How Students are Dealing with Online Learning

By Nicole Aponte

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A year after the initial shutdown of K-12 schools across the country, elementary school students continue to face hardships when it comes to online learning: Troubleshoot technology, distractions at home, and unstable internet connection.

Students who attend Syracuse City School Districts have the opportunity to be taught by 300 volunteer tutors who “zoom in” from across the country. Syracuse University students make up half of the volunteers, and they continue to amaze Brice Nordquist, the Dean’s Professor of Community Engagement in the College of Arts and Sciences and co-founder of the program. “The people that are connecting and supporting each other, they are building a coalition to support students in the area. It has been incredibly uplifting.” Emily Winiecki and Aley O’Mara also assisted in organizing the start of this tutoring program.

Isa Sanchez, SU first-year student, is one of the volunteer tutors who has taken it upon herself to make a difference in our community. She spends her Wednesday nights virtually tutoring students across Central New York. She wants to develop that one-on-one connection that students might be missing with online school. “Taking what should be normal for the students which is just having someone there to guide them with the material and giving it to them when they’re really not seeing that in the classrooms right now.”

Syracuse University has partnered with many community organizations across the city which provides a quiet place for students to complete their school work with help from the tutors. The YWCA is just one of them. This building is home to Girls Inc. which curates young girls into being strong, smart, and bold. The girls are provided laptops, and they learn from socially distant computer stations set up within the facility. The mission of this tutoring program is for the students to complete their work with the confidence and understanding they need in order to succeed in school.