, which is North Clayton, but they didn’t have all the academic resources to help her achieve her goal. That’s the reason she went to a magnet school. Yet, they had a great healthcare program with a clinic. She wanted a rigorous and more competitive academic curriculum, hence her decision to participate in the Morrow magnet program. Her ultimate career goal is emergency room physician with a sub-specialty in cardiology.
 
 Caitlyn picks three words of her academic self, which are impatient, independent, hard-working. She considers those are the three key factors that will lead her to success and keep her motivated. She told me the first word impatient refers to her personality. She describes herself as “hot-headed” what she meant by that is when there is a conflict, she thinks the best way to solve it is to jump in and take action. When this happens, she does not wait. Instead, she is trying to solve it right away. I can relate it to her favorite reading, which is “Some people are just born writers” by Jill Parrot. It says, “Good writing instruction can only occur if the person believes they can be a good writer.” She firmly believes that what happens around her can be solved on her own. This is the reason why she likes online learning. It would seem that online learning is suitable for her because she is making an effort something that she wants to achieve. Lastly, she has been a hard-working student. Not only that, her mother gives her all the advice she needs to find what she wants to be when growing up, helping her pursue her dreams come true, and advising her to make a better choice. Caitlyn’s mother is her mentor, who has three degrees in different fields. It motivates her to get a good grade. Since she was a child, she vaguely wanted to work in the healthcare field, she recently specified it.

 I have seen taking online classes frustrates many students. Caitlyn is not one of them. She prefers taking online courses, and she is doing great. Those who think, “Maybe someday, I’ll go to school and get my degree, but I have to work now do not have time to go to school” How about overcoming all the barriers and going to school now? It is later than you think.

Citation:

Caitlyn Eukre Academic Self interview 2021
Some people are just born good writers by Jill Parrot

Daniel Gonzalez: Academic Profile

In the past, it has been hard to communicate with peers in online courses. This project allowed me to get to know one of my classmates, Daniel Gonzalez. This is Daniel’s first year at Georgia State University, and he graduated from North Atlanta High School in 2020. During high school, he enjoyed math and Spanish and played soccer after school. We discussed our favorite subjects and we both learned that our favorites are philosophy and mythological history, his favorite being Norse mythology.

When I asked Daniel when he started doing online classes he said that he started this semester. Last semester, he struggled finding connections with other students, so he decided to enroll in online courses in January. I asked Daniel why he decided to choose Georgia State, and he mentioned that it was one of the closest schools to his house and he wanted to continue working while taking classes. 

We also discussed our biggest struggles in academic environments, and he mentioned that he has a hard time asking for help when he needs it and tends to let work pile up due to procrastination. Another thing that made his educational journey more difficult is that English is his second language. As an only child, it was hard for him to adapt to English classes, but math doesn’t have much of a language barrier so he took more advanced classes in math. 

Daniel’s major at GSU is in computer engineering, and he is very dedicated to gaining expertise in this subject. We discussed our hobbies and he mentioned that he built his own gaming computer, which is very impressive. He told me that his mother is one of his biggest inspirations due to her hardworking and passionate personality. 

After speaking with Daniel and learning more about his life, I learned that everyone is capable of being successful if they work hard enough. Daniel had to struggle with language barriers all throughout school, but he still earned good grades and took classes that will help him with his future career choices. He is a very persistent and hardworking student, and is able to multitask in school and work. The most important thing I learned from talking with Daniel is that these traits are what makes people successful. 

Dominique Lawson Academic Profile

                                           Ms. Dominique Lawson- Georgia State University

 

      This profile is a compilation of interviews held with Dominique Lawson that were conducted over email. During the email interviews, we discussed our academic selves, high school experiences, and our plans for the future. Dominique dropped out of high school but later received her GED at the age of 30. When she had decided to leave school, her grandmother had just passed away, and she had to move in with her best friends. It understandably became hard for her to make school a priority. In 2017, she decided that she wanted to change her life, so she enrolled at Miami Dade Community College and studied for her GED. Dominique struggled with the math portion of the test, but with a lot of studying, she passed. The frustrating thing about college for her is that she has to take three or more classes to receive financial aid. She has been a student at GSU since 2018, but she has only completed one spring semester. Dominique believes that anyone who is trying to make something out of their life with nothing is an influence to her.

 

      The three words that described her academic self were structured, strategic, and thorough. She prefers to get assignments done on time and to perfect them the first time she does them. She spends a few hours both before and after work double-checking her assignments to make sure there are no flaws. She plans out each day to ensure she has time for school and will often wake up at five a.m. to complete assignments in advance. She refuses to risk falling behind on her school work. She does not have any continuous study habits, but she is a good note-taker. Dominique’s academic self is motivated to break a generation curse, and the idea of becoming too overwhelmed and walking away from school is Dominiques biggest academic fear.

 

      Dominique’s fear of becoming too overwhelmed with school motivates her to spend as much of her free time as she can perfecting her assignments. However, her biggest academic challenge is finding balance between school and work. Both are very important to her, and to achieve her academic goal, she has to stick to a daily schedule. Dominique has faced a few personal challenges as well on her journey of obtaining her college degree. Not only did she lose her grandmother in high school, but she faced the loss of her mother in 2019. Before this loss, she was a full-time student but to maintain balance in her life, she understandably sits out summer sessions.

 

      Dominique is currently majoring in health science, where she plans to become a Nurse Practitioner. Unlike being a regular nurse, becoming a nurse practitioner will give her open space to treat her patients in a broader manner. The loss of her grandmother was Dominique’s inspiration to pursue nursing. She was always good at taking care of others therefore, this career just felt right for her. She plans to complete her nursing degree while employed at Emory as a nursing tech and at Morehouse school of medicine as a research coordinator. Dominique has two academic goals. The first, is to raise her GPA to the highest it can be. The second, is to finish her BSA.

Molly Hamaan

 

 Introducing to you Miss Molly Hamaan

Written by Sheila Dixon

           This essay contains information from an interview with Molly Hamaan about her academic self. We spoke on the phone and talked much about who we were as college students today.  Molly is a Georgia native. She attended a private school as a young child at a private school by the name of McGinnis Woods County Day School, she went on from there to graduate from Centennial High School in Roswell, GA where she found a love for music. Throughout her four years in high school, Molly participated in the Marching Band. She also has skills with various instruments including the trumpet and the piano.

           First, I’d like to say thank you to her for being an essential worker. She works at the McGinnis Woods Day school, the same school she attended as a child along with being a student and is a second-semester student here at Georgia State pursuing a career in Nursing.  Her goal is to become a nurse in the Labor and Delivery Department. I asked her why she chose that particular department with enthusiasm she said, “because it is bringing a new life into the world.”

            When asked to describe her academic self, Molly stated she was a “perfectionist”. Molly evaluates herself as needing to perform highly in her work studies. She is influenced by her grandfather, who did not do well academically so he went on the succeed in the Navy. She went on to say that he was a major influence on her perfectionism. He encouraged her to always work hard because” when you work hard you can achieve anything in life” she explained.

          Our conversation when on to give notice that we were much alike not wanting to be underachievers. She was able to relate the test-taking anxiety we get when doing the tests online. Molly’s connection with Dr. Chew’s video called “Developing a Mindset for Successful Learning,”  was his first principle, “your level of understanding is a direct result of how hard you prepare” came with her ideology of mastering herself at being a perfectionist in getting good grades.

          So, one wouldn’t agree that being an online student is very hard we see it differently. Although we differ in age her coming right out of high school to college and me waiting for ten years or more, we still face some of the same challenges when it comes to virtual learning. Being watched, overthinking, and second-guessing because we don’t want to fail. Is online learning a good decision for every scholar? The real question how can one overcome the challenges of virtuous learning when all we know is remote learning?

 

 

Works Cited

Chew, Steven, director.” Developing a Mindset for Successful Learning”. YouTube, uploaded by Samford University, 25 Aug 16, 2011, https:// www.youtube.com/sheliadixon