A dramatic change has rippled through education in Santa Cruz and the entire nation. In only weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced teachers, students, principles, counselors, and anyone involved in education to move their day-to-day completely online. 

The transition to a virtual learning environment has been challenging and laborious. 

For Jason Borgen, Chief Technology officer for Santa Cruz County Schools, moving an entire school district online is “8 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday” as he works nonstop to help transition teachers in Santa Cruz to an online format. The ways schools are tackling this movement differs based on location, institution size and audience, and more.

K-12 Tools

For Elementary school, Google Classroom is popular. Teachers and students are given Google’s familiar platform and a way to upload their assignments, facilitating and evaluating work natively.

For the younger students who don’t yet know how to read, let alone use a computer for learning software, schools have moved to a different program called Seesaw. Seesaw is much simpler and implements a reading voice for those who are still learning. 

Higher Education Challenges and Changes

This drastic change from face-to-face interaction has been difficult for many, especially those who are paying larger sums for their education. 

“You’re paying for school without even going to school,” Adhiraj Hangal, a student at UCSC said. “You don’t really get what you’re paying for.” 

At UCSC, teachers and students have moved to Canvas, Zoom, and teacher-specified platforms for their online learning. While Canvas is the heart of the system and Zoom is the official UC- system-wide communication platform, the ability of individual instructors to optimize students’ experiences with new systems varies.

“Zoom is all right,” Hangal said. “It’s hard to stay focused without real face-to-face interaction.”

Hangal also noted the use of added alerts before lectures to remind students to log in. Hangal believes some students may need extra attention and motivation during this transitional period. Even though he is witnessing learning restrictions, he does believe that Zoom and Canvas are easy to use. 

While some students are struggling with the lack of in-person interaction and support systems, others are taking advantage of the digitization of curriculums. Since certain courses don’t require attendance at specific times, this newfound freedom is allowing some students to engage in heavier course loads without scheduling conflicts—all from the comfort of student’s homes. Though, the diverse range of instructors’ pedagogical variation for mobilizing these digital mediums leads to a variety of approaches.

In comparison, Andrew Meyer, a student at UCSB, is frustrated with the online format that his school is utilizing called GauchoSpace. The platform is not user-friendly, crashes often, and is unreliable. Meyer is also struggling in his classes because he doesn’t feel like he can learn as well online. 

“I’ve done online classes before, and I don’t think I learn as well. Without face-to-face contact, it makes it much harder for a visual learner like myself.” 

Of course the lack of face to face interaction has been a problem for many others across the nation. Josh Molina, a journalism instructor at Santa Barbara City College, is struggling to keep students involved.

“So much of how I teach is based on my energy and connection to the class,” Molina said. “It’s forcing me to find a way to keep students involved.

And what about those students who simply can’t keep up with the change, whether because of time, learning style, internet access, job loss, or stress? According to Molina, around five of his students have gone completely MIA.

“Something like this really causes a problem for the bottom half. Those who were struggling with participating before have just stopped doing anything.” 

Santa Barbara City College has ruled that teachers can’t penalize students for being inactive in lectures, so Molina has stayed on his toes finding creative ways to keep students engaged. 

“The way I get around that is by having quizzes and keeping people active by asking everyone questions,” Molina said. 

As our local, national, and global communities all struggle with this transition, we must keep in mind the good that will come out of this, too. Especially in Santa Cruz County, technological upgrades and equity-seeking measures were overdue in public education.

Specifically, Borgen is seeing how:

“Technology creates a more efficient learning and an opportunity for teachers to innovate. Everyone should have the right for internet access and this is teaching us why.”