Although some countries are behind or ahead with the number of COVID-19 infection rates, worldwide currently more than a billion students are affected by school & college closures due to the pandemic. The ones preparing for reputed institutes such as KCE, top colleges of Mechanical Engineering in India are also waiting to take admissions as soon as possible. In Denmark, children up to the age of 11 have started going back to schools after the initial closing during the lockdown, but in South Korea, students are still attending online classes.
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 worldwide education market.
- Education sector after COVID-19
Post pandemic, the rise of online learning platforms has seen a boost and with this significant demand, various online learning platforms are offering free access to their services, including platforms like BYJU’s, a Bangalore-based educational technology and online tutoring firm founded in 2011, which is now the world’s most highly valued edtech company. This allowed students to prepare for their engineering courses as well as to get admission to colleges like KCE, the top engineering colleges in Coimbatore.
- Future of online learning
While some believe that the unplanned and rapid move to online learning – with no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation – will result in a poor user experience that is unconducive to sustained growth, others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge, with significant benefits. But experts 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/college education. This way one can prepare for college entrances and get into reputed institutes such as KCE, top engineering colleges.
- Challenges with online learning
There are, however, challenges to overcome. Some students without reliable internet access and/or technology struggle to participate in digital learning; this gap is seen across countries and between income brackets within countries.
- Is it as effective as usual learning?
For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in several ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% 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; 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, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.
- Changing education imperative
This pandemic has utterly disrupted an education system that many asserts were already losing its relevance. In his book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, scholar Yuval Noah Harari outlines how schools continue to focus on traditional academic skills and rote learning, rather than on skills such as critical thinking and adaptability, which will be more important for success in the future, especially for students at KCE, best college for Electrical a Electronics Engineering in Coimbatore.
- The importance of disseminating knowledge is highlighted through COVID-19
Major world events are often an inflection point for rapid innovation – a clear example is the rise of e-commerce post-SARS. While we have yet to see whether this will apply to e-learning post-COVID-19, it is one of the few sectors where investment has not dried up. What has been made clear through this pandemic is the importance of disseminating knowledge across borders, companies, and all parts of society. If online learning technology can play a role here, it is incumbent upon all of us to explore its full potential.