The
COVID-19 has resulted in schools shut all across the world. Globally, over 1.2
billion children are out of the classroom. As a result, education has changed
dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is
undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. Research suggests that online
learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less
time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay.
While
countries are at different points in their COVID-19 infection rates, worldwide
there are currently more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries affected by
school closures due to the pandemic. In Denmark, children up to the age of 11
are returning to nurseries and schools after initially closing on 12 March, but
in South Korea students are responding to roll calls from their teachers
online. 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.
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In
response to significant demand, many 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. Since
announcing free live classes on its Think and Learn app, BYJU’s has seen a 200%
increase in the number of new students using its product, according to Mrinal
Mohit, the company’s Chief Operating Officer.
Tencent
classroom, meanwhile, has been used extensively since mid-February after the
Chinese government instructed a quarter of a billion full-time students to
resume their studies through online platforms. This resulted in the largest
“online movement” in the history of education with approximately 730,000, or
81% of K-12 students, attending classes via the Tencent K-12 Online School in
Wuhan.
Alibaba’s
distance learning solution, DingTalk, had to prepare for a similar influx: “To
support large-scale remote work, the platform tapped Alibaba Cloud to deploy
more than 100,000 new cloud servers in just two hours last month – setting a
new record for rapid capacity expansion,” according to DingTalk CEO, Chen Hang.
Some
school districts are forming unique partnerships, like the one between The Los
Angeles Unified School District and PBS SoCal/KCET to offer local educational
broadcasts, with separate channels focused on different ages, and a range of
digital options. Media organizations such as the BBC are also powering virtual
learning; Bitesize Daily, launched on 20 April, is offering 14 weeks of
curriculum-based learning for kids across the UK with celebrities like
Manchester City footballer Sergio Aguero teaching some of the content. What
does this mean for the future of 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. “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.
There
have already been successful transitions amongst many universities. For
example, Zhejiang University managed to get more than 5,000 courses online just
two weeks into the transition using “DingTalk ZJU”. The Imperial College London
started offering a course on the science of coronavirus, which is now the most
enrolled class launched in 2020 on Coursera.
Is learning online as effective?
For
those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that
learning online can be more effective in a number of 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.
Since
studies have shown that children extensively use their senses to learn, making
learning fun and effective through use of technology is crucial, according to
BYJU’s Mrinal Mohit. “Over a period, we have observed that clever integration
of games has demonstrated higher engagement and increased motivation towards
learning especially among younger students, making them truly fall in love with
learning”, he says.
Courtesy ( World Economic
Forum)
