Hybrid Learning; Helping or Hurting?

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Brianna Gagnon, Staff Writer

Spending half of the week at school and the other half at home is a new experience for both students and teachers alike, but this poses the question; what ramifications does the Hybrid model have? 

Marlena (Mars) Malloch, a Sophomore at GHS, recently switched to fully remote on Tuesday October 20th. The former Cohort B student disagreed with the hybrid model. “I did not enjoy it. It honestly felt draining,” she recounted. Mars said it was hard for her to wake up early only for certain days, and the workload got a lot heavier. Her schedule made it hard to focus, and the way she chopped up the work made it easy for her to procrastinate.

Mars felt the hybrid model created more stress than being suddenly remote last spring. She shares that if she could change one thing about hybrid learning, it would be to give less work. ” l would still be in hybrid if they lessened the workload.” Mars is taking some honors classes and an AP class. “I was expecting more work from last year, but this year felt like way too much.” Mars explained that if she knew she had to do work remotely when she signed up for her classes last year, she would have picked different classes.

Mars was also unhappy with the 30 minute Friday Zoom calls and even proposed an idea on how to better use time on Fridays, “instead of doing mandatory meetings, they should make them optional. So, if you need help, you can pop in and ask what you need to then leave!” 

On the other side of things, we have Harvest Fladd, another sophomore here at GHS. The Cohort A student has a differing opinion on the hybrid learning model. They agreed that they would rather be full time, but for what’s available, it’s “a pretty good accommodation.”

When asked if it stresses them out, Harvest responded “I experience stress, but it’s not horrible, I’m not experiencing any more stress than I would normally.” Most of their stress originates from the remote days. They reasoned that the one thing they would change about it all would be to have remote days be less work intensive, because it’s hard for them to keep up. Harvest does love this more than the spring semester last year, they vividly expressed how much they hated our remote model last year. 

They, like Mars, also found the Friday Zooms to be tiring, but contradictory to that, they did find them to be necessary. “I need the extra time with teachers to clarify on school work previously assigned in the week, or to ask for help.” They explained, “But they should be optional, for sure.” 

Hopefully, the hybrid model will remain to be a temporary option for these students, and soon things can go back to, or close to, “normal”. Harvest vocalizes the fear I think most students have, ” I won’t be successful at this if it continues for another two years.”