As teens file into class, screens cover Room 162. Zoom and Google Meetings fill the silence of the distance learning class. What once used to be an emergency action plan has evolved into an exhilarating new era of education.
Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning classes serve as solutions in two cases: when certain courses don’t have a teacher present at the school to teach or when there are not enough students taking the course to fund a face-to-face class.
“I have been working with distance learning for more than 20 years,” AP French teacher Kristine Finnegan said. “Since my first experience, I have had the opportunity to work with all of the high schools in Virginia Beach in the distance learning setting.”
Distance learning courses have been around for many years; however, the pandemic helped to improve it and increase its presence in schools.
Students enrolled in a distance learning course report to the school’s designated distance learning classroom and log onto a Zoom or Google Meet site. Each school has a distance learning teaching assistant present to guide students and provide any physical papers needed for class each day.
“Originally, the setup was a live television broadcast with monitors, built-in microphones, etc., but that changed to a Zoom or Google Meet situation during the COVID home school time,” Finnegan said.
While languages aren’t the only classes that are offered as distance learning, they tend to be the most common as world language departments are usually the least staffed. For the 2024-2025 school year, distance learning classes at Ocean Lakes include AP French, AP Spanish V, Japanese IV and AP German.
“This year, there are seven distance learning classes offered at Ocean Lakes. All seven of this year’s classes are World Language classes,” distance learning assistant Carmela Husted said.
Just like in-person classes, students are assigned a teacher in their school district for the course; however, the class consists of students from multiple schools in the district.
“I am currently in an AP French Language and Culture distance learning class. I have two friends from my school that sit directly beside me in my class, while other students are online from other schools,” sophomore Khabida Inniss said.
This new era of distance learning differs from other virtual classes, such as Virtual Virginia, by allowing the teacher and students to see each other over a virtual meeting and communicate directly, rather than just completing virtual assignments.
“We have the opportunity to learn and communicate, and the distance learning program gives us the chance to do this with others not in our location, which is often a real-life situation with foreign languages,” Finnegan said.
While distance learning classes serve as solutions for many courses, there are also disadvantages as the classes rely heavily on technology.
“Because our actual class is very much technology-based, we sometimes have complications due to equipment, website availability, and internet access,” Finnegan said.
Equipment and internet malfunctions may hinder a student’s ability to complete assignments for a distance learning class or create complications for teachers when making assignments and tests. Additionally, utilizing technology for most assignments can cause students to develop poor habits, especially for a foreign language class which emphasizes speaking and writing tasks.
“Distance learning makes it easier to rely on the computer for everything, so it is harder to apply what you’ve learned with technology,” Khabida said.
Aside from technological errors, distance learning classes provide students with equal accessibility to education and flexibility to succeed in the increasingly digital world.
“Distance learning is a good tool for our generation because there are not many teachers for certain subjects nowadays. It also allows students to meet new people and get a different experience,” Khabida said.
