EMERGENCY AND E-LEARNING. Education is the kingdom that rules the world. The Covid- 19 pandemic has set an overall realization that our current way of living does not work anymore. It has changed our perception of the way of education and much more.
The COVID-19 has resulted in shut all the schools and colleges across the globe. According to UNESCO, over 154 crores of students are severely affected by the closure of educational institutions across the world.
Children are out of the classroom and staying at home. Web-based learning or E-Learning is the most famous and commonly referred word during the COVID’19 pandemic.
Work From Home (WFH) and Education From Home (EFH) become a mantra in the modern world. E-Learning changes the basic behavior and perception of students, parents, and teachers around the world in Covid- 19.
E-Learning is known for its flexibility and efficiency:
E-Learning gives full control to learners and teachers. Instead of showing up to a class as per the requirement, they can decide and allocate time as per their wish.
Students are learning at the best time. Every student has a different style of learning the same subject but traditional education does not care about them at all.
The E-Learning concept is flexible for students as well as the teachers. In the traditional method, students and teachers must work according to the rules and regulations. The teachers were struggling to get the student’s attention to teach the class.
The virtual classrooms help the teachers to teach their subjects at their own pace without any disturbance. Ultimately, it saves energy and time for the teachers and improves their efficiency so it ensures the flexibility of teachers.
IS E-LEARNING WILL BE EFFECTIVE AS NORMAL LEARNING?
The answer is ‘yes’ as well as ‘no’. The student who has more access to technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more efficient and effective. Some research shows that on average, students are having 25% to 60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom.
This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online and e-learning requires 40%-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, through concepts as they choose.
The virtual platforms are a more cost-effective route, it is proven that education is more digitalized. By changing the way of gaining an education, it not only ensures that everyone has access to education but also impacts the economy as a whole in Covid- 19.
The E-Learning allows more self-discipline and also helps students to gain life skills that they can implement in their workplaces.
E-Learning companies and Modern Indian Learners:
The digitization and E-learning during Covid- 19 bring huge business for E-Learning and tech-based companies. The E-Learning companies in India are striving to replace the traditional education system with the modern education system by adopting the latest educational technologies.
Companies like Byjus, NIIT, Educom, etc, are bringing a new type of learning and business strategy. The emergence of cloud computing and the rising popularity of big data and learning analytics are trends that are changing the face of the online education market in India as well as the world in Covid- 19.
The eLearning companies in India are working effectively with the central government, state government, and educational boards to bring new changes.
Besides, by adopting learning analytics or big data analytics, these eLearning companies are helping online course providers design custom-made courses, conduct frequent auto-graded quizzes ensure self-regulation of learners, and make grades and learning progress accessible to students.
Thus, evolution and rising awareness regarding the latest technologies will increase the adoption of E-Learning in the Indian market, thereby pushing growth in the online education market in India.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and E-Learners:
MOOCs are becoming very trendy in the modern world. Companies like Udemy, Coursera, Unacademy, Khan Academy, etc came with new ideas to change the perception of learning and teaching. The MOOC is known for its flexibility and affordability.
Many students and professionals are using MOOCs to upgrade their knowledge. MOOC has dramatically changed the way the world learns.
The companies are using the technology optimally and they are cutting down their costs to make the course free or less charged and accessible to everyone around the world. The companies are providing scholarships for students to complete their courses.
This improves their traffic and brings a new change in the business world as well.
Top Companies and Learners:
The companies like Amazon, Facebook KPMG, etc are offering courses online to spread awareness about the company and the modern technology to the consumers and the students.
The certification will give more value to the learners as well as the company as a whole. These types of strategies are introduced by companies to teach the world how they work and how learners can use that skills and knowledge it brings loyalty among the people. This type of method will be really useful for future generations. They will get hands-on experience before joining the companies.
Opportunities for global professional and academic interaction:
The Internet is all about connecting the world. The modern method of technology and education brings global professionals to your doorsteps. The students are started interacting with foreign professionals to get exposure to the other countries and learning their culture and languages in their home.
This brings unity and integrity among the people. Academic information is shared in all parts of the world. This type of learning will bring more unity among students, teachers, and ensures world peace.
Amateur and Professional Trainers?
The digitization and E-learning during COVID’19 bring huge business for E-Learning and tech-based companies. Corporate trainers and amateur trainers got many opportunities because of COVID’19. The trainer’s websites got more traffic during the pandemic.
The schools and colleges are partnering with professional trainers to improve the presentation of the subject as a whole. Visual technology is helping amateur and professional trainers to connect the students and teachers. This type of education gives more opportunity for trainers to show their skills in a cost-efficient way.
Niche E-Learning companies are growing at a higher pace because of COVID’19. “I believe that the integration of information technology in education will be further accelerated and that online education will eventually become an integral component of school education,” says Wang Tao, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Vice President of Tencent Education.
Cons of the E-Learning method?
- None of the systems escapes from the cons category, even the E-learning system.
The physical classroom. The pandemic did not give much time for the teachers to adapt to the new method of teaching. Teachers have to adapt to various technologies quickly to provide virtual education. - E-learning has a high dropout rate due to the lack of atmosphere at home. Students might tend to get distracted by gaming consoles, social media at home and might not realize the importance of education while taking online classes at home.
- UNESCO says, out of the total global students’ population, 74 per cents are girls and over 11 crores of these girls are living in the world’s least developed countries.
- Getting a proper education is a huge mission. In such countries, where girls’ education is secondary to boys, the girl child’s education is at risk. In such a social setup, girls may face dropout compared to boys whose education will be given more preference primarily for economic reasons. Therefore, COVID-19 lockdown and E-learning is a bane for the children in underdeveloped and developing countries.
- The education inequities are still there in society in another way. Financially sound families have resources to fill learning gaps and provide enrichment activities to children, on the other hand, we have students who cannot attend school and afford to have gadgets at home.
- Internet connections are not cheaper and available to everyone. Fair policy and economic-packages to the marginal population are required to fill these gaps in Covid- 19.
- The teachers are struggling a lot because of online classes. The problem of female and all other family issues are unnoticed.
- The Education sector is dominated by females and mostly they are mothers of kids as well. They are unable to provide gadgets for their children while they are teaching for their students. Lack of gadgets bringing depression among teachers.
- The audio of the teacher should be delivered or heard by all the students, but if there is an issue then students might not hear. Nearly 60% of students face this difficulty.
- Education is all about checking the progress and knowledge of the child. If the examinations are conducted the student group will hesitate to grow their subject knowledge. The students will be uneducated and unemployable. This will bring a lot of unemployment in the future.
- Distraction is an evil thing that is ruing the present and future generations. The ads and messages are popped when they are reading something. Automatically student’s attention is diverted to unwanted issues. The attention span is getting lesser for students those who are learning online.
WHAT NEXT?
A large section of the world is bearing the economic crisis due to COVID’19. The education will take a long time to get back to where it was. The right answer to the problem right now is E-Learning. But, we can bring a new change in society.
By giving more support to our teachers, students, and parents. We can come up with various strategies to lead our society in the right way. We can adapt appropriate distance learning practices, engaging more young people to help their teachers. We can donate our gadgets to needy students. We can join hands in our society in a much more way. The young generation will lead to new changes in society.