For students both current and former, two words bring back memories of glitchy connections, comfy work clothes, and social isolation. 

Zoom classes. 

After all, the platform was introduced during a tidal shift in education, brought on by the world-shattering lockdown from the Covid-19 pandemic. It was an incredibly useful tool, allowing students to still continue their education, even while being stuck at home. 

Eventually, the student body was able to come back to the classroom and, on May 5, 2023, the World Health Organization officially declared the end of Covid-19 pandemic. 

This, however, hasn’t stopped Zoom classes from being integrated into our education system to the point where it has now become commonplace. 

But what are the views of students regarding online classes now that the dust has finally settled? 

“I hate them with a burning passion. It’s just the way I learn, I have to be in a classroom with the teacher,” said Kylie Harrington reflecting back on her experience as she grips tightly the railing next to her. 

Harrington is a freshman in college and experienced the full brunt of Zoom classes during the pandemic as a high school freshman. 

“I’m a very social person, and if I don’t understand what’s happening, I need to be able to either ask someone next to me or go up to the teacher and they can show me what I did wrong and what I’m missing. I’m a hands-on learner. I’ve always been that way,” she said. 

She had terrible grades during the pandemic as a result, something she blames entirely on the learning environment shift during the pandemic. 

“I had amazing grades until COVID and I had amazing grades after COVID so I wasn’t the problem,” she said. 

Harrington’s frustrations are echoed by other students who struggled to adapt to online learning. 

“You’re not really motivated if it doesn’t seem genuine and real. It’s just a screen,” said Violet Tetreault, a sophomore Graphic Design major with a minor in marketing. “I feel like it kind of lacks that human interaction that really drives people forward to do stuff.” 

This attitude is shared by professors as well, as they are dealing with the impersonal side of Zoom classes. 

Heidi Welch, the program coordinator for music education, is tired of online classes. 

“Zoom is the biggest challenge for me. As a teacher of almost 30 years, the biggest challenge for Zoom was not seeing faces and really trying to encourage people to turn their cameras on so I can see what you look like. And I’d always get ‘my cameras broken.’ Well, how do I know that?” she said. 

Not all opinions of online classes are completely negative, though. 

Josef Vyvial, a sophomore Graphic Design major from the Czech Republic, sees the benefits of online classes. 

“I think it’s pretty good to have options for online classes. Yeah, I prefer in-person, but I took this class that was pretty easy to me and I could have done all of it from back home. So, it was convenient for me to take it online,” he said. 

Some students and professors say online classes offer accessibility to people who have responsibilities that require them to be elsewhere. 

“I think having Zoom classes allows students from our other campuses to take courses that may only be offered in a program on a particular campus. For instance, the social work program is cited here at Castleton,” said Michael Reeves, the director of the social work program at the Castleton campus. 

Vyvial and Reeves both, however, said they do prefer in-person classes. Reeves believes having in-person upper-level social work courses is necessary for students looking to get into the field as it allows for them to experience the work hands-on. 

But Vermont State University has begun to integrate more and more online classes into the curriculum, some programs being consolidated completely to online. When questioned about the reason for this, administration has repeatedly said that students would prefer to have their classes online. This has raised alarm bells in both students and faculty as they fear a completely online college is on the horizon. 

It also isn’t an opinion shared by other schools in the area. While higher education institutions like Vermont State University embraces Zoom classes, Rutland public schools have taken a more cautious approach. 

“Public schools really don’t offer remote or Zoom options,” said Bianca McKeen, the assistant superintendent for the Rutland City Public Schools. “The agency of Education made an exception to allow those types of things when we were in shutdown. And then as we came out of shutdown, they told schools they could not give that as an option anymore.” 

She stated a variety of reasons why this was the case, from student check-in to making sure they were actually attending. 

“It’s difficult for students to have the same kind of connections in remote classes as in-person classes. You feel a different way when you’re in a room with people and you can fully see the mannerisms of the group and the physical cues, as opposed to being online, you only get a small portion of that,” she said. 

And this is shared by the students here. From the 31 students questioned in an informal poll, all from different areas of studies, none said they preferred online classes. 

Tetreault rushed to comment before the interview was over, interrupting the question she was being asked as she felt so strongly about this topic. 

“Zoom classes take away from what an actual campus and going to college should be, which is in-person,” she said.