The pandemic has turned our routines upside down in the blink of an eye. Office employees, students, tourists, and businesspeople were all struck with uncertainty and insecurity that followed. The ever-growing number of infected people only fuels this mood.
Yet, when it comes to Education, the Internet offers lots of opportunities to ‘ease’ this pain. Online learning is absolutely not a new invention, but it does facilitate the process of getting knowledge while staying at home.
Lots of schools and private organizations decided to transform their instruction to meet the needs of the increasing number of students locked in their houses. Of course, to access online education, people need to have the equipment and stable Internet connectivity. However, given the increasing numbers of smartphone owners, such education is accessible and affordable for many.
So how has digital education transformed during the lockdown and what opportunities do you currently have as a student? Read ahead to find out.
Disrupted Academic Year
The quarantine and lockdown were not taken seriously at first. Yet, when the numbers of the infected started growing, it became pretty obvious that schools and colleges would be the last ones to open. However, the academic year must be finished, with students being able to get their diplomas or academic records.
Thus, many countries decided to support digital education in the form of tele-or video-instruction. Some of them introduced nation-wide educational hours for schoolchildren. During these hours, the state-owned TV channels were obliged to broadcast recorded school lessons.
Colleges utilized their online learning platforms to host classes for all their students, including those with traditional classroom instruction. They use videoconferencing and other types of digital education to continue the learning process.
Free Online College Courses
Such think-tanks as Coursera and Udemy decided to support students during the times of difficulty and uncertainty. They launched free access to academic courses and other learning resources to ensure students stay at home while having everything they need for studying at hand.
Such free access is provided to students who can confirm their status. The rest of the population can enjoy education at a decreased price. Certifications for the completed courses are available regardless of the payment.
Academic Help Online
Writing assignments have become key to student performance and knowledge evaluation. Even though there are online discussions and conferences with teachers and peers, essays are the most effective means of assessment.
Those who find it hard to meet all of the deadlines or comply with all of the instructions can count on professional academic help. Your EssayOnTime will help you cope with stress and let you enjoy the learning process.
E-learning Applications
The situation has also contributed to the development of eLearning in the form of mobile applications. Lots of companies initiated the creation of applications dedicated to turning learning into a gamified experience.
Students get a chance to develop skills that are deemed to be hard to gain through games and challenges. These simulated experiences are similar to real-life ones and can adjust to individual learning needs. In other words, education is getting more customized and interactive even in the absence of a human teacher.
Educational Tools
There was also a significant spike in the use of educational tools and services like MS Office, Trello, etc. Students needed them to organize their work while causing no disruption to teamwork and collaboration. Even those who used to rely on paper and pencil now use advanced text redactors and graphic processors.
This all sets the ground for a major revolution in Education. Obviously, when COVID-19 lockdown is over, students will return to classrooms. However, schools will invest more in online platform development while growing their dependency on the Internet and tools.
Where Is the Teacher During COVID-19 Lockdown?
Human teachers are still cornerstones to the entire process of learning. No one can share the knowledge and evaluate its acquisition better than them. Also, they are key to introducing technologies to kids, so their role in the learning process is immense.
During the COVID-19 crisis, educators have been acting in their usual capacity. They are the leaders of the studying process which was transferred to the online domain. They organize students, assign tasks, share useful materials, and even shoot video lectures to prevent the studying process from halting.
The Face of Education Is Changing
There will be no surprise if we finally come down to digital education rather than keep the traditional one. The reasons forthis statement are very practical.
All Internet educational tools are cost-effective. Schools have been investing in distance learning platform development for years; COVID-19 became a catalysator to speed up the process. Students whose lives are already closely knitted with technologies find no problem in online learning. The real communication and human contact are missed. However, videoconferencing strives to resolve this problem.
In the end, this lockdown was a major stress test for all educational systems and platforms. Yet, they managed to provide all services expected. It has proven that online learning is the next evolutionary stage for education, and we are seconds away from making this step and transforming the studying as we know it.
About the author
Susan Wallace is a freelance writer who works for a company offering academic help to students. She noticed the rise in writing orders and decided to dig deeper to find the reason for the spike. In this article, Susan shares her perspective on digital education during the lockdown and shares some ideas about the future of the industry.
