The COVID-19 pandemic caused the closing of classrooms all over the world. This paper discusses online learning and learning experiences of first-year students whose first college semester was the Fall of 2020 for the academic year of 2020/2021. The study employed the exploratory case study approach to assess the online pedagogical experiences of first-year students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it examines their engagement and effectiveness of online class tasks. Findings from the case study interviews showed majority of the first-year student were not prepared for online learning in the way as deployed by colleges during the pandemic. Colleges also were caught in the same predicament as they try to support the new students in all ways possible with the limited resources because of the drastic decision of shutdown. The paper may assist parents, educators and students to be prepared and flexible to adapt to different learning situations should there be natural disaster or pandemic affecting traditional learning.
