ISSIA’s 2020 Physical vs Online School Survey

ISSIA’s aims to connect and strengthen the link between Hong Kong schools, International or Local. Looking to promote dialogue and discourse between the school communities in Hong Kong, ISSIA continues to engage students from different topics.

Facing much disruption in this term, school students have transitioned form online school back to in person school. And now, we are once again starting online school. In September, we tried to gather information on how students in Hong Kong have been feeling about being back in school. We reached out to high school students in HK and invited them to fill out our back to school survey. A total of 39 responses, of which 9 are from local schools and 30 from international schools, provided us with the data below. A short report should inform us on how students have been personally affected by the unusual circumstances this year.

Do you prefer online or physical school? Why?

Fig. 1

As shown by figure 1 above, 66.7% of the students prefer physically going to school to learn instead of being online. This is great news for the majority of the students as they are finally able to get back in school and will hopefully improve their educational experience. A lot of them reasoned that having more physical interaction with their fellow students and teachers made their school experience more enjoyable, and also helped them concentrate better. They also found it easier to ask questions when they were physically near the teacher, rather than doing it through zoom. Physical education also removes the issue of technical problems, thus making lessons more productive.

However, ⅓ of the students have said they preferred online school. They have brought up very valid reasons to their opinion, mainly consisting of how they could be able to sleep more and spend more time improving their well-being, as well as the amount of time saved because they do not need to travel to school everyday. These are important factors to think about in order to improve the students’ well-being.

On a scale from 1-10, how "difficult" would you say online school has been for you?

Fig 2.

There seems to be a variety of responses in this question, but the majority has picked from 5-10, and the median is a 6. This supports the previous question’s answers as it demonstrates that students have really struggled with learning online. Hopefully, with learning being back in school, this will help reduce the student’s stress levels and allow them to feel more confident and relaxed in their studies.

Which of these situations have been most negatively impacted/have most negatively impacted you during online school?

Fig. 3

Being unable to interact with teachers and friends were among the top reasons of main negative causes arising from online school, as shown by figure 3. This is to be expected as communication online is not usually as effective as talking face to face. Moreover, humans naturally feel more comfortable when around others they know, and being without them for a long period of time could potentially cause loneliness. Issues with technology is also a significant effect as it can hugely disrupt a lesson and decrease productivity. Extra-curricular activities have also been completely cancelled the past months, which is a problem for many as they are unable to continue their hobby.

What have you enjoyed about online school?

The reasons to why students enjoyed online school from most frequently chosen to least are as follows:

1 - Less time wasted travelling to and from school (82.1%)

2 - More Sleep (82.1%)

3 - Flexibility of online classes (69.2%)

4 - More time to organise yourself (notes, equipment/resources, etc.) (66.7%)

5 - Ability to spend more time with family (53.8%)

6 - More time to focus on personal well-being (51.3%)

7 - Convenience of all your work being digital (e.g. easy to revisit recordings of lessons) (51.3%)

8 - More time to begin/develop a hobby (46.2%)

This was expected as a common issue that is associated with school (unfortunately) is a lack of sleep from students, and so taking away travel time would really allow them to catch up on some sleep. Most of the frequent answers were to do with increase in time to do other things and convenience. It appears that with online school, students are able to use the extra time on worthwhile activities that help their mental health.

How has/will online school affect your exams/assessments?

From the data, these are the future plans of exams and assessments of students, ranked from the most popular option to the least:

1 - Will continue, but some sections/papers of different subjects have been cancelled

2 - Grades will be coursework/classwork based

3 - All will continue as normal

4 - Some cancelled, some will continue

5 - Unsure

6 - All cancelled

Here it can be seen that there is a variety of answers chosen, however, most students have said that there will still be assessments/coursework, with a few changes of cancellations of a few select parts.

On a scale from 1-10, how excited are you to go back to school? Why?

Fig 4.

As shown above, it can be seen that the majority has chosen above 5, meaning that they are looking forward to physical school. Nobody has picked 1, and few people have chosen numbers below 5, perhaps implying that the majority of the people prefer physical school over online school.

Reasons to why most people chose above 5 (as provided by the students) are that they are able to see friends and teachers and have better communication, and a physical environment with them helps them learn better. They also feel that there is increased ease of access to resources and teachers when physically in school. It also allows them to participate in extracurricular activities and do practicals.

However, some people are not looking forward to physical school mostly because of the time they need to go to and from school, and how their return to physical school resulted in the teachers giving them a lot of work to catch up in a short period of time, stressing them out.

What are your main worries about going back to school?

The main worries the students have about going back to school is about how the stress, workload and assessments may increase dramatically, as well as less time to focus on their wellbeing. There is also some concern on health and safety measures in school and adapting to a new routine, all of which are valid reasons.

How could schools make the transition between online school and physical school smooth?

The options chosen for this question sorted from greatest popularity to least are:

1 - Inform students well in advance about upcoming tests/assessments

2 - Provide opportunities to focus on well-being

3 - Regularly ask students to submit feedback about new face to face programmes taking place

4 - Provide a diverse range of extra-curricular activities (including virtual opportunities)

5 - Assure and re-inform students about health and safety measures

It seems that the main concern for the students of Hong Kong is about the workload, stress and their well-being. This is perhaps a factor schools may want to consider to improve their educational experience.

Write down one thing your school has been doing differently than other schools to ensure a smooth transition for students back to school.

Many schools have been sticking to a half-day schedule where lunch is eaten at home, and the last few lessons are conducted online. Some schools have also let the students come in for a day to get used to their timetable and the feeling of being in school physically before starting it everyday. There has also been an increase in efficiency of entering the school through new systems like ID cards of the students.

What are your thoughts on going back to school everyday from the 29th? Any other comments about online school VS physical school?

Some students have expressed their worries for being tired because of waking up early, as well as feeling unmotivated and stressed. There has also been some mention of concerns for their health and safety in school.

Conclusion

Facing the unfortunate situation of school closure, we hope students take away from the survey all the benefits online school seems to provide. For example, more time to rest, more flexible schedule etc. If appropriately planned, the time saved by attending school online could aid many students greatly to develop a more balanced life-style. On the other hand, the survey also informed some cons about online schools which are hard to resolve. Difficulties when contacting teachers and friends, for example. Aware of the potential problems, students can strategically develop coping mechanisms such as schedule regular calls with friends, contact teachers to clarify their contact and non-contact times, etc. Students are not facing stress alone in this peculiar time. We hope the survey result eases some stress about the upcoming online school while aiding students to plan ahead and maximize their learning outcomes.