Coronavirus could boost online education & digital learning in India

The coronavirus outbreak could lead to an educational revolution in India, by boosting online education & digital learning, something that probably would have taken years otherwise in India.

It wasn’t the famous astrologer Nostradamus, but Microsoft founder Bill Gates who had predicted in 2015 predicted that “not missiles, but microbes” will bring the world to its knees.

The new coronavirus has brought the whole world to a grinding halt and governments across the globe are trying to get the fundamental needs of their citizens addressed. With mandatory shutdowns and social distancing becoming the norm, one question in everyone’s mind is how to continue the education of the millions of students in India?

Digital learning seems to be the only workable solution right now, but unfortunately, the entire education ecosystem in India seems to be grossly underprepared.

While the Education industry has witnessed several pathbreaking technologies that can improve education, many of them haven’t been embraced by our schools and colleges.

Read: Digital learning is not just e-learning.

Virtual Classrooms

This is what schools and teachers need to do right away, and this is to learn how to use technology so that they can conduct the classes online. The short-term focus should be on lesson delivery and sending assessments via email.

However, as they become more comfortable with technology, the educational institutions should aim to create interactive syllabus-based contents and tests, and make use of analytics that can help teachers easily implement IEPs (Individual education programs).

Surprisingly, it’s the teachers and educators who need to train themselves on how to use technology, because the students are more comfortable with the digital world.

Teachers will also need to learn how to maintain online class etiquette in a virtual classroom.

E-Teaching-learning platforms

Teachers (and students) can make use of e-learning platforms that help train teachers and offer several useful features. Further parents and students can also be added to such platforms to allow schools to create the necessary ecosystem.

Teachers who had always feared technology have no option now but to upskill. And I am sure they will see for themselves the power of ICT and other learning strategies such as adaptive learning, flipped classroom model.

E-learning companies that operate in the B2C model (where the companies supply directly to customers) will probably see more teachers now becoming customers, besides students. Its finally time for teachers to embrace digital learning, and to appreciate the ease and effectiveness of technology in education.

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