The online education has proven to be probably one of the very few things that haven’t been affected during COVID-19 and therefore has been able to keep children who signed up for online classes on their academic track. But what has it meant for families and how the world of education will move forward after pandemic is over?
Let’s recap how we got here:
Global pandemic happened
From one day to another people could no longer meet in person
Schools shut (hoping for it not last for too long)
Schools opened and shut again without thinking ahead and planning for an online learning structure
Schools admitted they are not prepared for online learning even though that is the way we will most likely move forward
And now here we are…
One year into lockdown realizing that even if the pandemic will be gone, things will never get back to normal, such as not wearing a mask in crowded space, overlooking washing your hands when coming from outside and…studying in the class full of children looking at a chalkboard.
Education has been disrupted and started a process of shaping itself into a more innovative, productive and relevant sphere we all have been nudging around for so long. Suddenly, people realized that not only the material of schools is outdated but most importantly the way it’s taught. In the world where the only sure thing is change, is highly surprising we got so far with an education that hasn’t changed for the past century.
We have been observing some trends that are slowly shaping as some countries are moving out of lockdown and here is what we spotted.
Flexibility is Desired
With online learning, you truly are the boss of your own time. Children no longer have to sit around and wait for an hour in school until the next class starts but can rather do their extracurricular activities during the breaks and make their time much more productive.
Children are more focused
We are saying goodbyes to last rows in the class in which children usually sat to hide from the teacher during the exam period or to make a disruption during the class. Online classes mean, that each child is sitting in the front row which means that it not only teaches them greater responsibility to prepare for the classes and show up on time prepared but also respect towards others to not disturb the class.
Parents and their time
Do you remember when you were rushed out of the house in the morning to avoid morning traffic so you can drop-off your children at school and then run to your work? That’s the scenario of the past. Although at the beginning it was a quite an adjustment for parents to have their children studying at home 24/7, we have been hearing recently that the stress of commute and logistics around dropping-off and picking-up their children from schools is gone and it makes for much smoother days.
Global Access
We remember when we were growing up, that the only choice of the school was the one in our local area. If you happen to live nearby reputable school you were lucky but if you happen to live on the other side of the world you might not have access to teachers who would teach you all about coding, science or artificial intelligence. Now with online classes, children can access world-class teachers from anywhere in the world and get the education that will help them to progress in their future career path.
These are only a few benefits we found when talking with parents and children. There is no doubt that online learning is becoming a new way of studying as we move forward. Schools will become much more flexible when it comes to schedules and organization of students into classes and parents will search for schools based on the quality of curriculums and teachers rather than the distance from their homes. This will likely result in a generation who will be supercharged by the knowledge many of us and previous generations didn’t have access to.
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