Here are two anecdotes about my online class experience.
- The first day of class
It is the first day of our class, I am sitting on a bench in a garden feeling a little bit of nervous. It is a snap decision to have class outside, I think, but I do not have other choices. I wish I am at home now, and the scene of my bedroom come to my mind, a gleam of bright light comes through the window and light up the whole room, quiet and comfortable. But now, there are just some trees around me, and a woman is making a phone call on my left side. “Good morning, everyone!” The voice of our teacher comes from my earphone. I get back to my senses and stare at the mobile screen. I see everyone is sitting in front of the desk except me, sitting outside with a tall tree over my head. No time to focus on others! Thinking about how to introduce yourself, it is your turn! I say to myself in mind. I become so nervous that even I can not hear what my classmates saying clearly. Besides, the woman on my left side must hear what I am saying when I start my self-introduction. How strange a Chinese girl is sitting on a bench speaking English to the mobile! Oh, it is my turn, I hear the teacher saying my name and then everyone stops taking, waiting for me to begin.
2. Uniqueness of online class
In a tutorial class, the teacher divides us into small breakout groups to discuss what online experience is different from offline. I am in a four-person group, everyone is looking at the screen through the camera that we can see all of us. Someone says though we can talk to each other, there still a long distance between us, it is the Internet that builds our relationship in class. Suddenly a sentence comes to my screen in the middle says:” your Internet connection is unstable.” Then I see all videos are freezing, everyone stops their movements. After that, voices from the meeting disappear, leave me in silence. So I have to stop talking with my classmates and fix my Internet connection as soon as possible. It takes me half a minute, and then I enter the group discussion again, I see the other three group members are looking at me and laugh, a girl jokes:” Mengxin has just experienced the uniqueness of the online class.” I say sorry about my dropping and laugh too. That is really a difference for online classes that offline classes do not have.
