lockdown experience essay in english for students

COVID-19 Lockdown: My Experience

When the lockdown started, I was ecstatic. My final year of school had finished early, exams were cancelled, the sun was shining. I was happy, and confident I would be OK. After all, how hard could staying at home possibly be? After a while, the reality of the situation started to sink in.

The novelty of being at home wore off and I started to struggle. I suffered from regular panic attacks, frozen on the floor in my room, unable to move or speak. I had nightmares most nights, and struggled to sleep. It was as if I was stuck, trapped in my house and in my own head. I didn't know how to cope.

However, over time, I found ways to deal with the pressure. I realised that lockdown gave me more time to the things I loved, hobbies that had been previously swamped by schoolwork. I started baking, drawing and writing again, and felt free for the first time in months. I had forgotten how good it felt to be creative. I started spending more time with my family. I hadn't realised how much I had missed them.

Almost a month later, I feel so much better. I understand how difficult this must be, but it's important to remember that none of us is alone. No matter how scared, or trapped, or alone you feel, things can only get better.  Take time to revisit the things you love, and remember that all of this will eventually pass. All we can do right now is stay at home, look after ourselves and our loved ones, and look forward to a better future.

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Read student blogs about student life and the Brighton university experience

My lockdown experience

My experience of lockdown as a student has had its ups and downs, as you would imagine. Being confined to our homes with no outside social interactions with fellow humans has been tough and goes against our human nature.

Nothing compares with going to university for the first time and experiencing the full uni student life of interacting with friends and lecturers. While a global pandemic has brought this all to a halt, I have been lucky enough to have a family that continues to support me during these uncertain times, and who always allow me the time and space I’ve needed over these past months to study independently .    

University study online

I am currently in my second year of a Sport and Exercise Science degree with ongoing final assessments which haven’t been all that bad for me during lockdown. I like to think of myself as a hard-working grafter when it comes to essay writing. I have been able to quickly adapt to a remote learning platform, and the university has done a phenomenal job by making the content easily accessible. This has been essential in continuing my studies at an incredible speed with assessment deadlines hovering overhead.  

Staying active

My knowledge and experience in exercise and health has allowed me to continue to keep my health and well-being in check. Having trained many clients in home-based exercises in the past, this gave me the confidence and incentive to implement my own home routine while juggling my studies. However, keeping my mind actively engaged was no easy task with often arduous 1000+ repetition push-ups, sit-ups, and squats variations per week  and running a half marathon runs on a whim! Exercise has primarily been my lifeline through these times, keeping boredom and my belly size at bay. But don’t get me wrong – I’ve had my binge eating and movie marathon days like most through these unprecedented times.  

With all this said, I’ve kept a positive head, always looking towards the current challenge of lockdown as an adaptive learning experience that we’re all faced with. As my motto goes “always live to learn, to try and fail, but most of all, keeping it real”.

• For further information and mental health support, visit our section for student wellbeing section.

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Life During Lockdown Essay for Students – 100, 500, 1000+ Words, & 10 Lines

Life During Lockdown Essay for Students: Explore the challenges, experiences, and lessons learned during the pandemic with “Life During Lockdown Essay for Students.” Understand the impact on education, mental health, and daily life, as students navigate through this unprecedented period.

Reflect on resilience, adaptability, and the importance of community support. Discover insights into remote learning, coping mechanisms, and maintaining social connections in the face of isolation. This Life During Lockdown Essay for Students delves into the unique aspects of students’ lives during lockdown, offering a comprehensive perspective on this transformative period.

Table of Contents

Life During Lockdown Essay in English for Students in 10 Lines

Explore the transformative journey of students during lockdown in “Life During Lockdown Essay for Students.” This Life During Lockdown Essay for Students encapsulates the challenges, adaptations, and resilience displayed by students, providing a comprehensive Life During Lockdown Essay for Students in view of their unique experiences in just 10 lines.

• Shift to Online Learning: With schools and colleges closed, education shifted to virtual platforms like Zoom and Google Meet.
• Work from Home: Many adults adapted to remote work setups, blurring the lines between personal and professional spaces.
• Increased Family Time: Lockdowns brought families together, fostering stronger bonds and shared activities.
• Rediscovery of Hobbies: People explored new hobbies or revisited old ones, finding solace in activities like painting, reading, or gardening.
• Digital Fatigue: Excessive screen time for work, classes, and socializing led to digital fatigue and burnout.
• Heightened Awareness of Health: The pandemic underscored the importance of physical and mental health, leading to increased focus on well-being.
• Challenges of Isolation: Social distancing measures caused feelings of isolation, emphasizing the need for human connection.
• Economic Uncertainty: Many faced financial challenges due to job losses or economic downturns during the pandemic.
• Reflection and Self-Discovery: The quieter pace of life allowed individuals to reflect on their goals and priorities, prompting self-discovery.
• Community Support: Acts of kindness and community support became prominent, with neighbors helping each other during challenging times.

Also See – Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Essay – 100, 500, 1000 Words & 10 Lines

Life During Lockdown Essay for Students in 100 Words

Amidst the lockdown, students experienced a unique blend of challenges and opportunities. From adapting to virtual learning to discovering new hobbies, this Life During Lockdown Essay for Students delves into the multifaceted aspects of their lives during this unprecedented time.

The life of students during the lockdown was a paradigm shift, transforming traditional classrooms into virtual spaces. Adjusting to online learning, students navigated a digital landscape for education and social interaction. The challenges were met with innovation, as virtual classrooms became the new norm. Beyond academics, the lockdown encouraged self-reflection and personal growth.

Students adapted, honing their resilience and creativity. Despite the uncertainties, the experience unveiled new opportunities for learning, collaboration, and adapting to the evolving educational landscape. The lockdown period will be remembered as a time of transformation, where students not only faced challenges but also discovered their capacity to overcome and thrive in an ever-changing world.

Life During Lockdown in English Essay for Students in 500 Words

This Life During Lockdown Essay for Students explores the transformative journey of students during the lockdown, covering aspects such as online education, mental health, and personal growth. Life During Lockdown Essay for Students delves into the challenges faced and the resilience displayed, offering a comprehensive perspective on the student experience during this extraordinary period.

Life During Lockdown: Navigating Challenges and Discovering Resilience

The onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented disruption to normal life, profoundly impacting students and their educational journeys. As classrooms shifted to virtual spaces, students faced a myriad of challenges, yet amidst the chaos emerged stories of resilience and personal growth.

The abrupt transition to online education was a significant hurdle for many students. Technological limitations, internet connectivity issues, and adapting to new learning platforms became recurrent obstacles. However, amidst these challenges, students displayed commendable adaptability. They quickly learned to navigate virtual tools, collaborate effectively in a digital environment, and manage their time efficiently.

The toll on mental health was palpable. Isolation, uncertainty about the future, and the pressure to adapt to new educational norms contributed to heightened stress levels among students. Yet, this period of upheaval also revealed the strength of the human spirit. Many students sought mental health support, and communities rallied together to foster emotional well-being.

The lockdown also provided a unique opportunity for personal reflection and growth. With the constraints of daily routines lifted, students delved into hobbies and passions, rediscovering interests that had been neglected in the hustle of pre-pandemic life. This newfound free time became a catalyst for personal development beyond academic pursuits.

Family dynamics underwent a significant transformation. With extended periods spent at home, students found themselves in the midst of increased family bonding. Shared experiences, conversations, and collaborative activities became integral to this period, fostering stronger familial ties and creating enduring memories.

As students navigated these challenges, they reflected on their priorities. The lockdown became a time of introspection, prompting individuals to reconsider their career goals, academic pursuits, and personal aspirations. Many emerged from this period with a more intentional approach to life, understanding the importance of balance and well-being.

The lessons learned during this period are invaluable, shaping not only the trajectory of education but also the personal development and priorities of students around the globe. As the world moves beyond the pandemic, these experiences will continue to influence how students approach education and life’s challenges in the future.

Life During Lockdown Essay for Students in 1000+ Words

This comprehensive Life During Lockdown Essay for Students delves into the multifaceted experiences of students during the global lockdown, exploring the challenges faced, the lessons learned, and the transformative journey towards personal and academic growth.

Introduction

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 led to unprecedented global challenges, prompting governments worldwide to implement lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

This essay delves into the multifaceted aspects of life during lockdown, exploring the challenges faced by individuals and communities, the shift to remote work and online education, the impact on mental health, and the resilience demonstrated in adapting to the “new normal.”

Challenges Faced During Lockdown

Social Isolation

One of the immediate and palpable challenges of lockdown was social isolation. The restrictions on movement and gatherings meant that people were cut off from their social circles, friends, and extended families. The absence of face-to-face interactions led to feelings of loneliness and a longing for human connection.

Economic Uncertainty

Lockdowns had a severe impact on the global economy, leading to job losses, furloughs, and economic uncertainty for millions. Small businesses faced closures, and various industries experienced significant setbacks. The sudden economic downturn left individuals and families grappling with financial stress and uncertainty about the future.

Education Disruption

Schools and universities worldwide had to adapt swiftly to the new reality of remote learning. The sudden shift to online education posed challenges for both students and educators. Limited access to resources, varying levels of technological proficiency, and the absence of the traditional classroom environment made the learning experience challenging for many.

Work-from-Home Challenges

Remote work became the norm for many professionals, introducing a new set of challenges. Balancing work responsibilities with household chores, the lack of a clear boundary between work and personal life, and the technological adjustments required for effective collaboration presented hurdles for individuals navigating this new work paradigm.

Adapting to Remote Work and Online Education

Remote Work Dynamics

While the sudden transition to remote work posed initial challenges, it also highlighted the adaptability and resilience of individuals and organizations. Video conferencing tools, collaborative platforms, and flexible work hours became integral to maintaining productivity and communication.

Online Education Innovations

Educational institutions embraced technology to ensure continuity in learning. Virtual classrooms, online assessments, and interactive learning platforms became essential components of the educational landscape. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital tools in education, prompting innovation in pedagogical approaches.

Digital Connectivity

The importance of digital connectivity became more apparent than ever. High-speed internet, online communication tools, and digital platforms became lifelines for individuals working and studying remotely. The digital divide, however, underscored the need for equitable access to technology.

Impact on Mental Health

Isolation and Anxiety

The isolation imposed by lockdowns took a toll on mental health. Anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness became prevalent as individuals grappled with uncertainties about the future, health concerns, and the disruption of routine.

Work-Life Balance Challenges

Remote work, while offering flexibility, also blurred the boundaries between professional and personal life. Many individuals found it challenging to establish a work-life balance, leading to burnout and increased stress levels.

Educational Stress

Students faced unique challenges, including the pressure of adapting to online learning, concerns about academic performance, and the absence of the social support traditionally provided by the school environment.

Resilience and Adaptability

Community Support

Communities around the world demonstrated resilience by coming together to support one another. Mutual aid groups, online forums, and community initiatives emerged to provide assistance, share resources, and foster a sense of solidarity.

Innovation and Creativity

The pandemic spurred innovation in various fields. From virtual events and conferences to innovative approaches in education, individuals and organizations showcased creativity in adapting to the constraints imposed by lockdown.

Digital Transformation Acceleration

Businesses and institutions accelerated their digital transformation efforts. E-commerce, telehealth, and virtual services saw increased adoption, reflecting the adaptability of industries in responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Life during lockdown presented a myriad of challenges, from social isolation to economic uncertainties and disruptions in education and work. However, amidst these challenges, individuals and communities showcased remarkable resilience and adaptability. The embrace of remote work and online education, coupled with the acceleration of digital transformation, highlighted the capacity for innovation and creativity in the face of adversity.

As societies gradually emerge from the throes of the pandemic, the lessons learned during lockdown underscore the importance of building resilient systems, prioritizing mental health, and fostering a sense of community. The shared experience of navigating life during lockdown serves as a testament to the collective strength of humanity and the potential for positive transformation in the face of global challenges.

the Life During Lockdown Essay for Students serves as a poignant testament to the resilience and adaptability that define the human spirit. As students navigated the uncharted waters of remote learning, disrupted routines, and the emotional toll of isolation, they discovered hidden strengths within themselves. The challenges posed by the pandemic became catalysts for growth, fostering adaptability and fortitude.

The diverse narratives shared by students underscore the universality of the human experience during these trying times. From moments of frustration to unexpected joys and self-realization, the Life During Lockdown Essay for Students encapsulates the spectrum of emotions and lessons learned.

As the world gradually emerges from the shadows of the pandemic, these insights into life during lockdown become invaluable markers of endurance and perseverance.

This Life During Lockdown Essay for Students not only chronicles the challenges faced by students but also emphasizes the profound lessons embedded in adversity. Life During Lockdown Essay for Students stands as a testament to the resilience cultivated amid uncertainty, providing a hopeful outlook for the future.

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Life During Lockdown Essay in English for Students – 10 Lines, 100 & 1000 Words

• Entrance Exams
• November 6, 2023

Life During Lockdown Essay in English – The COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has disrupted our lives in ways we could have never imagined. Lockdowns, social distancing, and the sudden shift to remote learning have become the new normal for students around the world. Lockdowns were imposed in many parts of the world to curb the spread of the virus.

This essay explores the experiences of students during these challenging times and how their lives were affected by lockdowns. This article delves into the experiences, challenges, and resilience displayed by students during this trying time.

Also See – Mahatma Gandhi Essay in English in 500, 100 Words

About Lachit Borphukan in 10 Lines

Here, we have provided a brief overview of Life During Lockdown Essay – experience & Challenges in 10 lines.

• Life during lockdown has been a unique and challenging experience for students worldwide.
• Lockdowns forced a sudden shift to online education, with students facing technical issues and a need to adapt.
• Social isolation and restrictions on gatherings led to feelings of loneliness and separation from friends.
• Mental health concerns, such as stress and anxiety, became more prevalent among students.
• Some students discovered new hobbies and interests, from art and music to cooking and writing.
• Family time became more valuable as lockdowns brought loved ones closer together.
• Reflection and personal growth became a focus for some students during the lockdown.
• Online connections and virtual events offered ways to combat isolation and stay connected with peers.
• The lockdown experience highlighted the resilience and adaptability of students in the face of adversity.
• As we move beyond the pandemic, these experiences will be remembered as a time of transformation and change.

Write About Life During Lockdown Essay in 500 Words

Life During Lockdown: Adapting to a New Normal

Introduction

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 sent shockwaves through the world, disrupting almost every facet of daily life. One of the most significant changes brought about by the pandemic was the imposition of lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus. In this essay, we will explore the multifaceted experiences and challenges faced by individuals during these unprecedented times.

Online Education: A Digital Transformation

One of the most profound changes during lockdown was the abrupt shift from traditional classroom education to online learning. This transition had a profound impact on students of all ages. For students, it meant attending classes through a computer screen, submitting assignments electronically, and communicating with teachers and peers in virtual spaces. Online education offered flexibility but also presented various challenges, including technical issues, difficulties in maintaining focus in a home environment, and a lack of personal interaction with teachers and classmates.

Social Isolation: A Loneliness Epidemic

Lockdowns, with their strict restrictions on social gatherings and activities, resulted in a pervasive sense of social isolation. Students found themselves missing out on birthdays, parties, and extracurricular events. The inability to interact with friends in person took a toll on their mental health, leading to feelings of loneliness and separation from their social circles. Many students struggled to adapt to this new reality, where personal connections were limited to the digital realm.

Mental Health: Coping with Stress and Anxiety

The pandemic placed significant stress on students. Uncertainty, academic pressures, and the abrupt shift to online learning exacerbated pre-existing mental health issues and created new ones. Students grappled with stress and anxiety, trying to find effective coping mechanisms. Some turned to mindfulness and meditation to manage their mental well-being, while others maintained physical activity and exercise routines to alleviate stress. For many, seeking professional help became a crucial step in managing their mental health during lockdown.

Discovering New Interests: Hobbies as a Lifeline

Amid the challenges of lockdown, some students discovered a silver lining – the opportunity to explore new hobbies and interests. With extracurricular activities canceled and reduced homework, students found themselves with more free time on their hands. Some turned to creative outlets, such as art, music, writing, cooking, or other forms of self-expression. These new interests not only helped pass the time but also provided a sense of accomplishment and personal growth.

Quality Family Time: Strengthening Bonds

As lockdowns confined families to their homes, they had the chance to spend more quality time together. Parents and siblings became a source of support and companionship. Family dinners, movie nights, and long conversations became a cherished part of life during lockdown, fostering stronger connections and bonds among family members.

Reflection and Personal Growth: A Time for Transformation

For some students, lockdown provided an opportunity for self-reflection and personal growth. The slowed pace of life allowed them to set new goals, acquire new skills, and build resilience in the face of adversity. Many used this period of introspection to gain insights into their values, priorities, and aspirations.

Life during lockdown has been a journey filled with challenges and opportunities. The sudden shift to online education, the struggles of social isolation, and the impact on mental health have been significant. However, amidst these challenges, students have discovered new interests, strengthened family bonds, and embarked on personal journeys of growth and self-discovery. As the world moves forward beyond the pandemic, these experiences will serve as a testament to the adaptability and resilience of students in the face of unprecedented challenges. The lessons learned during this period will undoubtedly shape their lives and future endeavors.

Essay on Student Life in Lockdown

A Day in the Life of a Student in Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic, which swept the globe in 2020, has ushered in an era of unprecedented change. Lockdowns, social distancing, and remote learning have become the new reality for students worldwide. This article offers an in-depth exploration of a day in the life of a student during lockdown, comparing their current situation to pre-lockdown life and delving into the motivations that keep them going in these challenging times.

Pre-lockdown Life: A Time of Routine and Freedom

Morning Routine

Before the pandemic, students typically followed a well-defined morning routine. They would rise early, preparing themselves for the day ahead. Mornings often began with the pleasant aroma of breakfast and conversations with family members. Students would then embark on their daily commute to their respective educational institutions, be it school, college, or university. During this journey, they would interact with friends and classmates, share stories, and engage in light banter. The world was bustling with life, and students were an integral part of this vibrant ecosystem.

In-person Classes

In pre-lockdown life, students enjoyed the privilege of in-person learning. They would engage with their teachers face-to-face, have open discussions with peers, and participate in various extracurricular activities. The classrooms were alive with energy and enthusiasm as students actively participated in discussions, group projects, and hands-on learning experiences. Lunch breaks were a time for bonding with friends, and laughter filled the air as they shared meals and stories.

Afternoon and Evening

The afternoon and evening hours in pre-lockdown life were equally eventful. Students attended additional classes, worked on assignments, or participated in clubs and sports. The prospect of meeting friends after the day’s activities acted as a constant source of motivation. When the school day or college classes ended, students returned home in the late afternoon, bringing with them the excitement and experiences of the day. The evenings were a time for relaxation, socializing with friends, pursuing hobbies, and completing homework. Life had a sense of routine and normalcy.

Current Lockdown Life: A New Normal

In the wake of the pandemic, students have had to adapt to an entirely new routine. The early morning alarm still rings, but the circumstances have changed. Students now wake up at a different time, with more flexibility in their schedules. The day starts with a virtual breakfast, either with family members or alone, as the morning hustle and bustle of getting ready for a commute has been replaced by a more relaxed atmosphere. The absence of the daily commute is a significant change that many have come to appreciate.

Virtual Classes

Current lockdown life is defined by the transition to virtual education. Students have shifted from physical classrooms to virtual ones, attending lectures via video calls and web conferencing platforms. While this change offers flexibility in terms of location, it also presents various challenges. Staring at screens for prolonged periods can lead to screen fatigue, and maintaining focus within the distractions of a home environment can be difficult. The traditional classroom’s lively atmosphere and face-to-face interactions with teachers and peers have been replaced by a digital realm. While technology enables learning to continue, the loss of in-person interactions is palpable.

The afternoons and evenings for students in lockdown are a mix of academic responsibilities, self-study, and managing assignments. The energy and camaraderie of the physical campus are sorely missed. Students grapple with the absence of friends and the vibrancy of campus life. Evenings are largely spent indoors, with limited physical interaction with friends. This change has prompted students to turn to digital entertainment, such as movies, video games, and social media, to fill the void left by social interactions. The absence of physical engagement and extracurricular activities has left a vacuum in their daily lives.

Motivation in Lockdown: Finding Purpose

Dealing with Isolation

A significant challenge in the life of students during lockdown is dealing with isolation. The lack of social interaction, which was once an integral part of their daily routine, has left many feeling isolated and lonely. Students often turn to video calls and online chats to stay connected with friends and peers, seeking ways to bridge the gap created by physical distance. While virtual interactions are a lifeline, they can never fully replace the energy and spontaneity of in-person encounters.

Staying Motivated

Motivation during lockdown is an ongoing struggle. The lack of a physical classroom environment, the isolation from peers, and the blurred lines between home and school make it challenging for students to stay motivated. Self-discipline and time management become essential skills for maintaining productivity. Students often establish their own routines and set personal goals to ensure they stay on track academically. They use tools like to-do lists and time management apps to help them stay organized and focused on their studies.

To overcome the absence of physical extracurricular activities, students have turned to virtual alternatives. Online clubs, webinars, and workshops have become a source of motivation and engagement. These virtual activities provide students with a sense of community and an opportunity to pursue their interests and passions.

Coping with Uncertainty

The uncertainty surrounding the pandemic’s duration and its long-term effects on education and the job market has created anxiety and stress among students. Coping with this uncertainty is a significant aspect of their daily lives. Many students find inspiration in the resilience of the global community, witnessing how people come together in times of crisis. They draw strength from stories of individuals who have overcome adversity and have found innovative ways to adapt to the new normal.

For emotional support, students often turn to friends and family, engaging in open conversations about their fears and concerns. Many students have also sought professional counseling to help them navigate the emotional challenges posed by the pandemic.

A day in the life of a student during lockdown offers a stark contrast to the pre-lockdown routine. While pre-lockdown life was characterized by a structured daily schedule, in-person interactions, and a vibrant atmosphere, current lockdown life is marked by virtual classes, isolation, and a struggle for motivation. However, students have displayed remarkable adaptability and resilience in the face of these challenges. They have found ways to cope with isolation, stay motivated, and deal with the uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.

As the world continues to navigate the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic, the experiences of students during lockdown serve as a testament to their ability to adapt to challenging circumstances. Their determination and resilience are shaping their lives and will undoubtedly influence their future endeavors. While the journey has been filled with challenges, it has also offered opportunities for personal growth and a deeper understanding of the importance of community, adaptability, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

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Writing about COVID-19 in a college admission essay

by: Venkates Swaminathan | Updated: September 14, 2020

Print article

For students applying to college using the CommonApp, there are several different places where students and counselors can address the pandemic’s impact. The different sections have differing goals. You must understand how to use each section for its appropriate use.

The CommonApp COVID-19 question

First, the CommonApp this year has an additional question specifically about COVID-19 :

Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

This question seeks to understand the adversity that students may have had to face due to the pandemic, the move to online education, or the shelter-in-place rules. You don’t have to answer this question if the impact on you wasn’t particularly severe. Some examples of things students should discuss include:

• The student or a family member had COVID-19 or suffered other illnesses due to confinement during the pandemic.
• The candidate had to deal with personal or family issues, such as abusive living situations or other safety concerns
• The student suffered from a lack of internet access and other online learning challenges.
• Students who dealt with problems registering for or taking standardized tests and AP exams.

Jeff Schiffman of the Tulane University admissions office has a blog about this section. He recommends students ask themselves several questions as they go about answering this section:

• Are my experiences different from others’?
• Are there noticeable changes on my transcript?
• Am I aware of my privilege?
• Am I specific? Am I explaining rather than complaining?
• Is this information being included elsewhere on my application?

If you do answer this section, be brief and to-the-point.

Counselor recommendations and school profiles

Second, counselors will, in their counselor forms and school profiles on the CommonApp, address how the school handled the pandemic and how it might have affected students, specifically as it relates to:

• Grading scales and policies
• Graduation requirements
• Instructional methods
• Schedules and course offerings
• Testing requirements
• Your academic calendar
• Other extenuating circumstances

Students don’t have to mention these matters in their application unless something unusual happened.

Writing about COVID-19 in your main essay

Write about your experiences during the pandemic in your main college essay if your experience is personal, relevant, and the most important thing to discuss in your college admission essay. That you had to stay home and study online isn’t sufficient, as millions of other students faced the same situation. But sometimes, it can be appropriate and helpful to write about something related to the pandemic in your essay. For example:

• One student developed a website for a local comic book store. The store might not have survived without the ability for people to order comic books online. The student had a long-standing relationship with the store, and it was an institution that created a community for students who otherwise felt left out.
• One student started a YouTube channel to help other students with academic subjects he was very familiar with and began tutoring others.
• Some students used their extra time that was the result of the stay-at-home orders to take online courses pursuing topics they are genuinely interested in or developing new interests, like a foreign language or music.

Experiences like this can be good topics for the CommonApp essay as long as they reflect something genuinely important about the student. For many students whose lives have been shaped by this pandemic, it can be a critical part of their college application.

Want more? Read 6 ways to improve a college essay , What the &%$! should I write about in my college essay , and Just how important is a college admissions essay? .

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Guest post - 4 minute read

We're all living in uncertain times which has affected nearly every aspect of our lives. As we work and study from home, juggle the demands of home-schooling and live in a more isolated world it's important to remember, you're not alone.

We're sharing your stories of how you’re finding lockdown, how you look after your own mental health and any hint and tips you may have to help others during this time.

Our first blog in the series is from year 11 student, Francesca.

Pre-lockdown life

Before all this madness, I had such a busy schedule with dance training, college and getting out with my friends. I was also looking forward to starting my final year in school and prepping myself for exams and sixth form college.

I’m a really social person - you could say I love making memories, whether that’s competing in dance competitions or simply having dinner with my girls at the weekend. I never really appreciated just how much social interaction meant to me until it was taken away.

Current lockdown life

What can I say, apart from online dance training or walking my dog, (only when it’s not raining!) I haven’t been able to make many memories.

As a year 11, in these uncertain times, I’m focussing on my online learning, making sure I'm up to date with my study deadlines and staying on top of my workload. As I'm going to Sixth Form College in September, I know it's vital I enhance my independent study skills.

Fortunately, being at home 24/7 with no distractions has given me plenty of time to do this (maybe it's not been too bad after all). It’s been hard not being able to attend open evenings to view my college options, so I’ve had to make my decision purely on the course content.

I can't speak for other year 11s, but it's safe to say I was delighted to hear about the cancellation of GCSE exams this summer, that probably makes me sound very lazy - I promise I'm not. I only felt this way because during December I had my mocks. Thankfully, I did quite well, achieving 6-9s in all my subjects, but after hearing the announcement of yet another national lockdown immediately after Christmas I was hugely apprehensive and stressed that my year would be at a massive disadvantage and unprepared to sit exams.

Whatever we end up getting assessed on, I’m just happy we’re not having to go through the stress of not knowing if exams were happening or not, and I know other students would agree with this.

Motivation in lockdown #3

I cannot deny that staying motivated has been a challenge throughout these worrying times. The constant bad news of more infections is all we hear about. It’s no surprise many of my friends and I are having to come to terms with the fact we probably won't have the same summer we had planned. But as hard as that sounds, I’m feeling confident that things will only get better. I'm hoping once we come out the other side, I can start to get excited about my new college, meeting new friends, going on holidays and just spending time with the people that mean the most to me – something I have probably taken for granted but certainly won’t in the future.

For however long this lockdown lasts, I’m trying to workout as much as possible to keep my fitness levels up. I’m fortunate to have a dedicated dance studio in my garden so I am able to escape my bedroom! I have also discovered I rather like coffee and online shopping.

Spotify and Netflix are my new best friends but staying connected to my real friends has been so important to keep my mood positive. I don’t think I have ever used Snapchat or Facetime this much before in my life. Sadly, it's the only way any of us can talk and catch up with each other - so to all the parents, sorry if we’re keeping you up at night talking, we’re just having our daily lockdown chinwags.

My advice to any other teens

Accept that it’s OK to not feel motivated every day, because you have to remember this will be over eventually. It doesn't feel like it now, but we will be living our best lives soon and making up for lost time and thinking back to the days when our only conversations were ‘what time is our live lesson’, ‘see you on Zoom’ or ‘you’re on mute’ .

To other year 11s I would say to try your hardest during these times, everything counts, and it will all be worth it in the end when you get into college to study your chosen subjects. For me, I am hoping to secure the grades I need to study criminology, business and musical theatre, which I am really excited about.

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What Life Was Like for Students in the Pandemic Year

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In this video, Navajo student Miles Johnson shares how he experienced the stress and anxiety of schools shutting down last year. Miles’ teacher shared his experience and those of her other students in a recent piece for Education Week. In these short essays below, teacher Claire Marie Grogan’s 11th grade students at Oceanside High School on Long Island, N.Y., describe their pandemic experiences. Their writings have been slightly edited for clarity. Read Grogan’s essay .

“Hours Staring at Tiny Boxes on the Screen”

By Kimberly Polacco, 16

I stare at my blank computer screen, trying to find the motivation to turn it on, but my finger flinches every time it hovers near the button. I instead open my curtains. It is raining outside, but it does not matter, I will not be going out there for the rest of the day. The sound of pounding raindrops contributes to my headache enough to make me turn on my computer in hopes that it will give me something to drown out the noise. But as soon as I open it up, I feel the weight of the world crash upon my shoulders.

Each 42-minute period drags on by. I spend hours upon hours staring at tiny boxes on a screen, one of which my exhausted face occupies, and attempt to retain concepts that have been presented to me through this device. By the time I have the freedom of pressing the “leave” button on my last Google Meet of the day, my eyes are heavy and my legs feel like mush from having not left my bed since I woke up.

Tomorrow arrives, except this time here I am inside of a school building, interacting with my first period teacher face to face. We talk about our favorite movies and TV shows to stream as other kids pile into the classroom. With each passing period I accumulate more and more of these tiny meaningless conversations everywhere I go with both teachers and students. They may not seem like much, but to me they are everything because I know that the next time I am expected to report to school, I will be trapped in the bubble of my room counting down the hours until I can sit down in my freshly sanitized wooden desk again.

“My Only Parent Essentially on Her Death Bed”

By Nick Ingargiola, 16

My mom had COVID-19 for ten weeks. She got sick during the first month school buildings were shut. The difficulty of navigating an online classroom was already overwhelming, and when mixed with my only parent essentially on her death bed, it made it unbearable. Focusing on schoolwork was impossible, and watching my mother struggle to lift up her arm broke my heart.

My mom has been through her fair share of diseases from pancreatic cancer to seizures and even as far as a stroke that paralyzed her entire left side. It is safe to say she has been through a lot. The craziest part is you would never know it. She is the strongest and most positive person I’ve ever met. COVID hit her hard. Although I have watched her go through life and death multiple times, I have never seen her so physically and mentally drained.

I initially was overjoyed to complete my school year in the comfort of my own home, but once my mom got sick, I couldn’t handle it. No one knows what it’s like to pretend like everything is OK until they are forced to. I would wake up at 8 after staying up until 5 in the morning pondering the possibility of losing my mother. She was all I had. I was forced to turn my camera on and float in the fake reality of being fine although I wasn’t. The teachers tried to keep the class engaged by obligating the students to participate. This was dreadful. I didn’t want to talk. I had to hide the distress in my voice. If only the teachers understood what I was going through. I was hesitant because I didn’t want everyone to know that the virus that was infecting and killing millions was knocking on my front door.

After my online classes, I was required to finish an immense amount of homework while simultaneously hiding my sadness so that my mom wouldn’t worry about me. She was already going through a lot. There was no reason to add me to her list of worries. I wasn’t even able to give her a hug. All I could do was watch.

“The Way of Staying Sane”

By Lynda Feustel, 16

Entering year two of the pandemic is strange. It barely seems a day since last March, but it also seems like a lifetime. As an only child and introvert, shutting down my world was initially simple and relatively easy. My friends and I had been super busy with the school play, and while I was sad about it being canceled, I was struggling a lot during that show and desperately needed some time off.

As March turned to April, virtual school began, and being alone really set in. I missed my friends and us being together. The isolation felt real with just my parents and me, even as we spent time together. My friends and I began meeting on Facetime every night to watch TV and just be together in some way. We laughed at insane jokes we made and had homework and therapy sessions over Facetime and grew closer through digital and literal walls.

The summer passed with in-person events together, and the virus faded into the background for a little while. We went to the track and the beach and hung out in people’s backyards.

Then school came for us in a more nasty way than usual. In hybrid school we were separated. People had jobs, sports, activities, and quarantines. Teachers piled on work, and the virus grew more present again. The group text put out hundreds of messages a day while the Facetimes came to a grinding halt, and meeting in person as a group became more of a rarity. Being together on video and in person was the way of staying sane.

In a way I am in a similar place to last year, working and looking for some change as we enter the second year of this mess.

“In History Class, Reports of Heightening Cases”

By Vivian Rose, 16

I remember the moment my freshman year English teacher told me about the young writers’ conference at Bread Loaf during my sophomore year. At first, I didn’t want to apply, the deadline had passed, but for some strange reason, the directors of the program extended it another week. It felt like it was meant to be. It was in Vermont in the last week of May when the flowers have awakened and the sun is warm.

I submitted my work, and two weeks later I got an email of my acceptance. I screamed at the top of my lungs in the empty house; everyone was out, so I was left alone to celebrate my small victory. It was rare for them to admit sophomores. Usually they accept submissions only from juniors and seniors.

That was the first week of February 2020. All of a sudden, there was some talk about this strange virus coming from China. We thought nothing of it. Every night, I would fall asleep smiling, knowing that I would be able to go to the exact conference that Robert Frost attended for 42 years.

Then, as if overnight, it seemed the virus had swung its hand and had gripped parts of the country. Every newscast was about the disease. Every day in history, we would look at the reports of heightening cases and joke around that this could never become a threat as big as Dr. Fauci was proposing. Then, March 13th came around--it was the last day before the world seemed to shut down. Just like that, Bread Loaf would vanish from my grasp.

“One Day Every Day Won’t Be As Terrible”

By Nick Wollweber, 17

COVID created personal problems for everyone, some more serious than others, but everyone had a struggle.

As the COVID lock-down took hold, the main thing weighing on my mind was my oldest brother, Joe, who passed away in January 2019 unexpectedly in his sleep. Losing my brother was a complete gut punch and reality check for me at 14 and 15 years old. 2019 was a year of struggle, darkness, sadness, frustration. I didn’t want to learn after my brother had passed, but I had to in order to move forward and find my new normal.

Routine and always having things to do and places to go is what let me cope in the year after Joe died. Then COVID came and gave me the option to let up and let down my guard. I struggled with not wanting to take care of personal hygiene. That was the beginning of an underlying mental problem where I wouldn’t do things that were necessary for everyday life.

My “coping routine” that got me through every day and week the year before was gone. COVID wasn’t beneficial to me, but it did bring out the true nature of my mental struggles and put a name to it. Since COVID, I have been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. I began taking antidepressants and going to therapy a lot more.

COVID made me realize that I’m not happy with who I am and that I needed to change. I’m still not happy with who I am. I struggle every day, but I am working towards a goal that one day every day won’t be as terrible.

Coverage of social and emotional learning is supported in part by a grant from the NoVo Foundation, at www.novofoundation.org . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage. A version of this article appeared in the March 31, 2021 edition of Education Week as What Life Was Like for Students in the Pandemic Year

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Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of individuals’ daily living. The vulnerability to any epidemic depends on a person’s social and economic status. Some people with underlying medical conditions have succumbed to the disease, while others with stronger immunity have survived (Cohut para.6). Governments have restricted movements and introduced stern measures against violating such health precautions as physical distancing and wearing masks. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to adopt various responses to its effects, such as homeschooling, working from home, and ordering foods and other commodities from online stores.

I have restricted my movements and opted to order foodstuffs and other essential goods online with doorstep delivery services. I like adventure, and before the pandemic, I would go to parks and other recreational centers to have fun. But this time, I am mostly confined to my room studying, doing school assignments, or reading storybooks, when I do not have an in-person session at college. I have also had to use social media more than before to connect with my family and friends. I miss participating in outdoor activities and meeting with my friends. However, it is worth it because the virus is deadly, and I have had to adapt to this new normal in my life.

With the pandemic requiring stern measures and precautions due to its transmission mode, the federal government has done well in handling the matter. One of the positives is that it has sent financial and material aid to individual state and local governments to help people cope up with the economic challenges the pandemic has posed (Solomon para. 8). Another plus for the federal government is funding the COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and distributing the vaccine. Lastly, the government has extended unemployment benefits as a rescue plan to help households with an income of less than $150,000 (Solomon para. 9). Therefore, the federal government is trying its best to handle this pandemic.

The New Jersey government has done all it can to handle this pandemic well, but there are still some areas of improvement. As of March 7, 2021, New Jersey was having the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19, but Governor Phil Murphy’s initial handling of the pandemic attracted praises from many quarters (Stanmyre para. 10). In his early days in office, Gov. Murphy portrayed a sense of competency and calm, but it seems other states adopted much of his policies better than he did, explaining the reduction in the approval ratings. In November 2020, Governor Murphy signed an Executive Order cushioning and protecting workers from contracting COVID-19 at the workplace (Stanmyre para. 12). Therefore, although there are mixed feelings, the NJ government is handling this pandemic well.

Some states have reopened immediately after the vaccination, but this poses a massive risk of spreading the virus. Soon, citizens will begin to neglect the laid down health protocols, which would increase the possibility of the increase of the COVID-19 cases. There is a need for health departments to ensure that the health precautions are followed and campaign on the need to adhere to the guidelines. Some individuals are protesting their states’ economy to be reopened, but that is a rash, ill-informed decision. The threat of the pandemic is still high, and it is not the right time to demand the reopening of the economy yet.

In conclusion, the pandemic has affected individuals, businesses, and governments in many ways. Due to how the virus spreads, physical distancing has become a new normal, with people forced to homeschool or work from home to prevent themselves from contracting the disease. The federal government has done its best to cushion its people from the pandemic’s economic effects through various financial rescue schemes and plans. New Jersey’s government has also done well, although its cases continue to soar as it is the leading state in COVID-19 prevalence. Some states have reopened, while in others, people continue to demand their state governments to open the economy, which would be a risky move.

Works Cited

Cohut, Maria. “COVID-19 at the 1-year Mark: How the Pandemic Has Affected the World.” Medical and Health Information . Web.

Solomon, Rachel. “What is the Federal Government Doing to Help People Impacted by Coronavirus?” Cancer Support Community . Web.

Stanmyre, Matthew. “N.J.’s Pandemic Response Started Strong. Why Has So Much Gone Wrong Since?” 2021. Web.

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IvyPanda . 2022. "Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." September 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

1. IvyPanda . "Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." September 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

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IvyPanda . "Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." September 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

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Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus

Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.

by Alissa Wilkinson

The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.

So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.

• The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis

At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:

Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.

His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”

Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:

Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We are still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?

• A syllabus for the end of the world

Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :

The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.

In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:

At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.

Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:

The virus. Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote Walk/Adventure! on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:

During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.

• What day is it today?

Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:

Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.

At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:

In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of Retreat is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.

At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:

A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.

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In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:

It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we don’t do is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.

And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:

In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly. Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.

The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.

Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.

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Essay on Lockdown

Students are often asked to write an essay on Lockdown in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Lockdown

What is a lockdown.

A lockdown is when people must stay where they are, usually due to an emergency. This can happen for different reasons, like a dangerous person in the area or a disease outbreak. During a lockdown, you can’t go to places like school or the park. It’s a rule to keep everyone safe.

Lockdown and Staying Home

In a lockdown, you stay home to avoid getting sick or spreading germs. Schools and shops may close, and you might not see your friends for a while. It’s important to listen to adults and stay inside.

Learning in Lockdown

Even in a lockdown, you can keep learning. Schools might do classes online, so you can study from home. You’ll use a computer or tablet to see your teacher and classmates. It’s different but still a way to learn.

Fun at Home

Lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. You can play games, read, or do crafts. It’s a chance to spend time with family and try new hobbies. Remember, it’s not forever, just for now.

250 Words Essay on Lockdown

Why lockdowns happen.

Lockdowns are used to stop people from getting sick or hurt. When too many people get sick at once, hospitals can get too busy. By staying home, fewer people get sick at the same time, and hospitals can help everyone who needs it.

Life During Lockdown

Life changes a lot in a lockdown. You can’t visit friends or go to the park like before. Many turn to books, games, and the internet to learn and have fun. Families spend more time together, and people find new ways to connect, like video calls.

Challenges of Lockdown

Lockdowns can be hard. People might miss their friends or feel sad and worried. It’s not easy to stay inside for a long time. Some people also worry about their jobs and money if they can’t go to work.

After a Lockdown

When a lockdown ends, things slowly start to open again, like schools and stores. It’s important to be careful and listen to rules to keep everyone safe. Lockdown teaches us to be strong, care for each other, and that by working together, we can handle big challenges.

500 Words Essay on Lockdown

A lockdown is when people are told to stay where they are, usually in their homes, because of an emergency. This could be because of a health crisis, like a big outbreak of sickness, or for safety reasons, like when there’s a danger in the community. During a lockdown, schools, offices, and shops may close, and people have to follow special rules.

Reasons for a Lockdown

Life during a lockdown.

When there’s a lockdown, daily life changes a lot. People can’t go to school or work like they usually do. Instead, they might have classes or meetings online. Being at home all the time can be hard. Families have to find new ways to stay busy and happy without leaving their houses. This can mean playing games, reading, or learning new hobbies.

The Good and the Bad

Lockdowns can be helpful because they keep people safe from danger. With fewer people moving around, it’s easier for doctors and nurses to take care of those who are sick. But lockdowns can also be tough. People might miss their friends or family members who don’t live with them. Some people might even feel sad or worried because of all the changes.

Following Rules

Learning from lockdown.

A lockdown can teach us many things. We learn to be patient and to take care of each other. We also learn how to solve problems in new ways, like studying from home or talking to friends and family online. It shows us that by working together and helping each other, we can get through tough times.

After the Lockdown

When a lockdown ends, things slowly start to go back to normal. Schools and shops open again, and people can go outside more. But it’s important to remember what was learned during the lockdown. We should keep washing our hands well and stay home if we feel sick, so we can keep ourselves and others safe.

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MY COVID-19 Story: how young people overcome the covid-19 crisis

As part of UNESCO’s initiative “MY COVID-19 Story”,  young people have been invited to tell their stories and experiences: how they feel, how they act, what makes them feel worried and what future they envision, how the crisis has affected their lives, the challenges they face, new opportunities being explored, and their hopes for the future. This campaign was launched in April as part of UNESCO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to give the floor to young people worldwide, share their views and amplify their voices. While the world grapples with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, many young people are taking on new roles, demonstrating leadership in their countries and communities, and sharing creative ideas and solutions. To this day, UNESCO has already received more than 150 written testimonials.

Self-isolation can be a difficult time… However, many young people worldwide decided to tackle this with productivity and positivity. Monty (17), a secondary school student from the United Kingdom, is developing new digital skills and has created his own mini radio station. Lockdown helped Öykü (25), a young filmmaker from Turkey, to concentrate on her creative projects. And for Joseph (30), a teacher from Nigeria, this time is a way to open up to lots of learning opportunities through webinars.

The crisis has changed not only the daily routine, but also perceptions of everyday life. For some young people rethinking the value of time and common moral principles appears to be key. 

“The biggest lesson for me is understanding … [the value of] time. During these last months I made more use of my time than in a past year.” - shares young tech entrepreneur Barbara (21), from Russia. Ravikumar (24), a civil engineer from India, believes  “This crisis makes us socialize more than ever. We are eating together, sharing our thoughts and playing together which happened rarely within my family before.”

Beyond the crisis

After massive upheavals in the lives of many people, the future for young people seems to be both a promising perspective to seize some new emerging opportunities, and a time filled with uncertainty about the crisis consequences and the future world order.

“It is giving us an opportunity to look into how we need to better support our vulnerable populations, in terms of food and educational resources”, says Anusha (19), from the United States of America. For Mahmoud (22), from Egypt, the COVID-19 crisis is a call to action: “After the pandemic, I will put a lot of efforts into helping people who have been affected by COVID-19. I am planning to improve their health by providing sports sessions, highlighting the importance of a healthy lifestyle.”

The COVID-19 pandemic brings uncertainty and instability to young people across the world, making them feel worried about this new reality they’re living in and presenting several new challenges every day, as they find themselves at the front line of the crisis. That is why, more than ever, we need to put the spotlight on young women and men and let their voice be heard! 

Be part of the campaign!

Join the  “MY COVID-19 Story” campaign! Tell us your story!

We will share it on  UNESCO’s social media channels  (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram), our  website,  and through our  networks  across the world. 

You can also share your testimonials by recording your own creative video! How? Sign up and create your video here:  https://zg8t9.app.goo.gl/Zw2i . 

• More information on the campaign

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• SDG: SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• SDG: SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries
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Intellectual Gyani

10 Things I Learned During Lockdown Essay for Student

posted on January 17, 2022

In This paper we’ll discuss, skills and hobbies I learned in lockdown as a student, though this list could easily be much longer, we’ve boiled it down to the list of best 10 things I learned during lockdown . hope it will help you to write best essay on Things I Learned During lockdown .

The 2020 lockdown took a big turn on us. And not just affect, lockdown changed many people views on so many things and I am one of them . I used to study and read in books that a pandemic is spread every 100 years and the world goes down to lockdown due to the epidemic, like when Bird Flu and Influenza spread in Spain. The same happens to our world in 2019, when COVID-19 finds its way to us.

The world shut down, shops, cinemas, educational institutes, gyms, restaurants, I mean, everything just locked down due to COVID. We got stuck at home and that’s when the COVID started taking a toll on me.

I was devastated as to why I can’t go out and hang out with my friend. Like Every other person I was asking the same question, “When will things go back to normal?” But one day, some facts stuck me in the face, “Why not trying something new?”, “I am free, let’s try reading that novel I never got the time to read”, “Let’s improve my English spoken Skills” and so much more.

And from there I took the road to self-improvement. As a college student, I was always busy with work and homework of college and didn’t have time for myself and extracurricular activities. But then the lockdown started helping me in discovering myself and my newfound hobbies. It helped me stay healthy both physically and mentally.

Lockdown was very boring to me at first but eventually, I took a liking to it. I started doing things that I always wanted to do but didn’t because of my tight schedule of college life . Like I took a liking to read books both fictional and non-fiction. This new hobby of mine helped me in so many ways as it helped me with my subjects of college, it also helped me improve my spoken English. Reading books taught me about so many world histories, religion, trust, and problems of real life.

Page Contents

10 Things I learned During Lockdown

1. learned technology during lockdown.

Yes, it is right. The main thing I get used to and learned a lot was technology. Most of our classes were going online during COVID-19 Lockdown, it helped to learn new things about online classes platforms like Zoom , Google Meet , etc.

I learned how to use specific apps and it helped me a lot in my researching skills . The one thing I learned about some app or website, due to free time, I started spending my time searching for other things related to that app or website.

Also, I have become a pro in using Laptop and Computer because otherwise, I have nothing to do with it. I was English Major and never have anything to do with PCs.

| Read: about advantages and disadvantages of technology in education

2. I learned the Importance Of Family During Pandemic

I was very happy that I had got a lot of time to spend with my family. And this lockdown helped me in understanding the need as well as the importance of family . I learned how a family is so crucial part of our lives. I was watching blogs and interviews of those living alone and how they are getting anxious with time and sometimes panic too. Watching them I realized, how fulfilling my house is and how blessed I am to have a family .

3. Learned Managing and Organizing

The best thing I learned during lockdown is managing and organizing.

I used to be a messy person before lockdown. Like my things were always here and there scattered around the whole house. The COVID-19 lockdown gives me time to realize this mistake. I started organizing my things.

I allot each section of my cupboard for different things. I started taking care of my house and used to keep it all clean and prep.

I learn to manage in limited and fewer resources. As COVID-19 left many in financial instability, my family was also one of them. But we stick together and survives this bad time. I started changing my habits which were charging extra money to me and developed my interests in other things. Like instead of buying new novels or books to read, I started reading online and borrowed books from friends.

4. Cooking & Baking

I never got the time to cook before lockdown. But I always have an interest in baking. This lockdown helped me spend more time in Kitchen helping my mom . I learned baking and now I know how to make cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and other baking stuff.  I started taking interest in cooking and try making different types of dishes like Chinese, Italian, etc.

5 Participated in Online Classes effectively

Another thing that I have learned is how much the feeling of going to class in the real world compares to going to class in the online world is so different yet normal for me. For the first few days, it felt a bit weird during my second week during lockdown, I felt nerves coming into the idea of online learning . We all were fine with going into class in the real world, but the virtual world was a whole new experience for me because I am always the shy one . Thankfully I have managed to embrace the idea and managed to get on without any issues.

6. Improved English Speaking Skills During Lockdown

As an Asian native, my English-speaking skills were not that good. Like before lockdown, I could understand that what people are talking about, but I didn’t have enough confidence in me to speak in English too. During the Covid-19 lockdown, I highly worked on this habit. I started hearing podcasts and English shows as well as news.

I started speaking in English in online classes and even to my siblings. I worked hard in developing this skill. And now after lockdown, I am a pro in English speaking. I can fluently talk in English now and also, now I am also participating in English speeches and debates.

7. You can learn from anything or anyone

I had always hated the notion that only people with more experience or age are capable of teaching. Some of the most interesting things and skills that I have learned were from YouTube and people much younger than me, or people with little formal education. There are opportunities to learn from anyone , whether or not they have had a formal education.

8. I Learned Blogging 

This is the best thing I learned during the lockdown . I always have an interest in blog and article writing. But again, I was not free enough to give this full time. In a lockdown, I take free online courses and started blogging . And now I am also earning from this skill set.

|Read: about the Advantages and Disadvantages of Blogging for Students

9. Appreciate the people in your life

This goes without saying that the people in your life are not here forever . Whether by voluntary or involuntary action, everyone will leave. But we have to make the most of our time with the ones that we love the most .

Conclusion:

I am so happy that I didn’t waste my time lurking around the house and laying down on couches. I developed several skills set which, I know, will help me in my practical life now. COVID-19 brings disasters and bad times for all of us, I was also worried about the wellbeing of my family and studies. But at least, I didn’t lose my faith that a good time will come soon and started spending my time learning new things in that worst time.

And the best thing I learned during this lockdown was Blogging and English-Speaking skills . Because now, utilizing these skills, I am generating side money for myself. I will wrap up everything by saying that, in this lockdown, we got time for our loved ones, we got time to focus on ourselves, and, especially, we got time to develop into a better version of ourselves.

So above is the  top 10 things I learned in lockdown as student . I guess you’ve finished reading it.

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12 Ideas for Writing Through the Pandemic With The New York Times

A dozen writing projects — including journals, poems, comics and more — for students to try at home.

By Natalie Proulx

The coronavirus has transformed life as we know it. Schools are closed, we’re confined to our homes and the future feels very uncertain. Why write at a time like this?

For one, we are living through history. Future historians may look back on the journals, essays and art that ordinary people are creating now to tell the story of life during the coronavirus.

But writing can also be deeply therapeutic. It can be a way to express our fears, hopes and joys. It can help us make sense of the world and our place in it.

Plus, even though school buildings are shuttered, that doesn’t mean learning has stopped. Writing can help us reflect on what’s happening in our lives and form new ideas.

We want to help inspire your writing about the coronavirus while you learn from home. Below, we offer 12 projects for students, all based on pieces from The New York Times, including personal narrative essays, editorials, comic strips and podcasts. Each project features a Times text and prompts to inspire your writing, as well as related resources from The Learning Network to help you develop your craft. Some also offer opportunities to get your work published in The Times, on The Learning Network or elsewhere.

We know this list isn’t nearly complete. If you have ideas for other pandemic-related writing projects, please suggest them in the comments.

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CBSE Digital Education

Essay on Lockdown in English for Students and Children

This long essay on lockdown in English is suitable for students of classes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, 11, 12, and also for competitive exam aspirants. All important information related to how to write an amazing essay about Lockdown.

Long Essay on Lockdown in English 800 Words

Lockdown essay in English – Lockdown is a term that exploded collectively around the world in the year 2020. With the widespread attack of an invisible virus, known as the Novel Coronavirus , the entire world was devastated by the Pandemic of this virus. It occurs during a wide variety of emergencies and it disrupts normal life.

Many words became popular after the arrival of Coronavirus, the term “lockdown” being one of them. A lockdown is a period of time when people have to stay home and are only allowed to travel in an emergency. During this period everything is closed except for some essential services like hospitals, grocery stores, medical stores, etc.

Introduction

Coronavirus has been considered the most contagious virus ever in the history of mankind. Its effects have become catastrophic within a short time. To prevent the spread of this Coronavirus in the country, our government has taken some drastic steps.

One of the most important measures implemented is a lockdown, where all businesses have been closed, all people have been confined to their homes and almost all professional, personal, and economic activities have come to a standstill.

The lockdown was announced and enforced on the 25 th of March, 2020. It has been extended, in phases, to continue till mid-June. The government has issued advisories to all citizens to practice social distancing and stay at home. The purpose of the lockdown is to prevent community transmission of this deadly virus so that the chain of transmission can be broken.

Each and every person faced many difficulties during this period but for the daily wagers, it was much more difficult. Work from home, online education , and online business were some of the options during this period, and the Indian government also helped the people a lot.

Online Education During Lockdown

For the first time, schools in India have moved to online classes. It is a struggle for the teacher as well as the students. School students, children, and their parents felt the impact to close schools and educational institutions.

The lockdown situation prompted people to learn and use digital technology and as a result, increased digital literacy.

The teaching material is easily shared among the students and the doubt questions are solved on Telegram, WhatsApp, E-mail, and various social media. Students need to learn digital skills for their own sake and improve the quality of education as well as changes in syllabus, textbooks, teacher training, and examination systems, but at the very least, the quality of online education must also improve needed.

Advantages of Lockdown

Due to the lockdown, on the one hand, while people have been forced to remain imprisoned in the house, on the other hand, many big benefits are also being seen. Some important benefits of essay on lockdown:-

• The rapidly spreading Coronavirus has been controlled by applying Lockdown.
• Due to the lockdown, the movement of vehicles has been reduced very much, factories have been closed, and the air of the cities has started to clear due to the rein in such activities.
• The impact of the lockdown is also being seen on global warming. In early April, scientists showed a hole of 1,000,000 square kilometers in the ozone layer above the North Pole. According to NASA, it has started filling these holes now.
• Earth’s vibration has been reduced by 30 to 50 percent due to less traffic, machines, and noise pollution.
• Due to Coronavirus, there has been a change in the cleanliness habits of the people. People are being more vigilant. Due to the lockdown, more time is also available for cleaning the house.
• People are learning to live with limited resources and insist on being self-sufficient (or Aatmnirbhar ) in the future so that they can produce themselves.
• During this lockdown period, we have got a lot of time for self-development and self-awareness.
• Most people in Lockdown are cooking at home and eating the same. Health will also be good due to good food.

Disadvantage of Lockdown

Some important disadvantages of the essay on Lockdown:-

• Many migrant laborers got trapped in different cities and they could not return to their homes due to which they had to face many difficulties.
• Many industries like agriculture, education, and entertainment are suffering. It has negatively impacted the world economy.
• Unemployment has increased rapidly due to the lockdown. Because of this many people have lost their jobs.
• All schools and colleges were closed due to the lockdown, due to which the students were not able to study well.

Lockdown 2021

The lockdown was imposed due to Coronavirus in March 2020 last year. The same situation is being seen again. Again in April 2021, Coronavirus is spreading rapidly due to which lockdown is being imposed in all the states one by one.

In view of this spreading Coronavirus, the CBSE board canceled the class 10 examination and postponed the class 12 examination.

Lockdown is something that affects people from all backgrounds and especially the daily wagers. Some of the main problems during a lockdown are employment, poverty, and starvation.

Overall, we should keep in mind that lockdowns are only imposed for our welfare, so it is always our duty to follow the rules of lockdown.

Related Article –

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I hope you like this post “ Essay on Lockdown in English “. If you want to give any suggestions then comment below. Share this essay with your friends.

My Name is Mukesh Kumar. I am a Teacher, Blogger, Educational Content Writer, and Founder of CBSE Digital Education.

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Essay Curve

Essay on Lockdown Experience For Students

Essay on Lockdown Experience For Students: The lockdown experience during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for students all around the world. In this essay, we will explore the impact of lockdown on students, both academically and emotionally. From the sudden shift to online learning to the isolation from friends and extracurricular activities, students have faced unique struggles during this time. We will also discuss the lessons learned and the resilience that students have shown in adapting to this new normal.

Table of Contents

Lockdown Experience For Students Essay Writing Tips

1. Introduction: Start your essay by introducing the topic of lockdown experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mention how it has affected students and their daily lives.

2. Personal Experience: Share your own personal experience of being in lockdown. Talk about how it has impacted your studies, social life, and mental health.

3. Challenges Faced: Discuss the various challenges you have faced during the lockdown, such as adjusting to online classes, dealing with feelings of isolation, and managing your time effectively.

4. Coping Mechanisms: Share how you have coped with the challenges of lockdown. Talk about the strategies you have used to stay motivated, connected with friends and family, and maintain a healthy routine.

5. Lessons Learned: Reflect on the lessons you have learned from the lockdown experience. Discuss how it has taught you resilience, adaptability, and the importance of self-care.

6. Silver Linings: Highlight any positive aspects of the lockdown experience. Talk about how it has given you the opportunity to focus on personal growth, develop new skills, or spend more time with loved ones.

7. Future Outlook: Discuss how the lockdown experience has shaped your outlook on life and your future goals. Mention any changes you plan to make in your life post-lockdown.

8. Conclusion: Summarize your key points and reiterate the impact of the lockdown experience on students. End your essay on a hopeful note, expressing optimism for the future.

Remember to use descriptive language, provide specific examples, and connect your personal experience to broader themes of resilience and growth. Good luck with your essay!

Essay on Lockdown Experience For Students in 10 Lines – Examples

1. Students experienced a sudden shift to online learning due to lockdown measures. 2. Many struggled with the lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers and classmates. 3. The closure of schools and universities disrupted academic schedules and exams. 4. Students faced challenges with technology and internet access for remote learning. 5. The lack of access to resources like libraries and labs affected their studies. 6. Mental health issues, such as feelings of isolation and anxiety, became more prevalent. 7. Some students found it difficult to stay motivated and focused on their studies at home. 8. The cancellation of extracurricular activities and events left many feeling disconnected from their school community. 9. Graduating students missed out on traditional ceremonies and celebrations. 10. Overall, the lockdown experience had a significant impact on students’ academic, social, and emotional well-being.

Sample Essay on Lockdown Experience For Students in 100-180 Words

The lockdown experience has been a challenging time for students all over the world. It has disrupted our daily routines, limited our social interactions, and forced us to adapt to a new way of learning. For many of us, the transition to online classes has been difficult, as we struggle to stay focused and motivated without the structure of a traditional classroom setting.

On the positive side, the lockdown has given us the opportunity to explore new hobbies, spend more time with our families, and appreciate the little things in life. It has also taught us the importance of resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity.

As we navigate through these uncertain times, it is important for us to stay connected with our peers, seek support when needed, and prioritize our mental health. By staying positive and looking for the silver linings in this situation, we can emerge from the lockdown stronger and more resilient than ever before.

Short Essay on Lockdown Experience For Students in 200-500 Words

The lockdown experience has been a challenging and unique time for students all around the world. As schools and universities closed their doors in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, students were forced to adapt to a new way of learning and living. This sudden shift to online classes and remote studying has presented its own set of challenges and opportunities for growth.

One of the biggest challenges that students have faced during the lockdown is the lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers and classmates. Many students thrive in a classroom setting where they can ask questions, participate in discussions, and collaborate with their peers. The shift to online learning has made it difficult for students to engage with their teachers and classmates in the same way, leading to feelings of isolation and disconnection.

Additionally, the lockdown has blurred the boundaries between home and school life for many students. With classes taking place in their bedrooms or living rooms, it can be hard for students to separate their academic responsibilities from their personal lives. This lack of structure and routine can make it challenging for students to stay motivated and focused on their studies.

On the other hand, the lockdown experience has also presented students with opportunities for growth and self-discovery. Many students have had to develop new skills and adapt to new technologies in order to navigate the online learning environment. This experience has forced students to become more independent and self-reliant, as they have had to take more responsibility for their own learning.

Furthermore, the lockdown has given students the chance to explore new hobbies and interests that they may not have had time for before. With more free time on their hands, students have been able to pursue creative projects, learn new skills, and engage in activities that bring them joy and fulfillment.

Overall, the lockdown experience has been a mixed bag for students. While it has presented its fair share of challenges, it has also offered opportunities for growth and self-discovery. As students continue to navigate this new normal, it is important for them to stay connected with their teachers and classmates, maintain a sense of routine and structure, and take advantage of the opportunities for personal growth and development that this time has to offer.

Essay on Lockdown Experience For Students in 1000-1500 Words

The year 2020 will forever be etched in our memories as the year of the global pandemic that brought the world to a standstill. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, forced governments around the world to implement strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus. As a result, schools and universities were closed, and students were forced to adapt to a new way of learning from home. This sudden shift to online learning brought about a myriad of challenges and experiences for students during the lockdown period.

The lockdown experience for students was a rollercoaster of emotions, ranging from frustration and anxiety to resilience and adaptability. The sudden closure of schools and universities left many students feeling lost and uncertain about their academic future. The transition to online learning was not easy for everyone, as many students struggled to adjust to the new format of classes and assignments. The lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers and classmates made it difficult for students to stay motivated and focused on their studies.

One of the biggest challenges that students faced during the lockdown was the lack of access to resources and support. Many students did not have access to a reliable internet connection or a suitable device for online learning, which hindered their ability to participate in virtual classes and complete assignments. Additionally, the closure of libraries and other educational facilities meant that students were unable to access books, study materials, and other resources that they needed to succeed academically.

Despite these challenges, many students showed remarkable resilience and adaptability during the lockdown period. They found creative ways to stay engaged with their studies, such as forming study groups with classmates over video calls, using online resources and tutorials to supplement their learning, and seeking help from teachers and professors through email or virtual office hours. Some students even took the opportunity to explore new interests and hobbies, such as learning a new language, taking up a musical instrument, or starting a blog or YouTube channel.

The lockdown experience also had a profound impact on students’ mental health and well-being. The sudden disruption to their daily routines and social interactions left many students feeling isolated and lonely. The uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and its long-term effects on their academic and personal lives added to their anxiety and stress. Some students struggled with feelings of depression, fear, and hopelessness, while others found solace in practicing self-care activities such as meditation, exercise, and journaling.

Despite the challenges and struggles that students faced during the lockdown, there were also moments of growth, learning, and self-discovery. Many students discovered new strengths and abilities within themselves, such as resilience, adaptability, and creativity. They learned to be more independent and self-reliant, as they navigated the challenges of online learning and remote studying on their own. They also developed a greater appreciation for the importance of education and the value of face-to-face interactions with teachers and classmates.

As the lockdown measures began to ease and schools and universities started to reopen, students were faced with yet another set of challenges and adjustments. The return to in-person classes and the implementation of safety protocols such as social distancing and mask-wearing presented new obstacles for students to overcome. Some students struggled with the transition back to a traditional classroom setting, while others found it difficult to re-engage with their studies after months of remote learning.

Overall, the lockdown experience for students was a unique and transformative period in their academic and personal lives. It tested their resilience, adaptability, and mental fortitude, while also providing opportunities for growth, learning, and self-discovery. As we look back on this challenging time, it is important to acknowledge the strength and perseverance that students demonstrated in the face of adversity, and to recognize the valuable lessons and experiences that they gained from this unprecedented global crisis.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Student’s experiences with online teaching following COVID-19 lockdown: A mixed methods explorative study

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

• Kari Almendingen, 
• Marianne Sandsmark Morseth, 
• Eli Gjølstad, 
• Asgeir Brevik, 
• Christine Tørris

• Published: August 31, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378
• Reader Comments

The COVID-19 pandemic lead to a sudden shift to online teaching and restricted campus access.

To assess how university students experienced the sudden shift to online teaching after closure of campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and methods

Students in Public Health Nutrition answered questionnaires two and 12 weeks (N = 79: response rate 20.3% and 26.6%, respectively) after the lockdown in Norway on 12 March 2020 and participated in digital focus group interviews in May 2020 (mixed methods study).

Findings and discussion

Two weeks into the lockdown, 75% of students reported that their life had become more difficult and 50% felt that learning outcomes would be harder to achieve due to the sudden shift to online education. Twelve weeks into the lockdown, the corresponding numbers were 57% and 71%, respectively. The most pressing concerns among students were a lack of social interaction, housing situations that were unfit for home office purposes, including insufficient data bandwidth, and an overall sense of reduced motivation and effort. The students collaborated well in digital groups but wanted smaller groups with students they knew rather than being randomly assigned to groups. Most students agreed that pre-recorded and streamed lectures, frequent virtual meetings and student response systems could improve learning outcomes in future digital courses. The preference for written home exams over online versions of previous on-campus exams was likely influenced by student’s familiarity with the former. The dropout rate remained unchanged compared to previous years.

The sudden shift to digital teaching was challenging for students, but it appears that they adapted quickly to the new situation. A lthough the concerns described by students in this study may only be representative for the period right after campus lockdown, the study provide the student perspective on a unique period of time in higher education.

Citation: Almendingen K, Morseth MS, Gjølstad E, Brevik A, Tørris C (2021) Student’s experiences with online teaching following COVID-19 lockdown: A mixed methods explorative study. PLoS ONE 16(8): e0250378. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378

Editor: Mohammed Saqr, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SWEDEN

Received: September 30, 2020; Accepted: April 6, 2021; Published: August 31, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Almendingen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused extraordinary challenges in the global education sector [ 1 , 2 ]. Most countries temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus and reduce infections [ 3 ]. In Norway, the move to online teaching and learning methods accelerated as a consequence of the physical closure of universities and university colleges on 12 March 2020 [ 4 ]. Education is better implemented through active, student-centered learning strategies, as opposed to traditional educator-centered pedagogies [ 5 , 6 ]. At the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, the decision to boost the use of active student-centered learning methods and digitalisation had already been made at both the governmental and institutional levels [ 7 , 8 ] because student-active learning (such as use of student response systems and flipping the classroom) increase motivation and improve learning outcomes [ 5 , 7 , 9 ]. However, the implementation of this insight was lagging behind. Traditional educator-centered pedagogies dominated higher education in Norway prior to the lockdown, and only 30% of academic teachers from higher institutions reported having any previous experience with online teaching [ 4 ]. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, most educators had to change their approaches to most aspects of their work overnight: teaching, assessment, supervision, research, service and engagement [ 4 , 10 ].

Bachelor’s and master’s in Public Health Nutrition (PHN) represents two small-sized programmes at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet). PHN is defined as ‘the application of nutrition and public health principles to design programs, systems, policies, and environments that aims to improve or maintain the optimal health of populations and targeted groups’ [ 11 , 12 ]. Traditional teaching methods dominated on both programs during winter 2020. Following the lockdown, online learning for the continuation of academic activities and the prevention of dropouts from study programmes in higher education were given the highest priority. Due to an extraordinary effort by both the administrative and academic staff, digital alternatives to the scheduled on-campus academic activities were offered to PHN students already in the first week following lockdown. The scheduled on-campus lectures were mainly offered as live-streamed plenary lectures lasting 30–45 minutes, mainly using the video conferencing tool Zoom. Throughout the spring semester educators received training in digital teaching from the institution and increasingly made use of online student response systems (such as Padlet and Mentimeter) as well as tools to facilitate digital group-work (Zoom/Microsoft Teams). Non-theoretical lectures (e.g. cooking classes), were cancelled, and face-to-face exams were re-organized into digital alternatives in order to ensure normal teaching operations. Several small tweaks were employed to minimize dropout. There was no time for coordinating the different courses with regards to the types of online teaching activities, exams and assessments. Social media, i.e Facebook, and SMS were the primary communication channels the first week after lockdown. The use of learning management systems (LMS) Canvas and digital assessment system, Inspera, remained mainly unchanged. Due to the new situation, the deadline for the submission of bachelor theses was postponed by 48 hours. In addition, bachelor students submitting their thesis where given permission to use the submission deadline for the deferred exam in August as their ordinary exam deadline. The deadline for the submission of master theses was extended by one week, but all planned master exams were completed by the end of June, including oral examinations using Zoom instead of the traditional face-to-face examinations on campus. Even though most of the new online activities where put in place with limited regard for subtle nuances of pedagogical theory, and did not allow for much student involvement, the dropout rate from PHN programs remained unchanged compared to previous years. PHN is a small-sized education with close follow up of students. However, although the students experienced a digital revolution overnight, we know little about how they experienced the situation after the university closed for on-campus activities.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to assess how Norwegian PHN students experienced the shift to digital teaching following campus lockdown. Students were also asked to provide feedback on what might improve the learning outcomes in future online lectures and courses.

Design and sampling

This study utilised a mixed methods cross-sectional design, where quantitative and qualitative methods complemented each other. An invitation to participate was sent out to 79 eligible students via multiple channels (Facebook, Teams, Zoom, LMS Canvas, SMS), with several reminders. The only eligibility criteria was being a student in PHN during spring 2020. All students received the quantitative survey. Due to few students eligible for each focus group interview, all who wanted to participate were interviewed/included. The invited students were in their second-year (n = 17) and third-year (n = 28) bachelor’s and first-year (n = 13) and second-year (n = 21) master’s programme at PHN in the Faculty of Health Sciences at OsloMet. The response rate was 16/79 (20.3%) and 21/79 (26.6%). Two focus group interviews were scheduled in each class (a total of 8) but only 4 interviews were conducted. The research team was heterogeneously composed of members with both pedagogical and health professional backgrounds.

Online questionnaire

To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first “corona” study at our Faculty. No suitable national or international questionnaire had been developed and /or validated by March 2020. Hence, online questionnaires for the present study were designed virtually ‘over-night’. The questions were however based on experiences from a large-scale interprofessional learning course using the blended learning approach at OsloMet [ 13 , 14 ] and specific experiences that academic staff in Norway reported during the first week of teaching during the lockdown [ 4 ]. The questionnaires were based on an anonymous self-administrated web survey ‘Nettskjema’ [ 15 ]. ‘Nettskjema’ is a Norwegian tool for designing and conducting online surveys with features that are customised for research purposes. It is easy to use, and the respondents can submit answers from a browser on a computer, mobile phone or tablet. During the first week after lockdown, the questionnaire was sent out to university colleagues and head of studies and revised accordingly. The questionnaires were deliberately kept short because the response rate is generally low in student surveys [ 16 ]. Ideally, we should have pretested and validated the questionnaires, but this was not possible within the short-time frame after lockdown. Items were measured on a five-level ordinal scale (Likert scale 0–5). The two forms contained both numerical and open questions, permitting both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The first questionnaire was sent out to the students on 25 March 2020 (two weeks after the closure of university campus; students were asked to submit their answers during the period from 12 March until the link was closed at Easter Holiday), and the second questionnaire was sent on 3 June 2020 (12 weeks after closure; students were asked to submit their answers during the period after Easter and until the end of the spring semester). The questionnaires were distributed as web links embedded in the LMS Canvas application. Because live-streamed lectures were offered primarily through Zoom during the first weeks, students were not asked about interactive digital teaching and tools in the first questionnaire. At the end of both questionnaires, the students were asked what they believed could improve the learning experience in future online education. The qualitative part consisted of text answers to open questions from the two electronic questionnaires.

Digital focus group interview

To capture meaningful insights into the participants experiences, we conducted digital focus group interviews [ 17 ], aiming to conduct one digital focus group interview in each class. PHN is a small sized education, and the teachers know all the students. The focus group interviews were therefore performed by two external independent researchers (EG and CT) who are not directly involved in the PHN education and had no prior knowledge to the students. The two interviewers (moderators) were middle-aged female teachers working in the university, and both have significant experience in digitalizing education. They were presented to the participants as researchers from the university. The report of this study was guided by the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). The interviews were conducted via the video conferencing system Zoom during May 2020, following internal guidelines [ 18 ]. In the focus group interviews, the participants reflected on their own experiences, and the moderator guided the discussion using a semi-structured interview guide. This guide was prepared based on the research questions. One pilot interview was conducted, which resulted in some minor changes to the interview guide. The results from the pilot interview are not included in the results. The focus group interviews lasted for approximately one hour, and five students were invited to each focus group interview. The interviews were not recorded, but the moderator took notes, ensuring that the participants remained anonymised.

Data analysis

Quantitative data are described descriptively with numbers and percentages. Apart from re-categorization of response categories, no statistical analysis was performed. Quantitative data were extracted directly from the survey system. Answers in categories 0 or 1 were categorised as ‘Disagree/slightly agree’, answers in categories 2 or 3 were categorised as ‘Somewhat agree’ and answers in categories 4 or 5 were categorised as ‘Agree’. Qualitative data were analysed using systematic text condensation (STC), inspired by Giorgi’s phenomenological approach and modified by Malterud [ 17 ]. First, the entire texts (from the interviews) were read to get an overall impression, and preliminary themes were derived from the interviews. Then, meaning units, such as sentences and words, were identified and connected with the preliminary theme to elucidate the study question. The meaning units were then coded and systemized into groups, so that meaning could be abstracted from the different code groups. Finally, the meanings of the various units were summarised. The qualitative data from the questionnaire were then extracted by the moderators, and the words and sentences were identified and abstracted. In order to ensure quality, the notes from the focus group interviews and the text answers from the questionnaires were reviewed by both moderators.

Ethical considerations

All participants gave their informed consent. The questionnaires did not include questions about personal health information or sensitive data. The quantitative data were collected through an anonymous web survey using ‘Nettskjema’ [ 15 ]. Internal routines at OsloMet for using Zoom in research interviews were applied [ 18 ]. In the interviews, the participants provided their written consent in the chat without their names and remained anonymous. The data protection was approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD, reference no. 846363), as PHN is a small-sized study programme and because Zoom was used for the digital focus group interviews.

Quantitative data

There were 16 (20.3%) and 21 (26.6%) students who answered the questionnaires two and 12 weeks after lockdown, respectively ( Table 1 ). Both samples had an even distribution of bachelor and master students.

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Among the respondents two and 12 weeks after lockdown, 7/16 students (44%) and 9/21 students (43%) reported having previous experience with online learning, respectively ( Table 1 ). After two weeks of forced online education, 8/16 students (50%) expected that their learning outcomes would be inferior with online education compared to their pre-COVID-19 education at campus. After 12 weeks, 15/ 21 students (71%) expected that their learning outcome would be lower, and, notably, none of the students expected that it would be higher. On both occasions, most students reported that studying had become more difficult compared to the time before the pandemic.

Several of the identified challenges with online education were reported by more than 50% of the students, and there was an uneven spread across categories of answers (Tables 2 and 3 ). Only one of 16 students (6%) agreed that they needed to increase their digital competence, but approximately half reported having technical challenges at home. All of the students agreed that the lack of contact with other students was a challenge. However, after 12 weeks, the lack of contact with academic staff seemed to pose less of a challenge.

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After 12 weeks, 20/21 students (95%) agreed that their motivation and effort had been reduced. At the same time, all students wanted to return to campus. Only 5/21 (24%) reported that their learning outcomes had not deteriorated.

Suggestions for how to increase learning outcome in future digital courses

Two weeks after lockdown, most students answered that the use of different components of online education would improve the learning outcomes in a future online course ( Table 4 ). Regarding participation in digital group work, there was a nearly even spread across the different categories of answers. Finally, participants preferred written home exams and feedback over the digital options suggested ( Table 5 ).

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After 12 weeks of (forced) online teaching, more ambivalence toward the use of digital learning tools could be detected ( Table 6 ). However, the proportion of students who agreed that digital group work would increase the learning outcomes seemed unchanged (around 1/3 of both samples). In line with the findings obtained only two weeks after lockdown, written submissions and feedback seemed to be preferable to digital exam options ( Table 7 ).

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After 12 weeks, 16/21 students (76%) agreed that social interaction plays a role in learning outcomes and well-being ( Table 8 ), and an equal proportion agreed that it was important that everyone had their camera on during teaching.

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There were 15/21 students (71%) who agreed that their digital competence and interest in digital teaching methods had increased while 6/21 students (29%) disagreed with this statement.

Qualitative data

In total, there were four master students who participated in digital focus group interviews (on two different occasions, with three students and one student in the groups, respectively).

Digital lectures.

The students were satisfied with the teaching and reported that the lecturers were competent in arranging online teaching. The lecturers were also good at adapting to the students’ wishes regarding teaching. Lectures that were streamed live (synchronous classes) were preferred over recordings (asynchronous). One student said it was a privilege to still be able to study even though the university campus was closed due to corona and all the lectures were digital. The students expressed that it is an advantage if the lecturer has digital competence to ensure that the lecture runs smoothly without digital/technical problems, or if there is a co-host who can assist. Technical competence is also important when invitation links are sent out. It signals that the student group is well taken care of. The informants described a course co-ordinator as a person with a good overview and sense of responsibility—someone who is good at structure and order. These qualities were highlighted as important in a fully digitalised teaching program.

The students did not support compulsory attendance, as it would reduce the feeling of freedom that most students value. If learning activities were compulsory, students felt it might also present challenges in dealing with their children and part-time work. The students expressed that most of their fellow students were present in lectures that went live on Zoom. One student stated that live digital lectures were best because it was easier to ask questions. When using a flipped classroom or recordings, the questions must be written down and asked afterwards, but both options (flipped classroom and live streaming) were perceived as fine.

Interestingly, the qualitative results from the questionnaire indicated that some students found it easy to ask questions, while others thought it had become more difficult. According to one student, ‘As long as we have the opportunity to ask questions online, I think it will go just fine. I commute three hours per school day to get to and from school, so I feel I have more time to work with school now that the lecture is online’.

One of the informants thought that interaction was challenging, and it did not feel as natural to ask questions in online classes. ‘Raising your hand’ was not perceived to be as easy as in the face-to-face setting on campus, which could mean that the students did not always get answers to their questions.

The students’ indicated that recorded lectures should not be longer than one hour, as it is easy to lose focus, and one must rewind the recordings. For live online lectures, two hours was deemed fine, and they were perceived as fun to watch. However, each session of the live online lectures should not be longer than 45 minutes.

The online teaching (mainly in the form of synchronous plenum lectures originally intended as on-campus lectures) was challenging in the beginning because some students fell out of the digital rooms due to technical reasons, but it got better over time. Some students experienced poor bandwidth, which led to them not being able to turn on their camera and reduced sound quality. One student stated that poor internet quality was something he could not do anything about, but it resulted in a non-optimal learning situation. It was suggested that using a flipped classroom/recorded lectures in the first weeks after lockdown could have solved this problem.

The respondents pointed out that the use of several conference systems/channels in addition to LMS Canvas provided a poor overview and ineffective communication, and they would prefer a single learning platform. The students were unsure how to contact their teachers in the first weeks after lockdown due to the use of several platforms. Even with a single contact channel (LMS), the students found that the threshold barrier for sending questions to the teacher through email was high.

When asked what they thought about ‘black screens’ (students turning off the camera), several answered that this reduced the quality of communication between the lecturer and student. The lecturer missed affirmative nods from students, and the students also likely missed parts of the communication when the camera was turned off. In some of the lectures, all of the students were encouraged to keep the camera on, and some of the lecturers asked the students questions to initiate two-way communication. The students expressed that it was nice to see the other attending students on video. Furthermore, the participants felt that the lecturers mainly engaged the students who had their camera on. However, several students said that they turned off their cameras during the lectures because the session was being recorded. Another stated that having the camera on was particularly useful when having discussions in digital groups. The students who participated in the survey wished for more recorded lectures, indicating that their lecturers did not do this often.

One of the informants assumed that she would have turned off the camera when recording the lecture, and she thought she had not contributed much. She would have to consider whether a question was ‘stupid’ before asking it, and probably she had not asked any questions at all. She thought this was due to habit, and she indicated that one might get used to being recorded. That is, if recording had been the norm and she had become accustomed to it, it would have been easier to relate to.

All of the informants agreed that presentations with audio were useful, as the material could be repeated by rewinding to the desired location. They also reported that it sometimes took a while for the teachers to post such files, even though the students found these learning resources very useful.

They noticed an increased attendance rate among their peers in the online lectures, which they perceived as positive. The reason for the increased attendance, they believed, was that many students have to make a long trip to attend class, and the threshold for participating had become lower now that all teaching was online. This was supported by the qualitative results from the questionnaire, where a student said, ‘I commute several hours per school day to get to and from school, so I feel I have more time to work with school now that the lecture is online’.

However, one of the informants pointed out that it is important for students to be able to talk to each other when the lecturer is not present, that group activities should be arranged and that they should be provided with opportunities for voluntary meetings on campus in their spare time. One of the informants believed it to be important that the students themselves have a responsibility to address the learning environment and initiate meetings in both academic and social arenas. One felt that it was not desirable that the university was responsible for social contact between peers. It was suggested that time could be set aside, for example, after teaching, so that only students could talk together. It was expressed that in order to preserve social aspects in digital teaching and learning, the first meeting should be on campus. A mentor scheme was suggested, where former students could give tips and advice on how to function as a ‘digital student’.

Digital group work.

The students expressed that they mainly collaborated well in digital groups (breakout rooms). Communication usually worked well with both the teacher and peers in these digital rooms. Nevertheless, some students reported that group work was not effective when it was carried out in ‘breakout rooms’. The students felt that the allocated time for group work was too short for collaboration, and some of the time was spent on technical challenges. There were also some students who withdrew from the group work, which the respondents believed was because some were shy. One student said that discussions during group work paid off and that communication worked well, but it was a pity that so few students participated. Getting to know the others in the group well was also deemed to be important for the level of collaboration and professional discussions. The students did not like to be randomly assigned into groups. However, they expressed that it would be advantageous to plan for more group work in smaller groups.

Another positive effect of online teaching the students highlighted was the increased amount of written feedback from lecturers on work submitted voluntarily. The students perceived that this was offered as a compensation for shorter teaching sessions.

One of the respondents thought that it was important to socially interact with peers and missed having lunch with fellow students. Others felt that there had not been many social gatherings in the group previously, and so they did not experience the absence of fellow students as a great loss. They also pointed out that students who had met each other physically at an earlier time had a different starting point in online meetings and for online education. One student stated, ‘Getting to know new peers digitally feels weird’. Furthermore, one of the informants pointed out that most people have a general need for physical contact, and that touching and eye-to-eye contact is important.

Motivation.

Some of the students were more motivated to participate in online learning activities, yet it was perceived to require greater effort to stay motivated and ‘in the course’. Some students work alongside their studies and thus do not attend classes, and others have children who must be tended to. Some indicated that student response systems such as Mentimeter, Quizlet, Padlet, Kahoot! and the use of polls was motivating factors, but it depended on the context in which they were used. Some of the students reported that they especially liked Kahoot, but it was important that the use of such response systems was done in a structured way. They expressed that they liked the teaching programme, which consisted of an introductory video and teaching in which the basics were presented, followed by group work and finally teaching, where the teacher went more in depth. This approach made it easier to follow the teaching and to ask questions.

The students said it was good for motivation when an overview of the course content was published, as it contributed to predictability and more people participate when they know what is planned.

Nevertheless, the qualitative results from the questionnaire indicated that it was difficult to get an overview of everything that needed to be done. It could be challenging to concentrate and have self-discipline due to many distractions, which reduced the students’ motivation. Several students expressed that they felt alone in their studies, and it was difficult to feel alone with the responsibility for learning the curriculum. One student wrote that there was considerable uncertainty, which negatively affected concentration, and that the COVID-19 crises was a difficult time for everyone.

Overall, these students were satisfied with the ad hoc online teaching after the lockdown, although they experienced self-perceived reduced learning outcomes compared to the pre-pandemic situation. It appears that they adapted quickly to the new situation, but they also reported difficulties with the transition to new teaching methods. Based on both the surveys and interviews, the most pressing concerns among students were a lack of social interaction, housing situations that were unsuitable for home office purposes, including insufficient data bandwidth, and a sense of reduced motivation and effort. PHN is a small sized education which enables close contact between educators and students. The low student volume might explain why the dropout rate from the bachelor and master programs remained unchanged compared to that in previous years.

Receiving teaching, supervision, exams and assessments solely through online solutions was a new experience for these students. Apart from a 15-credit mandatory bachelor course offered as hybrid learning (7), traditional teaching methods still dominated the bachelor and master study programmes of PHN in winter 2020. Importantly, the students evaluated the ad hoc solutions offered during the chaotic spring of 2020 rather than a well-planned, high-quality online education using student-active methods [ 5 ]. Teachers switched to online teaching without any time to learn the technology, or standard quality online teaching practices [ 4 ]. They had many years of experience teaching in -person, and they had arranged their lessons and interactive elements around this mode of learning. Alternatively, they had very little experience teaching online. The students’ experiences in these online learning environments, which were thrown together at the last minute, are not necessarily indicative of students’ experiences in a quality online course based on principles from Quality Matters online education [ 19 ].

Although the students reported reduced learning outcomes after 12 weeks dominated by synchronous live-streamed lectures lasting for 30–45 minutes on Zoom, they had positive attitudes toward use of digital learning materials and tools in future online courses. For asynchronous lectures, the rule of thumb in online education is less than 10–15 minutes [ 19 ]. Although lectures of 45 minute duration is far beyond what is recommended for digital teaching [ 19 ], the students responded based on their recent experiences where many teachers, for reasons of feasibility, conducted their planned on-campus lectures digitally shortly after lockdown. Some of the students also reported that they especially liked Kahoot, however, since we wanted to keep the research questionnaire short, we did not ask more in detail for concrete digital tools. A pre-corona study from OsloMet reported that physiotherapy students’ attitudes toward a flipped classroom intervention were mainly positive, although the academic outcomes from the final exam were similar to those in previous years [ 20 ]. Further, in a recent large-scale pre-COVID-19 blended learning interprofessional course conducted a few weeks ahead of the lockdown, first-year bachelor’s students at OsloMet reported positive perceptions of the blended learning approach, using only short video clips (less than 10 minutes) [ 21 ]. Approximately 3/4 of the students in that study disagreed that virtual group discussions resulted in better learning outcomes than face-to-face group discussions. The present data do not conflict with the findings from that larger-scale study.

The students expressed in various ways that online teaching with a lack of social interaction leads to worse learning outcomes and lower levels of motivation and well-being. Concerns about lack of face-to-face contact may have been aggravated by the stressful situation, and contentment with teaching methods would likely improve if teachers had been able to integrate the appropriate elements in a fully digitalized course. Face-to-face interactions provide the foundation for social communication, the lack of which can be viewed as a critical disadvantage of online learning [ 5 ]. Face-to-face training may be particular crucial for candidates expected to have communication skills, such as nutritionists [ 11 , 12 , 22 – 24 ]. The ad hoc solutions for teaching offered during the 2020 spring term were thus not in agreement with the suggested conceptual dimensions, which allow students to expand their knowledge beyond the intended learning outcome established by the teacher: motivation and attention [ 5 ].

The students expressed concerns that are common in traditional in‐class teaching as well, and such issues should not be overlooked in online teaching [ 25 , 26 ]: insufficient pre‐class study preparation, limited participation and inadequate depth in class discussions. Quality of education lies in the knowledge, skills and expertise that are conveyed as well as in the manner in which they are communicated and learned [ 7 , 26 ]. In different ways, the students’ responses revolved around central quality aspects, such as learning objectives, content, programme design, adaptation, teaching, work methods, supervision and forms of assessment [ 7 ]. These findings are in agreement with other studies on COVID‐19 and education [ 4 , 25 , 27 ].

The students stated that they received insufficient information about the exams. This is understandable because staff initially did not know how the different exams would be digitally transformed in spring term 2020. Asked about exam preferences students said that they preferred longer written exams at home, over old campus-style exams, with short timelines, adapted to an online format. They also preferred multi-day written home exams over potential alternatives such as video or podcasts, which none of them had tried before. It should be noted that they had limited experience with digital options. Student-produced podcast and video have been used as formative assessment forms at our university [ 14 ], but to lesser extent as formative assessment forms. The preference for written home exams over digital options was thus likely influenced by student’s familiarity with the former since no exams during this time-period were in the form of podcast or video. Feedback and guidance from academic staff have been found to be key aspects of study quality, and good feedback contributes to increased motivation and improved learning outcomes (6). Exam uncertainty causes undue stress, and thus a key recommendation during the transition to online learning is to ensure that all information about exams is communicated to the students clearly and in a timely manner [ 27 ].

‘Black screens’ do not necessarily reflect individuals lack of motivation and attention or embarrassment, but they may reflect a lack of digital training among freshmen or technical issues, such as poor bandwidth. Broadband bandwidth overload issues and a lack of suitable equipment will probably not be significant problems in Norway in the future. The students suggested that both flipped classrooms and live streaming should be used in future online courses. Flipping the classroom [ 9 ] ahead of live streaming, with the possibility for the students to write down questions during the live streaming or afterward in a seminar, increases flexibility. Asynchronous tools may be utilised to support students to work at different times. We cannot overlook the possibility that new students might have needs that differ from those of senior students in terms of getting accustomed to online education. Nevertheless, our date indicates that clarification of expectations constitutes an important success criteria for online teaching, especially when it comes to group work and formative and summative assessment [ 4 , 27 ].

The closure of campus may have unknown implications for society in both the short and long term [ 28 – 30 ], including impacts on educational quality and the mental health of students and academic staff [ 31 ]. If students are unable to study effectively for some unknown reason, it will make online learning ineffective, regardless of educational quality. The situation after the lockdown in Norway was confusing, and many students lost their jobs and moved back in with their parents [ 4 ]. We did not collect person-sensitive data, and thus we know little about these students’ circumstances. The dropout rate remained nearly unchanged among these students as compared to previous years. Being a small-sized education, the staff were able to follow-up each student individually using digital videoconference tools, such as Zoom and Teams. In the future, more sustainable approaches should be developed, for example, by increasing peer-to-peer interactions and through mentoring programs [ 1 ]. Reducing dropout and increasing completion rates was a strategic goal for higher education before the lockdown [ 29 ], and we do not know the impact of the lockdown on future dropout and completion rates. The high dropout rate from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has been a major concern of researchers and educators over the years [ 32 ]. Although some universities worldwide had already started offering MOOC-based undergraduate degrees before the COVID-19 pandemic [ 32 ], most MOOCs do not lead to degrees. The online courses offered in spring 2020 after the lockdown were mandatory courses leading to degrees, and thus they were not directly comparable to the voluntary MOOCs. However, such issues are premature for consideration in the present study. OsloMet is currently participating both in the future ‘The COVID-19 Multi-Country Student Well-being Study’[ 33 ] and the ‘Corona and Campus’ study [ 34 ]. The ‘Corona and Campus’ study has secondary outcomes related to teaching satisfaction and learning outcomes, and such data will have the power to inform future decision-making [ 30 ]. However, the present data were collected shortly after the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic on aspects of digitalisation relevant to the (post)-pandemic situation.

Strengths and weaknesses of the study

This study has several strengths. The most important strength is data collection shortly after a national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The combined use of both quantitative and qualitative approaches enabled different perspectives to be captured and adds strength to the study. The triangulation allowed us to identify aspects more accurately and helped to offset the weaknesses of each approach alone. Group dynamics in focus group interviews can help bring out nuances in the data material beyond the answers to the predefined quantitative questions in the electronic questionnaires [ 17 ]. Another strength was the research team consisting of both external moderators providing objectivity, lack of vested interest and a fresh perspective, and internal evaluators who were familiar with the education and the students. One limitation is using a questionnaire which was not pre-tested or validated. However, due to time constraints shortly after campus lockdown following the COVID-19 outbreak, it was not possible to perform pre-testing or validation of the instruments used in the present study. Many of the necessary ad hoc changes to the course plans and exams (spring semester 2020) had yet to be made and decided upon when the present study was initiated, even when the first questionnaire was sent out before Easter 2020. The candidates actual achieved learning outcomes and working skills are unknown due to limited opportunities to monitor the quality of their work [ 4 ]. We do not consider it to be relevant to repeat the study, or reuse its instruments, since the acute phase after lockdown is over. PHN is a small-sized education, and the total number of students were only 79 individuals. The stress associated with the unprecedented situation may have contributed to a low response rate. Private circumstances such as poor internet connection, children at home, and lack of an adequate home office may also have contributed to a low response rate. A low response rate is also a limitation in studies performed in a normal situation [ 16 ]. We cannot rule out selection bias in the sample. The students who volunteered for the digital focus group interviews were positive and thorough. In particular, they seemed to reflect on a more general level, not restricted to their own personal situations. However, the range in age among the study participants was representative for the age range of all PHN students, and both bachelor and master students participated in the study. Data are collected from one single university, and the results might not be representative for large sized educations. Since the study is exploratory, we had not planned the data collection in order to test hypotheses. The study seeks to provide a snapshot in time of an evolving situation. Even with some limiting factors we believe the explorative study offers value since it provides a student perspective on an unprecedented black-swan event in higher education.

Conclusions

Although they had little previous experience with online education, these students seemed to adapt quickly to the sudden shift to ad hoc online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most pressing concerns among students were a lack of social interaction, a feeling of being alone in their studies, unfit housing situations for home office purposes, including insufficient data bandwidth, and a sense of reduced motivation and effort. Although our data indicate that face-to-face contact was greatly missed during this time-period, a thoroughly planned online course with numerous contact points between teachers and students would likely have been received more favorably. Finally, the students expressed that they wanted more structure in future digital courses. Due to the very unusual circumstances experienced both by students and teachers in the early stages of national lockdown in Norway, we are hesitant to conclude with regards to students preferences for future online courses.

Supporting information

S1 file. spss file questionnaire 1—please see line 154..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378.s001

S2 File. SPSS file Norwegian questionnaire 1—please see line 154.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378.s002

S3 File. SPSS file questionnaire 2—please see line 154.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378.s003

S4 File. SPSS file Norwegian questionnaire 2—please see line 154.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378.s004

S5 File. Structured interview guide–please see line 145.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250378.s005

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participating students and the academic and administrative staff at Oslo Metropolitan University for their contributions.

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• Review Article
• Published: 27 September 2021

Why lockdown and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap

• Sébastien Goudeau   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-0977 1 ,
• Camille Sanrey   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3158-1306 1 ,
• Arnaud Stanczak   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2596-1516 2 ,
• Antony Manstead   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7540-2096 3 &
• Céline Darnon   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2613-689X 2  

Nature Human Behaviour volume  5 ,  pages 1273–1281 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced teachers and parents to quickly adapt to a new educational context: distance learning. Teachers developed online academic material while parents taught the exercises and lessons provided by teachers to their children at home. Considering that the use of digital tools in education has dramatically increased during this crisis, and it is set to continue, there is a pressing need to understand the impact of distance learning. Taking a multidisciplinary view, we argue that by making the learning process rely more than ever on families, rather than on teachers, and by getting students to work predominantly via digital resources, school closures exacerbate social class academic disparities. To address this burning issue, we propose an agenda for future research and outline recommendations to help parents, teachers and policymakers to limit the impact of the lockdown on social-class-based academic inequality.

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The widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in 2019–2020 have drastically increased health, social and economic inequalities 1 , 2 . For more than 900 million learners around the world, the pandemic led to the closure of schools and universities 3 . This exceptional situation forced teachers, parents and students to quickly adapt to a new educational context: distance learning. Teachers had to develop online academic materials that could be used at home to ensure educational continuity while ensuring the necessary physical distancing. Primary and secondary school students suddenly had to work with various kinds of support, which were usually provided online by their teachers. For college students, lockdown often entailed returning to their hometowns while staying connected with their teachers and classmates via video conferences, email and other digital tools. Despite the best efforts of educational institutions, parents and teachers to keep all children and students engaged in learning activities, ensuring educational continuity during school closure—something that is difficult for everyone—may pose unique material and psychological challenges for working-class families and students.

Not only did the pandemic lead to the closure of schools in many countries, often for several weeks, it also accelerated the digitalization of education and amplified the role of parental involvement in supporting the schoolwork of their children. Thus, beyond the specific circumstances of the COVID-19 lockdown, we believe that studying the effects of the pandemic on academic inequalities provides a way to more broadly examine the consequences of school closure and related effects (for example, digitalization of education) on social class inequalities. Indeed, bearing in mind that (1) the risk of further pandemics is higher than ever (that is, we are in a ‘pandemic era’ 4 , 5 ) and (2) beyond pandemics, the use of digital tools in education (and therefore the influence of parental involvement) has dramatically increased during this crisis, and is set to continue, there is a pressing need for an integrative and comprehensive model that examines the consequences of distance learning. Here, we propose such an integrative model that helps us to understand the extent to which the school closures associated with the pandemic amplify economic, digital and cultural divides that in turn affect the psychological functioning of parents, students and teachers in a way that amplifies academic inequalities. Bringing together research in social sciences, ranging from economics and sociology to social, cultural, cognitive and educational psychology, we argue that by getting students to work predominantly via digital resources rather than direct interactions with their teachers, and by making the learning process rely more than ever on families rather than teachers, school closures exacerbate social class academic disparities.

First, we review research showing that social class is associated with unequal access to digital tools, unequal familiarity with digital skills and unequal uses of such tools for learning purposes 6 , 7 . We then review research documenting how unequal familiarity with school culture, knowledge and skills can also contribute to the accentuation of academic inequalities 8 , 9 . Next, we present the results of surveys conducted during the 2020 lockdown showing that the quality and quantity of pedagogical support received from schools varied according to the social class of families (for examples, see refs. 10 , 11 , 12 ). We then argue that these digital, cultural and structural divides represent barriers to the ability of parents to provide appropriate support for children during distance learning (Fig. 1 ). These divides also alter the levels of self-efficacy of parents and children, thereby affecting their engagement in learning activities 13 , 14 . In the final section, we review preliminary evidence for the hypothesis that distance learning widens the social class achievement gap and we propose an agenda for future research. In addition, we outline recommendations that should help parents, teachers and policymakers to use social science research to limit the impact of school closure and distance learning on the social class achievement gap.

Economic, structural, digital and cultural divides influence the psychological functioning of parents and students in a way that amplify inequalities.

The digital divide

Unequal access to digital resources.

Although the use of digital technologies is almost ubiquitous in developed nations, there is a digital divide such that some people are more likely than others to be numerically excluded 15 (Fig. 1 ). Social class is a strong predictor of digital disparities, including the quality of hardware, software and Internet access 16 , 17 , 18 . For example, in 2019, in France, around 1 in 5 working-class families did not have personal access to the Internet compared with less than 1 in 20 of the most privileged families 19 . Similarly, in 2020, in the United Kingdom, 20% of children who were eligible for free school meals did not have access to a computer at home compared with 7% of other children 20 . In 2021, in the United States, 41% of working-class families do not own a laptop or desktop computer and 43% do not have broadband compared with 8% and 7%, respectively, of upper/middle-class Americans 21 . A similar digital gap is also evident between lower-income and higher-income countries 22 .

Second, simply having access to a computer and an Internet connection does not ensure effective distance learning. For example, many of the educational resources sent by teachers need to be printed, thereby requiring access to printers. Moreover, distance learning is more difficult in households with only one shared computer compared with those where each family member has their own 23 . Furthermore, upper/middle-class families are more likely to be able to guarantee a suitable workspace for each child than their working-class counterparts 24 .

In the context of school closures, such disparities are likely to have important consequences for educational continuity. In line with this idea, a survey of approximately 4,000 parents in the United Kingdom confirmed that during lockdown, more than half of primary school children from the poorest families did not have access to their own study space and were less well equipped for distance learning than higher-income families 10 . Similarly, a survey of around 1,300 parents in the Netherlands found that during lockdown, children from working-class families had fewer computers at home and less room to study than upper/middle-class children 11 .

Data from non-Western countries highlight a more general digital divide, showing that developing countries have poorer access to digital equipment. For example, in India in 2018, only 10.7% of households possessed a digital device 25 , while in Pakistan in 2020, 31% of higher-education teachers did not have Internet access and 68.4% did not have a laptop 26 . In general, developing countries lack access to digital technologies 27 , 28 , and these difficulties of access are even greater in rural areas (for example, see ref. 29 ). Consequently, school closures have huge repercussions for the continuity of learning in these countries. For example, in India in 2018, only 11% of the rural and 40% of the urban population above 14 years old could use a computer and access the Internet 25 . Time spent on education during school closure decreased by 80% in Bangladesh 30 . A similar trend was observed in other countries 31 , with only 22% of children engaging in remote learning in Kenya 32 and 50% in Burkina Faso 33 . In Ghana, 26–32% of children spent no time at all on learning during the pandemic 34 . Beyond the overall digital divide, social class disparities are also evident in developing countries, with lower access to digital resources among households in which parental educational levels were low (versus households in which parental educational levels were high; for example, see ref. 35 for Nigeria and ref. 31 for Ecuador).

Unequal digital skills

In addition to unequal access to digital tools, there are also systematic variations in digital skills 36 , 37 (Fig. 1 ). Upper/middle-class families are more familiar with digital tools and resources and are therefore more likely to have the digital skills needed for distance learning 38 , 39 , 40 . These digital skills are particularly useful during school closures, both for students and for parents, for organizing, retrieving and correctly using the resources provided by the teachers (for example, sending or receiving documents by email, printing documents or using word processors).

Social class disparities in digital skills can be explained in part by the fact that children from upper/middle-class families have the opportunity to develop digital skills earlier than working-class families 41 . In member countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), only 23% of working-class children had started using a computer at the age of 6 years or earlier compared with 43% of upper/middle-class children 42 . Moreover, because working-class people tend to persist less than upper/middle-class people when confronted with digital difficulties 23 , the use of digital tools and resources for distance learning may interfere with the ability of parents to help children with their schoolwork.

Unequal use of digital tools

A third level of digital divide concerns variations in digital tool use 18 , 43 (Fig. 1 ). Upper/middle-class families are more likely to use digital resources for work and education 6 , 41 , 44 , whereas working-class families are more likely to use these resources for entertainment, such as electronic games or social media 6 , 45 . This divide is also observed among students, whereby working-class students tend to use digital technologies for leisure activities, whereas their upper/middle-class peers are more likely to use them for academic activities 46 and to consider that computers and the Internet provide an opportunity for education and training 23 . Furthermore, working-class families appear to regulate the digital practices of their children less 47 and are more likely to allow screens in the bedrooms of children and teenagers without setting limits on times or practices 48 .

In sum, inequalities in terms of digital resources, skills and use have strong implications for distance learning. This is because they make working-class students and parents particularly vulnerable when learning relies on extensive use of digital devices rather than on face-to-face interaction with teachers.

The cultural divide

Even if all three levels of digital divide were closed, upper/middle-class families would still be better prepared than working-class families to ensure educational continuity for their children. Upper/middle-class families are more familiar with the academic knowledge and skills that are expected and valued in educational settings, as well as with the independent, autonomous way of learning that is valued in the school culture and becomes even more important during school closure (Fig. 1 ).

Unequal familiarity with academic knowledge and skills

According to classical social reproduction theory 8 , 49 , school is not a neutral place in which all forms of language and knowledge are equally valued. Academic contexts expect and value culture-specific and taken-for-granted forms of knowledge, skills and ways of being, thinking and speaking that are more in tune with those developed through upper/middle-class socialization (that is, ‘cultural capital’ 8 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ). For instance, academic contexts value interest in the arts, museums and literature 54 , 55 , a type of interest that is more likely to develop through socialization in upper/middle-class families than in working-class socialization 54 , 56 . Indeed, upper/middle-class parents are more likely than working-class parents to engage in activities that develop this cultural capital. For example, they possess more books and cultural objects at home, read more stories to their children and visit museums and libraries more often (for examples, see refs. 51 , 54 , 55 ). Upper/middle-class children are also more involved in extra-curricular activities (for example, playing a musical instrument) than working-class children 55 , 56 , 57 .

Beyond this implicit familiarization with the school curriculum, upper/middle-class parents more often organize educational activities that are explicitly designed to develop academic skills of their children 57 , 58 , 59 . For example, they are more likely to monitor and re-explain lessons or use games and textbooks to develop and reinforce academic skills (for example, labelling numbers, letters or colours 57 , 60 ). Upper/middle-class parents also provide higher levels of support and spend more time helping children with homework than working-class parents (for examples, see refs. 61 , 62 ). Thus, even if all parents are committed to the academic success of their children, working-class parents have fewer chances to provide the help that children need to complete homework 63 , and homework is more beneficial for children from upper-middle class families than for children from working-class families 64 , 65 .

School closures amplify the impact of cultural inequalities

The trends described above have been observed in ‘normal’ times when schools are open. School closures, by making learning rely more strongly on practices implemented at home (rather than at school), are likely to amplify the impact of these disparities. Consistent with this idea, research has shown that the social class achievement gap usually greatly widens during school breaks—a phenomenon described as ‘summer learning loss’ or ‘summer setback’ 66 , 67 , 68 . During holidays, the learning by children tends to decline, and this is particularly pronounced in children from working-class families. Consequently, the social class achievement gap grows more rapidly during the summer months than it does in the rest of the year. This phenomenon is partly explained by the fact that during the break from school, social class disparities in investment in activities that are beneficial for academic achievement (for example, reading, travelling to a foreign country or museum visits) are more pronounced.

Therefore, when they are out of school, children from upper/middle-class backgrounds may continue to develop academic skills unlike their working-class counterparts, who may stagnate or even regress. Research also indicates that learning loss during school breaks tends to be cumulative 66 . Thus, repeated episodes of school closure are likely to have profound consequences for the social class achievement gap. Consistent with the idea that school closures could lead to similar processes as those identified during summer breaks, a recent survey indicated that during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom, children from upper/middle-class families spent more time on educational activities (5.8 h per day) than those from working-class families (4.5 h per day) 7 , 69 .

Unequal dispositions for autonomy and self-regulation

School closures have encouraged autonomous work among students. This ‘independent’ way of studying is compatible with the family socialization of upper/middle-class students, but does not match the interdependent norms more commonly associated with working-class contexts 9 . Upper/middle-class contexts tend to promote cultural norms of independence whereby individuals perceive themselves as autonomous actors, independent of other individuals and of the social context, able to pursue their own goals 70 . For example, upper/middle-class parents tend to invite children to express their interests, preferences and opinions during the various activities of everyday life 54 , 55 . Conversely, in working-class contexts characterized by low economic resources and where life is more uncertain, individuals tend to perceive themselves as interdependent, connected to others and members of social groups 53 , 70 , 71 . This interdependent self-construal fits less well with the independent culture of academic contexts. This cultural mismatch between interdependent self-construal common in working-class students and the independent norms of the educational institution has negative consequences for academic performance 9 .

Once again, the impact of these differences is likely to be amplified during school closures, when being able to work alone and autonomously is especially useful. The requirement to work alone is more likely to match the independent self-construal of upper/middle-class students than the interdependent self-construal of working-class students. In the case of working-class students, this mismatch is likely to increase their difficulties in working alone at home. Supporting our argument, recent research has shown that working-class students tend to underachieve in contexts where students work individually compared with contexts where students work with others 72 . Similarly, during school closures, high self-regulation skills (for example, setting goals, selecting appropriate learning strategies and maintaining motivation 73 ) are required to maintain study activities and are likely to be especially useful for using digital resources efficiently. Research has shown that students from working-class backgrounds typically develop their self-regulation skills to a lesser extent than those from upper/middle-class backgrounds 74 , 75 , 76 .

Interestingly, some authors have suggested that independent (versus interdependent) self-construal may also affect communication with teachers 77 . Indeed, in the context of distance learning, working-class families are less likely to respond to the communication of teachers because their ‘interdependent’ self leads them to respect hierarchies, and thus perceive teachers as an expert who ‘can be trusted to make the right decisions for learning’. Upper/middle class families, relying on ‘independent’ self-construal, are more inclined to seek individualized feedback, and therefore tend to participate to a greater extent in exchanges with teachers. Such cultural differences are important because they can also contribute to the difficulties encountered by working-class families.

The structural divide: unequal support from schools

The issues reviewed thus far all increase the vulnerability of children and students from underprivileged backgrounds when schools are closed. To offset these disadvantages, it might be expected that the school should increase its support by providing additional resources for working-class students. However, recent data suggest that differences in the material and human resources invested in providing educational support for children during periods of school closure were—paradoxically—in favour of upper/middle-class students (Fig. 1 ). In England, for example, upper/middle-class parents reported benefiting from online classes and video-conferencing with teachers more often than working-class parents 10 . Furthermore, active help from school (for example, online teaching, private tutoring or chats with teachers) occurred more frequently in the richest households (64% of the richest households declared having received help from school) than in the poorest households (47%). Another survey found that in the United Kingdom, upper/middle-class children were more likely to take online lessons every day (30%) than working-class students (16%) 12 . This substantial difference might be due, at least in part, to the fact that private schools are better equipped in terms of online platforms (60% of schools have at least one online platform) than state schools (37%, and 23% in the most deprived schools) and were more likely to organize daily online lessons. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, in schools with a high proportion of students eligible for free school meals, teachers were less inclined to broadcast an online lesson for their pupils 78 . Interestingly, 58% of teachers in the wealthiest areas reported having messaged their students or their students’ parents during lockdown compared with 47% in the most deprived schools. In addition, the probability of children receiving technical support from the school (for example, by providing pupils with laptops or other devices) is, surprisingly, higher in the most advantaged schools than in the most deprived 78 .

In addition to social class disparities, there has been less support from schools for African-American and Latinx students. During school closures in the United States, 40% of African-American students and 30% of Latinx students received no online teaching compared with 10% of white students 79 . Another source of inequality is that the probability of school closure was correlated with social class and race. In the United States, for example, school closures from September to December 2020 were more common in schools with a high proportion of racial/ethnic minority students, who experience homelessness and are eligible for free/discounted school meals 80 .

Similarly, access to educational resources and support was lower in poorer (compared with richer) countries 81 . In sub-Saharan Africa, during lockdown, 45% of children had no exposure at all to any type of remote learning. Of those who did, the medium was mostly radio, television or paper rather than digital. In African countries, at most 10% of children received some material through the Internet. In Latin America, 90% of children received some remote learning, but less than half of that was through the internet—the remainder being via radio and television 81 . In Ecuador, high-school students from the lowest wealth quartile had fewer remote-learning opportunities, such as Google class/Zoom, than students from the highest wealth quartile 31 .

Thus, the achievement gap and its accentuation during lockdown are due not only to the cultural and digital disadvantages of working-class families but also to unequal support from schools. This inequality in school support is not due to teachers being indifferent to or even supportive of social stratification. Rather, we believe that these effects are fundamentally structural. In many countries, schools located in upper/middle-class neighbourhoods have more money than those in the poorest neighbourhoods. Moreover, upper/middle-class parents invest more in the schools of their children than working-class parents (for example, see ref. 82 ), and schools have an interest in catering more for upper/middle-class families than for working-class families 83 . Additionally, the expectation of teachers may be lower for working-class children 84 . For example, they tend to estimate that working-class students invest less effort in learning than their upper/middle-class counterparts 85 . These differences in perception may have influenced the behaviour of teachers during school closure, such that teachers in privileged neighbourhoods provided more information to students because they expected more from them in term of effort and achievement. The fact that upper/middle-class parents are better able than working-class parents to comply with the expectations of teachers (for examples, see refs. 55 , 86 ) may have reinforced this phenomenon. These discrepancies echo data showing that working-class students tend to request less help in their schoolwork than upper/middle-class ones 87 , and they may even avoid asking for help because they believe that such requests could lead to reprimands 88 . During school closures, these students (and their families) may in consequence have been less likely to ask for help and resources. Jointly, these phenomena have resulted in upper/middle-class families receiving more support from schools during lockdown than their working-class counterparts.

Psychological effects of digital, cultural and structural divides

Despite being strongly influenced by social class, differences in academic achievement are often interpreted by parents, teachers and students as reflecting differences in ability 89 . As a result, upper/middle-class students are usually perceived—and perceive themselves—as smarter than working-class students, who are perceived—and perceive themselves—as less intelligent 90 , 91 , 92 or less able to succeed 93 . Working-class students also worry more about the fact that they might perform more poorly than upper/middle-class students 94 , 95 . These fears influence academic learning in important ways. In particular, they can consume cognitive resources when children and students work on academic tasks 96 , 97 . Self-efficacy also plays a key role in engaging in learning and perseverance in the face of difficulties 13 , 98 . In addition, working-class students are those for whom the fear of being outperformed by others is the most negatively related to academic performance 99 .

The fact that working-class children and students are less familiar with the tasks set by teachers, and less well equipped and supported, makes them more likely to experience feelings of incompetence (Fig. 1 ). Working-class parents are also more likely than their upper/middle-class counterparts to feel unable to help their children with schoolwork. Consistent with this, research has shown that both working-class students and parents have lower feelings of academic self-efficacy than their upper/middle-class counterparts 100 , 101 . These differences have been documented under ‘normal’ conditions but are likely to be exacerbated during distance learning. Recent surveys conducted during the school closures have confirmed that upper/middle-class families felt better able to support their children in distance learning than did working-class families 10 and that upper/middle-class parents helped their children more and felt more capable to do so 11 , 12 .

Pandemic disparity, future directions and recommendations

The research reviewed thus far suggests that children and their families are highly unequal with respect to digital access, skills and use. It also shows that upper/middle-class students are more likely to be supported in their homework (by their parents and teachers) than working-class students, and that upper/middle-class students and parents will probably feel better able than working-class ones to adapt to the context of distance learning. For all these reasons, we anticipate that as a result of school closures, the COVID-19 pandemic will substantially increase the social class achievement gap. Because school closures are a recent occurrence, it is too early to measure with precision their effects on the widening of the achievement gap. However, some recent data are consistent with this idea.

Evidence for a widening gap during the pandemic

Comparing academic achievement in 2020 with previous years provides an early indication of the effects of school closures during the pandemic. In France, for example, first and second graders take national evaluations at the beginning of the school year. Initial comparisons of the results for 2020 with those from previous years revealed that the gap between schools classified as ‘priority schools’ (those in low-income urban areas) and schools in higher-income neighbourhoods—a gap observed every year—was particularly pronounced in 2020 in both French and mathematics 102 .

Similarly, in the Netherlands, national assessments take place twice a year. In 2020, they took place both before and after school closures. A recent analysis compared progress during this period in 2020 in mathematics/arithmetic, spelling and reading comprehension for 7–11-year-old students within the same period in the three previous years 103 . Results indicated a general learning loss in 2020. More importantly, for the 8% of working-class children, the losses were 40% greater than they were for upper/middle-class children.

Similar results were observed in Belgium among students attending the final year of primary school. Compared with students from previous cohorts, students affected by school closures experienced a substantial decrease in their mathematics and language scores, with children from more disadvantaged backgrounds experiencing greater learning losses 104 . Likewise, oral reading assessments in more than 100 school districts in the United States showed that the development of this skill among children in second and third grade significantly slowed between Spring and Autumn 2020, but this slowdown was more pronounced in schools from lower-achieving districts 105 .

It is likely that school closures have also amplified racial disparities in learning and achievement. For example, in the United States, after the first lockdown, students of colour lost the equivalent of 3–5 months of learning, whereas white students were about 1–3 months behind. Moreover, in the Autumn, when some students started to return to classrooms, African-American and Latinx students were more likely to continue distance learning, despite being less likely to have access to the digital tools, Internet access and live contact with teachers 106 .

In some African countries (for example, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda), the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in learning loss ranging from 6 months to more 1 year 107 , and this learning loss appears to be greater for working-class children (that is, those attending no-fee schools) than for upper/middle-class children 108 .

These findings show that school closures have exacerbated achievement gaps linked to social class and ethnicity. However, more research is needed to address the question of whether school closures differentially affect the learning of students from working- and upper/middle-class families.

Future directions

First, to assess the specific and unique impact of school closures on student learning, longitudinal research should compare student achievement at different times of the year, before, during and after school closures, as has been done to document the summer learning loss 66 , 109 . In the coming months, alternating periods of school closure and opening may occur, thereby presenting opportunities to do such research. This would also make it possible to examine whether the gap diminishes a few weeks after children return to in-school learning or whether, conversely, it increases with time because the foundations have not been sufficiently acquired to facilitate further learning 110 .

Second, the mechanisms underlying the increase in social class disparities during school closures should be examined. As discussed above, school closures result in situations for which students are unevenly prepared and supported. It would be appropriate to seek to quantify the contribution of each of the factors that might be responsible for accentuating the social class achievement gap. In particular, distinguishing between factors that are relatively ‘controllable’ (for example, resources made available to pupils) and those that are more difficult to control (for example, the self-efficacy of parents in supporting the schoolwork of their children) is essential to inform public policy and teaching practices.

Third, existing studies are based on general comparisons and very few provide insights into the actual practices that took place in families during school closure and how these practices affected the achievement gap. For example, research has documented that parents from working-class backgrounds are likely to find it more difficult to help their children to complete homework and to provide constructive feedback 63 , 111 , something that could in turn have a negative impact on the continuity of learning of their children. In addition, it seems reasonable to assume that during lockdown, parents from upper/middle-class backgrounds encouraged their children to engage in practices that, even if not explicitly requested by teachers, would be beneficial to learning (for example, creative activities or reading). Identifying the practices that best predict the maintenance or decline of educational achievement during school closures would help identify levers for intervention.

Finally, it would be interesting to investigate teaching practices during school closures. The lockdown in the spring of 2020 was sudden and unexpected. Within a few days, teachers had to find a way to compensate for the school closure, which led to highly variable practices. Some teachers posted schoolwork on platforms, others sent it by email, some set work on a weekly basis while others set it day by day. Some teachers also set up live sessions in large or small groups, providing remote meetings for questions and support. There have also been variations in the type of feedback given to students, notably through the monitoring and correcting of work. Future studies should examine in more detail what practices schools and teachers used to compensate for the school closures and their effects on widening, maintaining or even reducing the gap, as has been done for certain specific literacy programmes 112 as well as specific instruction topics (for example, ecology and evolution 113 ).

Practical recommendations

We are aware of the debate about whether social science research on COVID-19 is suitable for making policy decisions 114 , and we draw attention to the fact that some of our recommendations (Table 1 ) are based on evidence from experiments or interventions carried out pre-COVID while others are more speculative. In any case, we emphasize that these suggestions should be viewed with caution and be tested in future research. Some of our recommendations could be implemented in the event of new school closures, others only when schools re-open. We also acknowledge that while these recommendations are intended for parents and teachers, their implementation largely depends on the adoption of structural policies. Importantly, given all the issues discussed above, we emphasize the importance of prioritizing, wherever possible, in-person learning over remote learning 115 and where this is not possible, of implementing strong policies to support distance learning, especially for disadvantaged families.

Where face-to face teaching is not possible and teachers are responsible for implementing distance learning, it will be important to make them aware of the factors that can exacerbate inequalities during lockdown and to provide them with guidance about practices that would reduce these inequalities. Thus, there is an urgent need for interventions aimed at making teachers aware of the impact of the social class of children and families on the following factors: (1) access to, familiarity with and use of digital devices; (2) familiarity with academic knowledge and skills; and (3) preparedness to work autonomously. Increasing awareness of the material, cultural and psychological barriers that working-class children and families face during lockdown should increase the quality and quantity of the support provided by teachers and thereby positively affect the achievements of working-class students.

In addition to increasing the awareness of teachers of these barriers, teachers should be encouraged to adjust the way they communicate with working-class families due to differences in self-construal compared with upper/middle-class families 77 . For example, questions about family (rather than personal) well-being would be congruent with interdependent self-construals. This should contribute to better communication and help keep a better track of the progress of students during distance learning.

It is also necessary to help teachers to engage in practices that have a chance of reducing inequalities 53 , 116 . Particularly important is that teachers and schools ensure that homework can be done by all children, for example, by setting up organizations that would help children whose parents are not in a position to monitor or assist with the homework of their children. Options include homework help groups and tutoring by teachers after class. When schools are open, the growing tendency to set homework through digital media should be resisted as far as possible given the evidence we have reviewed above. Moreover, previous research has underscored the importance of homework feedback provided by teachers, which is positively related to the amount of homework completed and predictive of academic performance 117 . Where homework is web-based, it has also been shown that feedback on web-based homework enhances the learning of students 118 . It therefore seems reasonable to predict that the social class achievement gap will increase more slowly (or even remain constant or be reversed) in schools that establish individualized monitoring of students, by means of regular calls and feedback on homework, compared with schools where the support provided to pupils is more generic.

Given that learning during lockdown has increasingly taken place in family settings, we believe that interventions involving the family are also likely to be effective 119 , 120 , 121 . Simply providing families with suitable material equipment may be insufficient. Families should be given training in the efficient use of digital technology and pedagogical support. This would increase the self-efficacy of parents and students, with positive consequences for achievement. Ideally, such training would be delivered in person to avoid problems arising from the digital divide. Where this is not possible, individualized online tutoring should be provided. For example, studies conducted during the lockdown in Botswana and Italy have shown that individual online tutoring directly targeting either parents or students in middle school has a positive impact on the achievement of students, particularly for working-class students 122 , 123 .

Interventions targeting families should also address the psychological barriers faced by working-class families and children. Some interventions have already been designed and been shown to be effective in reducing the social class achievement gap, particularly in mathematics and language 124 , 125 , 126 . For example, research showed that an intervention designed to train low-income parents in how to support the mathematical development of their pre-kindergarten children (including classes and access to a library of kits to use at home) increased the quality of support provided by the parents, with a corresponding impact on the development of mathematical knowledge of their children. Such interventions should be particularly beneficial in the context of school closure.

Beyond its impact on academic performance and inequalities, the COVID-19 crisis has shaken the economies of countries around the world, casting millions of families around the world into poverty 127 , 128 , 129 . As noted earlier, there has been a marked increase in economic inequalities, bringing with it all the psychological and social problems that such inequalities create 130 , 131 , especially for people who live in scarcity 132 . The increase in educational inequalities is just one facet of the many difficulties that working-class families will encounter in the coming years, but it is one that could seriously limit the chances of their children escaping from poverty by reducing their opportunities for upward mobility. In this context, it should be a priority to concentrate resources on the most deprived students. A large proportion of the poorest households do not own a computer and do not have personal access to the Internet, which has important consequences for distance learning. During school closures, it is therefore imperative to provide such families with adequate equipment and Internet service, as was done in some countries in spring 2020. Even if the provision of such equipment is not in itself sufficient, it is a necessary condition for ensuring pedagogical continuity during lockdown.

Finally, after prolonged periods of school closure, many students may not have acquired the skills needed to pursue their education. A possible consequence would be an increase in the number of students for whom teachers recommend class repetitions. Class repetitions are contentious. On the one hand, class repetition more frequently affects working-class children and is not efficient in terms of learning improvement 133 . On the other hand, accepting lower standards of academic achievement or even suspending the practice of repeating a class could lead to pupils pursuing their education without mastering the key abilities needed at higher grades. This could create difficulties in subsequent years and, in this sense, be counterproductive. We therefore believe that the most appropriate way to limit the damage of the pandemic would be to help children catch up rather than allowing them to continue without mastering the necessary skills. As is being done in some countries, systematic remedial courses (for example, summer learning programmes) should be organized and financially supported following periods of school closure, with priority given to pupils from working-class families. Such interventions have genuine potential in that research has shown that participation in remedial summer programmes is effective in reducing learning loss during the summer break 134 , 135 , 136 . For example, in one study 137 , 438 students from high-poverty schools were offered a multiyear summer school programme that included various pedagogical and enrichment activities (for example, science investigation and music) and were compared with a ‘no-treatment’ control group. Students who participated in the summer programme progressed more than students in the control group. A meta-analysis 138 of 41 summer learning programmes (that is, classroom- and home-based summer interventions) involving children from kindergarten to grade 8 showed that these programmes had significantly larger benefits for children from working-class families. Although such measures are costly, the cost is small compared to the price of failing to fulfil the academic potential of many students simply because they were not born into upper/middle-class families.

The unprecedented nature of the current pandemic means that we lack strong data on what the school closure period is likely to produce in terms of learning deficits and the reproduction of social inequalities. However, the research discussed in this article suggests that there are good reasons to predict that this period of school closures will accelerate the reproduction of social inequalities in educational achievement.

By making school learning less dependent on teachers and more dependent on families and digital tools and resources, school closures are likely to greatly amplify social class inequalities. At a time when many countries are experiencing second, third or fourth waves of the pandemic, resulting in fresh periods of local or general lockdowns, systematic efforts to test these predictions are urgently needed along with steps to reduce the impact of school closures on the social class achievement gap.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Reis for editing the figure. The writing of this manuscript was supported by grant ANR-19-CE28-0007–PRESCHOOL from the French National Research Agency (S.G.).

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Goudeau, S., Sanrey, C., Stanczak, A. et al. Why lockdown and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap. Nat Hum Behav 5 , 1273–1281 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01212-7

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Paragraph on Lockdown

Due to the day by day rise in COVID-19 patients, the Government of India announced a complete lockdown for the general public. This lockdown bought many things with it. I have described some facts about lockdown in the below paragraph and hope you will find it helpful.

Short and Long Paragraphs on Lockdown

Paragraph 1 – 100 words.

Lockdown is a kind of emergency applied to a certain region. It is implemented with some rules and regulations and each and every person in that area has to follow these rules strictly. Otherwise, the government also has the authority to take action.

A country takes such actions to handle riots, during some unexpected crisis or in some special case. And this time it was an epidemic and our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi declared a complete lockdown for the first time on the 24th of March 2020. This lockdown was followed up for some months.

Social distancing was the only cure for COVID-19 and to protect people from this deadly virus our government took this step.

Paragraph 2 – 120 Words

Lockdown is an action which deals with the prohibition of the movement of people of a country. In India, the historical lockdown was implemented for the first time from 25th March to 14th April 2020. It was extended up to 3 May and again up to 30 June. It was the government’s initiative for lowering down the global pandemic Coronavirus.

The first case of Coronavirus was recorded on the 30th of January 2020, in Kerala. When the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 raised up to 500, then on 22nd March PM addressed the nation and asked to be at home for 14 hours. Then on 25th March, he announced a complete lockdown.

This 14 hours people’s curfew was called “Janta Curfew”. That further changed into lockdown and it was implemented to fight a battle against the deadly virus.

Paragraph 3 – 150 Words

Social distancing and self-isolation are the only methods to deal with Coronavirus. Social distancing breaks the chain which results in lowering the cases of COVID-19. To make this social-distancing possible government took some majors and announced a complete lockdown in India.

Things to Know About Lockdown :

Quarantine : A state of isolation with a complete prohibition on the arrival of people or even animals in a certain place due to some disease. During the lockdown, most of us were quarantined at our homes.

Transportation Services Barred : All the transportation services like bus, railway, etc. were suspended during this period. It broke the connectivity which helped to control this deadly virus.

Exemption for Some Services : During lockdown some basic facilities like a petrol pump, medical services, police services, banks and ATMs, and all other essential manufacturing units were open.

Penalty for Abiding the Lockdown Rules : Home Ministry of India announced the punishment of one-year jail for those not following the lockdown rules strictly.

Paragraph 4 – 200 Words

It was the 24th of March 2020 when a complete lockdown was implemented in India for the first time. Mr. Narendra Modi announced the nationwide lockdown to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic. The reason behind the lockdown was the rising cases of coronavirus in India.

After the announcement, people started storing their essentials because it was for the time to deal with something like that. Although basic things were available at our doorsteps, due to lack of planning and proper prior announcement people stated storing basic things at their home.

The lockdown was also implemented in other countries and with the rapid growth in COVID cases in India, our government took this step and announced lockdown. Due to lockdown thousands of people lost their jobs, millions of migrant workers moved towards their hometowns because there was no money and work for them anymore in cities. And due to lack of transportation, they walked thousands of kilometers on their foot. It was a heart-breaking moment to see them on the roads.

Then the government announced relief funds and food distribution for them. Police authorities also helped them. Supreme Court of India on the 30th of March heard the petition against the migrant workers. The government provided restrooms and shelter for the poor daily wagers and the migrant workers.

In this way, the entire country was locked for more than three months. Now various vaccine has been developed and the cases have also decreased in some countries like India, the reason is unknown behind the decreasing cases in India but it gives a ray of hope. Apart from vaccine one should still be careful and take all the precautions to avoid the second wave of COVID-19.

Paragraph 5 – 250 Words

India is a country of 1.3 Billion, a country that stands in the second position in terms of population. Our leaders know our capabilities and how strong we are to deal with a pandemic. So, our authorities thought lockdown to be the best option to deal with COVID-19. Italy and the USA are some of the topmost countries with the best medical facilities and when these nations failed then we can imagine how disastrous it could be in India.

So, keeping all these facts in mind our government decided a complete lockdown in India on the 25th of March, 2020 for 21 days, to stop the community transmits of this deadly coronavirus and it was extended every time.

Lockdown was Boring for Some People

Sitting these many days at home can be really boring because you don’t even have any work. But it was implemented to reduce the risk of getting infected. After some time, Public and Private Offices started their work from home and also encouraged their employees to be its part.

Impact of Lockdown

Lockdown badly affected the economy, not only India many foreign lands are also suffering from inflation. During lockdown various production units were closed, thousands of people lost their job, the police was working 24X7 for the safety of people.

Overall, I can say none of us would ever like to face such a scenario again. Although we have developed the vaccine for this deadly virus, it is expected to reach each and every citizen by 2022. So, till then follow all the measures, don’t forget to wear your mask, wash your hands-on frequent overalls, and follow social distancing.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

Ans. India announced national lockdown on 24th March 2020.

Ans. In India, the first lockdown had the duration of 21 days.

Ans. Emergency leads to snatching of fundamental rights and lockdown means everything will be closed.

Ans. Indian GDP shrunk to -23.9 percent due to lockdown (by 2021).

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