The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a new “normal” to the Oakdale community;  Friends must stay six feet apart from each other, masks must be worn to go out, and restaurants must remain at 75% capacity.  Along with these changes is online school.  Whether you love it or hate it, it’s here to stay until at least January, 2021.  With most school districts in Maryland starting off the year completely virtual for the first time, even with a structured plan, there are bound to be some problems students and staff will run into.

After conducting an Instagram poll, it was found that about 82% of students faced some sort of issue in the first week of school.  A common issue students have been facing is with Schoology, the platform FCPS teachers are required to use to post assignments and grades.  Junior Riley Frutiger states, “I couldn’t get into my [Schoology] account the night before” referring to the night before school started.

Wifi problems have also been an issue.  Sophomore Olivia Tehaan also mentioned that she has “had wifi problems” throughout the school year so far.  Teachers and staff have noticed that the wifi seems to be going out almost at random in some neighborhoods, most likely due to the surge of people now using it at the same time.  

Luckily, most teachers have been very understanding of the situation, and have been very helpful.  Junior Marissa Ridell said that her teachers have been very understanding whenever she has connection issues.  The teachers are also still helping students with normal problems they would be experiencing in the classroom as well.  Frutiger has even received help with testing issues, which can be difficult in an online format.  

Amongst all these issues, there seems to be mixed feelings about online learning.  Some people prefer doing the work at their own pace when doing work asynchronously. Others like being able to ask questions during Google Meets with teachers.  Overall, about 68% of students said they prefer learning in school, while the remaining 32% said they prefer learning online.

Even with these challenges, students and staff are finding ways to manage.  Some students are even dressing up, or showing their pets during their Google Meets to brighten up the class. All in all, students and staff are aiming to only improve at online learning as the semester progresses.