Not Just Work From Home - We Learn From Home Too!
With this outbreak of Global Pandemic, life has come
to a standstill in all spheres. This Covid-19 has forced several schools and
colleges across India to temporarily close.Every educational institution had to
follow the guidelines issued by the respective state governments and in case of
Central institutions, also those issued by the Centre. The decision has been
taken to preclude any health risks to students and their families and friends,
faculty and employees of the institute. As per the AICTE Chairman "This
will delay the calendar by a few weeks and is necessary under the given
circumstances to control the outbreak. After all, human lives are more
important than some delays." The idea is to minimize large gatherings
including lectures and campus meets.As of March 17, 2020 report, UNESCO
estimated that over 897.1 million children and youth are affected due to
educational institutions closures announced or implemented in 105 countries. In
addition, another 11 countries have announced partial "localized"
closures.There are expectations that more schools and colleges will be closed
in the coming week with fresh cases being reported.
To maintain continuity in the teaching-learning
process in all spheres of education- be it schools, undergraduate and
postgraduate programs,educational institutions are considering online classes
to help students. Any assessment planned for this period will either be
postponed or adapted to online mode.Education has been nudged to change its
mode from offline to online.Most International Universities like Durham
University, Harvard,have already started offering courses in the e-mode. The course schedules for the teachers are made
for being available according to schedule online. The various video
conferencing modes which are commonly used in MNCs are explored here.Learning happens
through Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, Zoom etc. Interactive Apps, Television
broadcasts ,Google Classrooms are also some other options that are
explored.Some Learning Management Systems(LMS) like Moodle also provides features which can be used
for online sessions.Instructors will also send students course-specific
instructions remotely. Quoting the words of few of my students of Xavier
Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship, Kochi, 'Zoom is cool' ! Future
Managers getting exposed to those video calling technologies , which will be a
frequent feature for the umpteen number of con-calls they are gonna have :) As
someone wisely said , Necessity is the Mother of Invention, our students from
different parts of India , explored the various options of Moodle, the LMS that we use at XIME Kochi. Infact one
of them said "We got to know a lot of un-used options in Moodle".Facebook Broadcast is another option
which one course faculty tried and it worked really well. Social networking
platforms used for learning and students are quite comfortable as this was a
very familiar platform for them. Even we had group presentation assignments
send to faculty in video form for faculty to evaluate,which has pushed students
to learn new skills of editing , collating video bits etc. And above all
faculty members who thought technology was alien to them became tech-savvy with
the millennial making them talk their language. And of course !Heights of
craziness when the students go viral with thoughts of getting graduated by Duckworth
Lewis Method used in Cricket :)
Meanwhile educational technology players are offering
free digital classes for students. An Online Math program ,Mindspark, App-based
players like BYJU’S and Toppr are offering lessons for free for a limited
duration. This definitely is a great business opportunity for the EduTech
companies. On March 12, online learning platform Coursera announced that it
will provide impacted Indian universities with free access to its course
catalog through Coursera for Campus.Going forward, the EduTech services may be
able to provide immersive and industry-specific learning through large
platforms at prices that will be at around 80% discount to their industry
average with many diversified business which will even be financing the education.Online
education market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR)
of around 44% between financial years 2019 and 2024.Something which was an
alternative for home tuition has now become the new normal.
While most initiatives to date have been limited in
scope, and relatively isolated, this pandemic could also pave the way for much
larger-scale, cross-industry coalitions to be formed around a common
educational goal. Public Private Partnership in Education - plenty of examples
from HongKong and China as the COVID-19 hit them hard.
Another challenge is the quality of the digital access
. While WFH or Work From Home has been instructed to the various sectors, one
initiative which Kerala aka Gods Own Country, took was to increase the network
bandwidth by 30 to 40 percent . Various Governments have taken similar steps to
ensure a smooth flow of internet connectivity. But that infrastructure which
usually experiences a peak at specific times only , is now becoming a
throughout the day activity. Power Outages can also be a roadblock in small
towns.This may affect the last mile connectivity and the networks can be
finicky.Will Internet Handle it, is something we need to wait and watch .
The penetration of smartphones among the urban youth
and rural pockets will ensure that technology in Education encapsulates a
larger audience .While a smartphone is good enough for browsing, social media,
and so on, for studies, assignments, and projects, it doesn’t suffice.Hence
when we have LFH or Learn from Home , another question is whether the digital
divide could become more extreme if educational access is dictated by access to
the latest technologies. Can this be available to those who can buy, subscribe
to these technologies and gadgets only?
Anyways, as the trend continues in the e-form
,Learning could become a true lifestyle integrated into daily routine.
(References has been made
to various UNESCO and WEF reports for the statistics, which keeps on changing
every minute with this Pandemic multiplying fast.)
Associate Dean
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