The Covid-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions
everywhere to shift towards holding classes online, as both parents and
teachers do not want children to miss out on the crucial time of schooling. I spoke to some educators about the pros and cons of this debatable decision.
Everyone of them agreed that this paradigm shift is too sudden and not what we want for our children, especially the younger ones who are deprived of physical activity and mutual interaction with kids of their own age.
But that apart, some of them are of the view that there are some ways in which this online shift is proving to be beneficial to the children.
Improved attendance: Children actually have very
little excuse for not attending classes, as there is no long commute involved.
This has actually improved the attendance percentage in schools. The children
are taking to online learning like fish to water and becoming tech-savvy at a
very young age.
Educators finding it easy to track performance:
Since the data of each student is individually stored, it becomes easy for the
teacher or educator to track the learning capability and performance of each
student.
Visually stimulating: If one sees the way online
teaching materials are formulated, one would find that they are more visually
stimulating with inclusion of multimedia content. This draws and retains the
attention span. Quizzes, Questionnaires,
interactive polls also play their part to improve the understanding levels of
the students.
Interaction with even the shy and unnoticed
students: Though both the students and the teachers are missing physical
interaction and bonding, the online classes are showing an increased
participation from students, who are generally shy and do not come forward to
answer in offline classes, as they are drawn to participate in the interactive
quizzes and puzzles. The educator now gets a chance to know the learning
capacity and intelligence of such introvert students. This may enhance the shy
student’s confidence.
Quick Assessment: In order to track whether the
students are able to understand what is being taught, short questionnaires are
included in short spurts. Answers to these are given by all students, making it
easy for the teacher to assess each child individually. This continuous
assessment and tracking is beneficial to every student.
Correctly said. This pandemic has changed lives of young to elders. If this prolongs for an indefinite period nobody will be interested to go to schools and offices. Everybody has to adjust according to the situation.
ReplyDeleteAdjustment is necessary to any situation. But when it comes to children,it is difficult to contain them for a few months at home. But prolonged period of staying at home will affect their all round growth.
DeleteIn the present scenario online education seems to be the ideal solution ...but prolonged period will rob the children of other activities like meeting friends playing etc which only going to school can provide
ReplyDeleteYes. When it comes to school going children, prolonged absence of sporting and extra curricular activities could affect their physical growth. Social mingling is also absolutely necessary in the younger years. So this online learning can only be a temporary solution in the pandemic situation.
ReplyDelete