Learning Online

With the “Safer at Home” order in effect in mid-March, students faced the transition of learning from home. Without their teachers, classmates, and friends present, the education experiences of students from elementary to college levels changed drastically. Elementary and High School students found themselves at home under the guidance of their parents as supplemental classroom instructors. All of their homework was now online. Without a lunch period, recess, or socialization, students faced a new routine that offered little classroom structure. The time management skills of both students and their parents were put to the test.

College students faced similar struggles. In addition to all college courses undergoing a transition to online formats, many college students faced relocation and unnatural academic environments. In heading home, some students traveled both out of state and internationally. At home, students had to recreate an academic environment that allowed them to study. Rather than being in a library or at their dorm desk, college students had to adapt to this change for an undetermined period of time.

The images on this page show how students across all grades went online. The video shows Stuart Janeshek, a second grader at St. John XXIII Catholic School in Port Washington, giving an e-learning report on Gorillas. Struggling to stay awake during an e-learning session, Sullivan Janeshek, a kindergartener at St. John XXIII, took a nap during class. As the 2020 senior class was ready to graduate, the pandemic cancelled most ceremonies. To show support for graduating seniors, families from Marquette High School and many other schools have placed signs in yards, noting that a senior lives in that home. This is an expression of solidarity among students. With students at Greenfield High School learning from home, the school’s parking lot was empty at 8 a.m. on a weekday. Students Frank Kalisik, Sophia Ward, and Anne Baldwin from UW-Milwaukee experience their online courses from their homes. Kalisik and Ward, who are Illinois residents, returned to their home state when the library and other study areas closed. Baldwin remained in Milwaukee. These three students had to make their homes places of study.