A Rapid Move to E-Learning

Hazim Ramzan

AS the coronavirus pandemic had locked the doors of markets, industries, offices, schools, universities and other business establishments, people were being forced to stay indoors which had a deep impact on the education scenario worldwide. However, even in these conditions, countries are witnessing a positive trend as e-learning platforms have opened up hundreds of windows for learning for young buds.

Covid-19 has resulted in schools shut, initially, all across the world. As a result education has changed drastically with the distinctive rise in e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. As there has been a massive upsurge in the traffic on online platforms as more and more students want to engage in this meaningful learning.

With schools shut across the world millions of children have turned to online application and e-leaning strategies and have had to adapt to new types of learning methods to stay upto date with their course curriculum. Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information and takes less time. This way of learning has a lot of potential as it does not require any large investments and is easily doable and accessible. It is especially appealing because of multiple entry and exit options. As part of an unconventional campus, learners are attending with eager participation within their house compounds, thereby unsealing the sealed structures. With this sudden shift away from the classroom in many parts of the globe, some are wondering whether the adoption of online learning will continue to persist post-pandemic and how such  a shift would impact the world wide education market.

Even before covid-19 there was already a changing trend towards a rise in adoption of new education technology. However, there has been a significant surge in usage  since covid 19 in the form of language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools and online learning software. As there can’t be an alternative for offline classroom teaching being bounded and rhythmic in nature however to bridge these learning gaps and in response to the significant demand many online learning platforms have offered free access to their services, including platforms like Byju’s, a Bangalore based education technology and online tutoring firm founded in 2011 which is now a leading market player with the highest market share in India’s growing edtech space. Besides it, Google classroom and Umang application are bolstering capabilities to provide one stop shop for teachers and students.

In this time of pandemic, without the physical presence of teachers and educators, the online search has been challenging. From language to figuring out how to code, there have been  various applications out there to keep students’ minds sharp  and keep them from detaching from the studies and curriculum.

While some believe that the unplanned and rapid move to online learning with no training, insufficient bandwidth and little preparation would result in poor user experience that is conducive to sustained growth but some others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge with significant benefits and well being satisfaction.

Not only has the work of online platforms seen an upsurge but there have been many successful transitions amongst many universities such as Imperial college of London which has started offering courses online. A course on the “Science of Virus”, is now the most enrolled class launched in 2021 on Coursera.

Therefore, even as this mode of education faced some major challenges, on the other hand this crisis stimulated innovation within the education sector. We have seen some approach in support of education and training continuity ; from radio to television to take home packages. Also, there are some NGOs who are neither made of parents of students  nor have any vested interest in the future of a child but still are playing a proactive role in promoting education.

A school is a sanctuary. Offline or online, parents who are deemed to be the guardians of students should not waste time with the past but fast forward to a new tomorrow so that their children become their hub of knowledge, innovation and learning with ignited minds.

 In this calamity, it is acceptable to have more queries than responses. In this emergency we all should be learners. We shall follow the saying that “no matter how much falls on us, we shall keep plowing ahead. Remind them that is the only way to keep the roads clear”.                       

• The author is a student and can be reached at [email protected]    

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