The Online Learning Experience

The Philippines has been under some form of lockdown since March 2020. That's nearly 2 years of lockdown at the time of writing. While it did take some getting used to initially, taking school online also made me realize the potential of digital tools pioneering the future of education.

My triple-montior home setup, optimized for productivity!

I think one thing that transitioned quite smoothly online was classes themselves. I'll actually argue that my learning has become much more productive online! Hopping onto a video lesson allows me to start studying earlier in the day instead of making a long commute to school. Online learning also makes studying more flexible: recorded lessons also allow me to revisit topics or concepts after school if I missed a class or didn't fully understand a concept. I've also found the remote experience has increased my connectivity with my teachers outside class hours: Zoom messaging and Discord have made it much easier to contact teachers and keep in touch, improving my learning experience further.

But most importantly, online learning has unlocked additional tools we can use to interactively engage with new concepts and solidify our knowledge. I personally designed a language practice tool that my friends and I use to expand our foreign vocabulary. Instead of copying down lines of words on paper, this website uses AI and a retrieval learning model to select the best terms for us to practice based on our learning history. Through this tool, I've managed to improve my understanding of foreign languages which I can use to connect with people around me from different cultures on a much deeper level.

For me, the internet is among humanity's greatest inventions because it enables faster information sharing on a global level. With a few clicks, I can access data from the polar ice caps, read cutting-edge scientific papers and watch videos documenting a vast array of cultures and ecosystems. The internet is not just a technology, but a collective knowledge bank that all of humanity can contribute to.

Through online learning, I've been empowered to push my own boundaries as a learner and thinker. I hope to continue using the knowledge I gain to innovate new learning methods and deepen my understanding of the world around me.