What I Have Learned from Attending Classes Online During Lockdown.

I recently graduated from a college in Ireland that focuses on learning new skills for possible employment or advancement to a bigger college or university. I plan to go to a college in Cork in October, from what I have been reading on the website. Right now in Ireland, our situation in terms of the current pandemic, we are allowed to go anywhere in the country (excluding one county). This means I will be able to go to Cork unless there are further announcements expected. I'm actually excited to go, but I'm nervous as in understanding how I will be attending this year. Most seventeen and eighteen-year-olds would sit exams for a whole month of June and hope by August that they would receive enough points to get into their dream course. I went through a different route in 2019 and I couldn't be happier with my choice. Of course with the recent events surrounding the pandemic, I had to finish my course online. I also had my assessments online. During my time of learning online, I have learned three things that may affect me for the future of my next academic year and for my future in general.

I have learned I would still have to go to classes online and not physically in real-time. The situation surrounding education in Ireland has been confusing, with no clear cut way of safely attending college. I think it will be a new protocol of washing hands, wearing masks and bringing hand sanitizer along. My government thinks we would only be on campus once or twice a week for classes, with social-distancing in place. I would definitely have to cope with these new settings in place and figure out how to work around this in two different places. Accommodation in Cork is also an issue for me as I live far away from the college and I may need to obtain a part-time job since my grant for college won't cover for each month. I need to obtain a place after my offers come out and I accept it in September.

Another thing that I have learned is how much the feeling of going to class in the real world compares to going to class in the online world is so different yet normal for me. For the first few days, it felt a bit weird during my second week during lockdown in Ireland, I felt nerves coming into the idea of online teaching. We all were fine with going into class in the real world, but the virtual world was a whole new experience for me because I am always the shy one. Thankfully I have managed to embrace the idea and managed to get on without any issues. The most important thing that I have learned is that things will continue as normal in life, even with everything having to be virtual in terms of business. Maybe I will have to deal with everything on a virtual level at this point.

The last important thing that I have learned is that we are all in the same boat. We are all still dealing with a pandemic, yet everyone seems to think that it's fine. I know that we are still dealing with it and that we will have a better future in terms of people's responsibility, which might not be great if you really don't care, but at least I now know that I am still riding the rocky boat that is 2020. I know that my friend is dealing with all sorts this September, having her grades being predicted this year since her exams got cancelled. Even though everyone has different challenges, we are all in this together.

I think my time with the online classes will definitely continue, but I hope to step into the building and hope to have a great if I can get to the final step next month. I hope next for me will be much better, but who knows?