How Online Learning Is Changing Education Due To Coronavirus
In February and March 2020 a global catastrophe affected education around the world in the form of coronavirus. Covid-19 resulted in schools around the world being completely shut down with 1.2 billion children in 186 different countries being left out of the classroom worldwide.
Within the UK in September, one in six secondary schools in the UK have been forced to send students home due to suspected COVID-19 cases, whilst 5% of primary schools are reported to have sent pupils home to prevent the spread of the disease says the Department for Education survey.
Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary states that “7.2 million pupils are estimated to be attending schools” in September and many more school children around the world are faced with the same reality.
This has led to the global coronavirus pandemic changing how millions of school pupils and university students are being educated. With the front of the change lending itself to online learning.
The education sector has recently pivoted quickly to the recent developments of online learning.
So what is online learning and how is it going to positively affect the face of education as we know it?
Online learning and distance learning
Online learning, also known as distance learning or educational technology, is an alternative route to face-to-face teaching.
Online learning platforms such as Sherpa have enabled students to catch-up with their education from their own homes. Through this learning platform, students can interact with online whiteboards, screen share functions and save lessons notes with face-to-face contact with experienced tutors via webcams.
This way university students and school pupils can revise and learn online rather than visiting campus or school for their education.
The rise of online learning
Even before coronavirus, there was a high adoption in education technology with some global edtech investments reaching $18.66 billion in 2019. Partnering this with the projection that the online education market is projected to reach $350 billion by 2025, some are welcoming the new adoption.
Whether its language apps, virtual tutoring and online learning software, there has been a vast surge regarding users since coronavirus.
This influence and change are not only down to coronavirus but, that fact that research is suggesting that online learning has been shown to increase retention information within learners.
Experts state that the need and persistence of online learning is a crucial step to changing the worldwide education market and it is here to stay.
What does this mean for the future of education?
Given the data and current situation, many educational experts state that a new hybrid model for education will emerge regarding both online learning and face-to-face lessons in school.
“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.
Successful transitions within world-leading universities are seen to have taken place. For example, Zhejiang University managed to get 5,000 courses online just two weeks after the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, whilst all global universities are adopting the hybrid teaching system to date.
Although, some believe that the transition to online learning with insufficient training, bandwidth and preparation can be disastrous to students.
Challenges for online learning
Some educational experts believe that a hybrid model for education leads some students without reliable internet access and even those who do not have internet access to be left out regarding online education.
This will potentially widen the ever-growing digital divide for students and access to education.
For instance, 95% of students in Norway, Switzerland and Austria have a computer to use for their schoolwork while only 34% in Indonesia do, according to OECD data.
The digital divide and new impacts regarding online education are apparent with widening equality gaps.
In the US, the gap between privileged and disadvantaged backgrounds is significant. Essentially all privileged background 15-year-olds have access to a computer for education whilst only 25% of those from disadvantaged families do.
This is a great problem faced by governments and education systems as a whole.
Is online learning effective?
For those students who have access to technology, there is overwhelming and sufficient evidence that suggests online learning is more effective than traditional methods.
Some research has shown that students undergoing online education retain 25-60% more material when compared to 8-10% within a classroom environment.
This is down to the functionality and benefits provided by online learning such as interactive user experiences being evaluated by tutors with some online platforms. This enables students to learn faster online.
Studies have found that 40-60% less time is required to learn online rather than in a traditional classroom setting. This is down to students being able to work at their own pace without the distraction of other pupils around them.
Will online learning keep students safe?
In short, yes. Isolating students within their own homes and allowing them to learn online is aligned to many proposals given out by state governments.
Online learning can be seen as killing two birds with one stone as it allows students to not fall behind on their education whilst also preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
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