Half and half

Students have experienced two weeks of hybrid learning since September 22.

Due to the current situation of Covid-19, the school announced the transition from full virtual learning to hybrid learning, that the school will be half virtual and half in person, two weeks ago.

On September 22, starting hybrid schedule seemed the best choice when safely resuming physical school. However, after two weeks of experimentation, the hybrid schedule has not earned unanimous praises from the students.

Hybrid schedule, separating students into two groups, makes one group of students be on campus and one at home. The groups switch every two days.

Some students worried about the mask-requiring policy and the usual commuting times when this schedule was first posted. But surprisingly, the majority of students disliked the increased number of classes and the longer days.

Originally,  students had two or three periods from Monday to Thursday and seven periods a day on Friday. However, students have all periods day (7 periods a day) four days a week for hybrid schedule.

Taking seven different classes a day makes life extremely stressful for students, let alone doing this four days a week. Many students have reflected that they found hard to concentrate in the afternoons of all periods days.

The fact is that the four periods in the morning already consumes students’ most energy. It is so hard for tired students concentrate during the last three periods in the afternoon. The situation seriously affected the efficiency of the classes in the afternoon of all periods days. Nevertheless, the hybrid schedule worsened this, lowering students’ productivity and increasing their anxiety.

Not only do all periods days drive students crazy, but the longer school days also make students uncomfortable. After hybrid began, the schedule shifted from 9:00 am to 2:30pm to 8:00am to 3:00pm. Based on the change, students lost at least one hour of sleeping time every day since the first day of hybrid learning.

The hybrid schedule did not help the students to become more efficient and productive when studying; instead, it provided students with a lack of sleep and higher levels of negative emotions such as anxiety and panic.

Maybe it is the time for some adjustments.

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