Online Education: future of schooling?

Are we as parents already forgetting how the stress of packing the lunch in the wee hours of the morning felt like? How our kids were dragged out of bed and forced to brush and gulp a glass of milk and toast down their throat? How racing though the traffic to make it to school before assembly felt like? Or is it scary to think that soon pandemic will be over and our parent struggles will be back.

Life of parents as schools have gone online:

Parents are having to work from home and watch their kids learn in front of them, they are getting an opportunity to solve the maths problem together. The trauma of attending the parents teacher meet is gone now. Dropping kids to school and picking them back from school is not a burden anymore. Parents are exploring new online classes and having the time to look for the best option for their kids. Parents are getting to be a part of their children education, they are not totally dependent on the teachers and the school to understand their own kids.

Aren’t students enjoying the online method of learning?

Haven’t kids got comfortable, sleeping well and having a lot of time to do things that they enjoy doing. Kids are enjoying home made lunches, served hot. They are more involved in the day to day life of their parents, they get to watch the cleaning of house, how much time and effort it takes to cook the food. In fact my son has been watching less TV after his online classes, he hardly asks for online time after his sessions. He prefers running around as the virtual demand is already satisfied during the sessions.

Students participation has increased as students have become comfortable in asking questions in virtual classrooms as there is no fear of being shut down anymore and those not comfortable are finding easy to chat by typing than talk in class. The exam fear has considerably come down as many exams are being cancelled, finally the students are learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge. Young adults have more time to study and prepare for exams as they are saving time from travelling and participating in unnecessary school functions.

Haven’t the teachers become more creative:

The online content shared by teachers are well planned, checked and feedback is reaching the parents on time, the teachers have found very interesting ways to engage the kids. The kids are not distracted by other students in the class instead they are sitting individually but together and are attending the sessions taking the responsibility themselves. There is less shouting and screaming by teachers to calm the class down as students are calmer and more settled in the comfort of their homes.

The teachers have the flexibility to work from home where they get to plan better and explore different mediums to reach the students where many tools like flipgrid, google classrooms, kahoot, nearpod etc are coming handy. The work done by students are available in one platform, its easy to keep a track on the assignments, score the students and compare marks as the technology helps store all the information in one place. Generating reports, sending reminders to students have become extremely organised.

Are online classes are beating the traditional schooling?

The students are getting the opportunity to attend classes offered by the professionals of different genre who are sharing content free and hosting live shows like art, music, storytelling, coding etc. Many start- ups have come with the latest technology offering the students the best of the content, presented in a very interesting manner. Students and parents have a lot of choice and they can choose the best from different companies instead of depending on institute for all the requirements.

The online sessions provided by different companies are flexible and more transparent compared to regular schools. Students can appear for the classes from anywhere as long as internet is present. If for some reason the students cannot attend the sessions, the recordings are easily available. Students of this generation are visual learners, visual input works great for them and being tech savvy they are extremely comfortable in uploading and downloading their work.

How Environment friendly are the virtual sessions?

Not having to travel to school anymore the pollution has come down considerably as the buses and cars are not zooming in the morning hours anymore. The students are buying less stationary and as many assignments are done online, the schools are saving a lot of papers. The wastage that generates in the annual functions and other school functions in making the props and those one time dresses that are stitched for a particular show are not happening anymore. The school dresses that are stitched for kids every year are no longer needed, hence parents are saving their money as well.

We had never imagined learning without a physical school before but we saw the last year and we are seeing it this year that students are doing well, learning well and as parents we are involved in what they are doing. The times are changing anyways, COVID has only accelerated the need and use of technology for education. The students hardly took any time for adaptation as they are familiar with the technology and are updating themselves everyday to make their task more purposeful. I feel the education has become more purposeful and more customised where the students are picking and choosing what they like and not spending their time in trying to achieve everything that is available.