Self-doubt, isolation: The reality of remote learning for first-year college students

When Hannah Ledesma from Mountmellick, Co Laois, applied to go to University College Dublin she never expected first year would be like this: studying from home in the bedroom she shares with her younger sister.

Her plans to move in with a family in Dublin went up in smoke as soon as pandemic lockdown restrictions went to Level 3 last year. Shortly afterwards, even the one day she was due to spend on campus each week was cancelled.

Her first year of college has been experienced through the small screen of her laptop.

Tackling a completely new discipline, without being able to confer with her classmates has been detrimental to her and her peers, says Ledemsa.

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“I’ve never done politics or ethics or anything like that before, and I just need to kind of find my own path, and there’s no comparing or even talking with people to ask ‘did you get this?’, or ‘how did you find that?’”

It's not only your study room, but it's also your classroom, your bedroom, your chill room, it's all rolled into one

“I’m doubting myself a lot more than I would normally, in terms of, ‘Am I doing this right? Do I even have a clue what I’m talking about?’. So that’s definitely affected my mental health and made me a lot more stressed.”

She's far from alone. Calbhach Harte O'Reilly, a first year sociology student at Maynooth University, decided to conduct a survey of other first years: "Every third-level student was having an exceptionally hard time and no research was being done into this, so I thought I would do it myself."

The results were stark: it showed that 82 per cent of the 725 respondents said they were experiencing high levels of stress.

In addition, 75 per cent of respondents believe they have fallen behind on their course, and 81 per cent believe remote learning has had a negative effect on their course work and study.

Harte O’Reilly believes “students are being rushed through and being given unrealistic expectations for their work. It’s affecting their mental health because of the added stress, pressure and anxiety”.

Ryan Keogh, a quantity surveying and construction economics student at Technical University Dublin, says he and his classmates have little choice but to abide by the restrictions but voices his frustration with studying from home.

“If you’re in college there would be certain breaks, like in school, a few more weeks and then I have a week off, or a few more weeks and then I’m done for the year. But with ‘at home college’, because you’re doing it where you live, it’s like you cannot escape any sort of educational pressure because even when you’re in your home relaxing, you’re still in the space that you’re under pressure for college work,” says Keogh.

This has similarly affected Ledesma.

“I’m looking at my bed while I’m looking at my lecture [on screen], it’s distracting. That is something that has definitely impacted my work.

“It’s not only your study room, but it’s also your classroom, your bedroom, your chill room, it’s all rolled into one.”

Students have gone from having their final year of secondary school online to their first year of college online, with some claiming that they barely notice a difference between the two.

This is something that worries Ledesma, too, as she is concerned that her work rate and methods have not changed.

“Because there wasn’t such a big difference, my work rate and the way I work hasn’t changed much. So I’m still applying my work methods that I would have used in sixth year to my third-level work. I feel like there should be a higher standard, but I think the mode in which college is being delivered makes it difficult to up my standard or change the way I work.”

Keogh has noticed differences between his online classes in secondary school and third level.

“It’s completely different in that it’s only three days a week, where you get on at half eight, nine o’clock, and you don’t leave until five or six o’clock, and you’re sitting down all day.

“On top of that there’s no interaction, you don’t put your camera on, you don’t put your mic on, you just sit there and try and take in the information that’s being thrown at you.”

Missing out on social interaction has also had a profound impact on students. Lack of socialisation in the first year of college not only breeds isolation and loneliness, it is also missing out on a rite of passage, explains Treasa Fox, spokeswoman for the Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education Ireland.

“They are not having the college experience they expected. We are well aware that an awful lot of students are feeling very lonely, very isolated, at a time in their lives when they are hardwired to seek each other out, to seek out peers, seek out relationships, seek out that whole separation from family. The peer group becomes more significant, that’s a developmental task at this stage, and it’s just not happening for them. That is something we are acutely aware of.”

Keogh has noticed some students that are increasingly isolated and removed from others on their course.

“I’m the course rep, so I’ve spoken to nearly everyone, but some of them have said ‘I literally have no friends, I haven’t been speaking to anyone on the course’.”

Fox makes a distinction between the first-year students from the last academic year and this one, with this year’s first years becoming increasingly isolated, due in part to lockdown fatigue.

“Our first years who were there in the very first lockdown last March, there was a lot of busy-ness around staying connected, social media and your Zoom quizzes and stuff, and I think that’s just not there this time around for this year’s first years.”

As the uncertainty surrounding third-level education and the manner in which it is delivered continues, Fox warns that many of the consequences of this are yet to materialise.

“Everyone is still in crisis responding mode, we actually won’t see the psychological fallout until the pandemic and restrictions finish.”

Remote learning by numbers: first-year student survey responses

Maynooth University student Calbhach Harte O’Reilly conducted a survey of more than 700 first-year students from several colleges during December and January. Some of the headline findings:

50 per cent: the proportion of students who rate their third-level educational experience between one and three on a scale of one to 10.

83 per cent: believe remote learning has had a detrimental impact on information retention.

64 per cent: believe their educational institutions are not doing enough to assist them.

80 per cent: feel remote learning is having a negative impact on their mental health.

87 per cent: are concerned that their understanding of their course has been impacted as a result of remote learning.