With technical difficulties and motivational decreases, student shares struggle with getting work done from home

Frances Kliensmith, Staff Reporter

Originally Published May 5, 2020

With COVID-19 closing all schools and college campuses in the United States, many students have transitioned to online-school life. This leaves many dealing with the motivational difficulties and technical obstacles on their own.

Juniper Kleinsmith, a senior at Western Washington University who’s studying Elementary Education, has faced a great deal of technical challenges as well as a decrease in motivation whilst studying from home.

“I have been less motivated to do work online due to the fact that with no real structure or schedule,” said Kleinsmith, “It is difficult for me to find the mindset to get to working on the things that I need to get done.”

Many professors and classes have set up online meetings, with the most common platform being Zoom. This allows a large number of members to have a face-to-face meeting or lesson, typically to converse about a specific class or lecture.

 Every online platform has its downsides to it and many reports have been made, stating that Zoom has countless reports of not working. This affects many and for Kleinsmith, this has made it very difficult for her to learn at the same rate as she would in an in-person class.

“While on Zoom, I have experienced countless technical issues like cutting out or freezing which makes it so hard to learn online,” said Kleinsmith. “It’s so much different than taking a class in person because I am constantly worried about Zoom working.”

With more time on student’s hands from being at home, it may seem like no problem to get work done in a timely manner, but for many the online schooling has caused a decrease in motivation and productivity.

“My motivation has decreased due to the fact that I am no longer in my school environment where I would be motivated by my peers in class and by the environment of the campus,” said Kleinsmith

All in all, the online lessons have taken a toll on productivity for various reasons; technical issues, motivation decrease and many more.