How Does Distance Learning Save Education in the Time of Coronavirus?

It was around January 2019 that a new vocabulary was added to our dictionaries and immediately became one of the most frequently used ones around the world.

Soon, COVID-19, or new coronavirus made big changes to the whole world and people faced new challenges. The consequences of the outbreak were so devastating that the World Health Organization labeled it as a pandemic.

Almost every aspect of people’s lives in all countries is affected by this pandemic but in this article, we will examine the role of distance learning in corona-stricken education systems.

What happened after the outbreak of coronavirus?

After the outbreak, normal life flow was disrupted, the schools, universities, and educational centers were shut down, a lot of businesses and companies were brought to knee and people were sent home to stay safe.

In search of Adaption

Now that staying at home is the only option to save lives, people are trying to adopt solutions for their semi-paralyzed lives and found the virtual world as the only available one.

Virtual Learning, Real Solution

Once blamed for separating people and making them asocial, now is praised for being the only way to connect people.

The virtual world even turned out to be the savior for millions of frustrated parents, students, teachers, schools, universities, and educational centers’ administrators and was treated as the only way to compensate for in-person education.

But first, we need to know what the requirements for this new solution are.

Requirements of Distance Learning

The basic requirements for benefiting from the virtual world in education are high-speed internet, laptop, computer, and any other web-enabled devices.

Furthermore, we need some platforms to hold the virtual class on them such as Google hangouts, Skype, and there are also eLearning-tailored platforms offered by eLearning businesses.

Practicing distance learning on such a large scale revealed considerable issues both from infrastructure and cultural points of view which are examined in detail in the following parts.

Electronic Infrastructures

Thanks to the widespread use of the internet, wide-band internet, and electronic devices are almost available for all families. But this is not the case when it comes to rural and distant areas, accentuating the fact that all educational centers need to take providing distance learning infrastructures as serious as physical education locations.

Even if students have access to the internet and devices, in most families they are shared and it’s not affordable for low-income families to provide every child with a personal one. Therefore, children may be forced to follow their online education on their parents’ or siblings’ smartphones or take turns in using them which makes the situation more difficult.

According to the article “Locked Out of the Virtual Classroom” published by The New York Times, even schools of a superpower like America are fighting a tough battle against lack of infrastructures, rushing to deliver devices and hot spots to their deprived students.

The digital inequities will widen the gap and result in more educational inequality unless all educational centers introduce measures to bridge the gap.

Learning Infrastructures

Although digital requirements are the most emphasized part of distance learning, appropriate online materials, and trained educators remain a must for successful distance education. That’s why all education centers need to adopt a very systematic approach to this problem and find permanent solutions for infrastructural shortcomings.

Materials

During this obligatory distance learning period, almost a vast majority of teachers and students use their school and university materials which are not developed for virtual education.

The difficulties and shortcomings of the current situation give all administrators the bright idea of generating eLearning-tailored content including books, assignments, and projects.

Educators

Not all teachers and instructors are well-versed in online teaching and the fast switch to online teaching is very demanding on their sides.

They need time to learn new tools, find new ways for keeping the discipline, encouraging students to be punctual, and prevent any procrastination of assignments.

Cultural Obstacles

Life in lockdown not only brought to light limitations of technical infrastructures but also indicated the absence of cultural infrastructures when it comes to eLearning. Cultural shortcomings can be reviewed from two perspectives.

The Pre-corona Times and Public Attitude

In general, the public attitude to distance learning is that it is not as productive as in-person and face-to-face education.

Most parents and students have always been against distance learning claiming that isolation and lack of peer learning, real classroom atmosphere, on-campus communications, direct access to the instructor, and many other factors make it ineffective.

The Post-corona Times and Culture Building

This public attitude to some extent can be rooted in unsuccessful experiences due to lack of technical infrastructure, poorly-designed platforms, inadequate IT support, pedagogical issues, and quality eLearning material.

Now that mandatory distance learning helped them to adopt a mild attitude toward this type of education, the eLearning industry needs to set high standards to meet its customers’ expectations for creating pleasant educational experiences.

A new Era for Distance Learning

Corona outbreak and extensive use of eLearning in affected countries might mark the beginning of distance education going viral around the world.

While distance learning can be taken to a grand scale, all schools, universities, and educational centers need to reevaluate the infrastructures and provide their students with cutting-edge technologies and platforms.

eLearning and Professional Development

Now let’s take a look at the role of distance education in professional development during the Corona-stricken days.

For all those who are office-based full-timers or commuters who have always carved for taking courses to advance their careers, this imposed holiday is a golden opportunity to put a tick mark next to all those courses waiting on the to-do list for such a long time.

Corona ceased your normal life, but by virtue of the virtual world, you can acquire new skills, take some steps forward, and be that professional one that you have always wanted.

eLearning and Responsibilities of the Industry

The outbreak of COVID-19 negatively affected a substantial number of businesses across the world but it also accentuated the importance of eLearning.

By underlining both weaknesses and shortcomings of the business and highlighting its key role in such a critical situation, now eLearning businesses have to shoulder the responsibility for creating an extraordinary future for distance education, students, and educators.