ONLINE EDUCATION & COVID-19
Article contributed by Dr. Amanjeet Singh Sethi, Assistant Professor, FCBM, Amrapali Group of Institutes, Haldwani
The extraordinary and unprecedented situation developed to the pandemic in the form of Covid-19 has taken the world by storm. The pandemic has forced all the countries across the globe to shut down. The governments of the various countries have been forced to close all their economic activities as in the present times there is no known vaccine to tackle this diseases. These unparalleled steps have been taken to stop the spread of the diseases and norms of social distancing, stay home, work from home have come to the forefront. Like all other industries the educational sector has also suffered to a great extent. To continue the teaching of the students almost all the educational institutions have started to practise and implement the concept of online education so that the students does not suffer in such times.
The notion of online education has come to the forefront because a key concept is to make sure that education is being delivered to whatsoever extent it is possible. Although for people engaged in the secondary and service sector it has been an easier shift as many of them already work on their computer systems and other digital gadgets even in their workplace and now they can basically shift their work to their residences in the present times. Evidently what is missing is face to face, personal communication which will get re-established as and when things get back to usual. Students have had to make extreme and higher amendments as education has always been in classrooms which they can’t avail at present due to lockdown. Moreover a majority of the students may not be that well familiar with technology apparatus to benefit from the concept of online learning. In such times the concept of digital learning is rising as an imperative gadget for resolving the present problems of the students.
The lockdown has hastened acceptance of digital technology. Business organizations, educational establishments, analytics, computer, data management techniques and digital education firms have all come together to work with one another and improve in excellence and delivery time to get hold of such circumstances. This is a perfect occasion to research and utilize innovative instruments to make education deliverance significant to students who can’t go to their schools or colleges. It’s an opportunity to be more resourceful and dynamic while widening innovative and enhanced professional talents/information with the help of digital learning and evaluation.
It is also a piece of evidence that technology employment in the education sector will result in diverse notions in the scheme of things for times to come for example from teacher-centric schooling to student-centric schooling.
Everyone over the last few years have been discussing about virtual classrooms and a variety of digital instruments but the present times will permit the world to make the rendezvous between the teacher and students as close to real as possible. Going ahead these apparatus can also make the teachers and parent meetings as well as staff/management meetings more time saving and less expensive while seeing that the real purpose does not get defeated.
Pedagogy in the world of online learning is a significant bond between course content, educationists, technology and course-takers. Democratization of technology is now a significant concern, encompassing internet connectivity, telecom communications, affordability of online system, accessibility to computer devises, software, educational instruments, digital evaluation instruments and so on. However it should be a piece of evidence that technology based education should be more translucent and should not make any kind of distinction on any particular basis.
Looking at the problem that the educational intuitions are closed the centre government as well as the state governments along with the private sector are frequently circulating information on a variety of programmes undertaken by them and others to support and benefit the students.
If online learning has to be a certainty, an extreme transformation in deliberation procedure is obligatory in the outlook of policy makers, authorities, students and specially educationists. Faculty selection should progressively be simultaneous to technology responsiveness and enthusiasm for technology implementation. Correspondingly accreditation parameters, criteria need adjustments as all these strides will assist and make the nation’s online infrastructure stronger in the future. All that one can say that the pandemic in form of Covid-19 has only increased the speed for implementation of technologies to deliver education as extraordinary times requires extraordinary efforts.