by Isabella Poma When we were told to stay home because of the coronavirus on the headlines of news stations, no one expected the turbulent and unprecedented year we would face. Students looked to 2020 with hope and optimism. The new decade symbolized hope for an era of accomplishments and national unity. I don’t need to tell you this was an idealistic and inaccurate perception of what 2020 would bring. But why did the virus affect many of us so negatively? And why is it that we crave to go to a classroom? Even prior to COVID-19, plenty of university students turned to the more affordable and convenient onlineeducation option. In 2015, a Slovanian study attempted to better understand the individualized virtual learning environment. Researchers set up an online learning platform for a classroom where students would complete projects. Apart from assignments, the platform contained a Semantic Annotation and Indexing Service, which connected students to external learning sources, such as discussion forums, posts, webpages, and posted documents. It also contained a Resource Recommendation Service that generated a list of recommended
online resources within the system. The platform was based on Moodle, an online service similar to UCLA’s CCLE. Results indicated that students who were more active in forum postings improved their academic performance. There was also a positive relationship between quality of social interaction and academic success, suggesting that the stronger student relationships were, the more work improved. Lastly, as student satisfaction with utilizing an online tool increased, academic success decreased. So, as students
became well-versed in using
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