How to harness the power of Online Learning in this Pandemic?

Posted by Harshal on May 27th, 2021

The declaration of pandemic and nationwide lockdown in March 2020 brought the whole country to a standstill. It also meant forced closure of schools and physical education infrastructure for an eternity.

Ultimately, it also implied that schools, teachers, and parents had to look for alternatives to keep the learning curve going. Thus, came the wave of disruption of the traditional education system due to Covid-19 and opened new avenues of exchanging knowledge, imparting education through various online learning mediums.

However, with high drop-outs and slashed school fees, how long can the small schools in India bear this?

It’s a clarion call for schools, teachers, and parents to embrace the givings of technology to make the most of it and make online learning the new and better normal.

Benefits of Online Classes

Online learning enables learning from anywhere, anytime by turning gadgets into learning hubs for students. It is easily a rejuvenating opportunity for children and young adults.

Professionals who are managing work and studies together absolutely love the online learning method. It is more convenient as online learning enables them with on-demand learning and manage work simultaneously.

A survey by KPMG suggests that the initiatives by Government, such as SWAYAM, E-Basta, RMSA, Skill India, and Digital India, are also along the lines to promote e-learning in India.

Teachers who could manage a batch of 60-80 at most without paying personal attention to every student can now upload videos accessible to all and sundry. Teachers also use the concept of “flip classroom” to turn rhetoric classes into formal discussions.

Best Practices of Online Learning

Amidst the lack of a solid foundation to support the entire education hub of schools, there are yet several ways to make the experience of online learning better. Schools, teachers, parents can adopt some of the hygiene protocols recommended :

For Teachers

1. Kindly pre-schedule the classes
2. Share the meeting link via email so that the students can mark it in the calendar.
3. Ensure you have a good internet connection.
4. Ensure students are on mute if they are not speaking.
5. Conduct classes where background noise is nil or minimum.
6. Set aside some minutes for introduction and discuss features like “raise hand” so that students can raise doubts if any.
7. Make use of polls, chatbox, whiteboards to ensure that the whole class participates just like in a physical classroom.
8. Encourage students to ask questions after presentation abiding by the online etiquette.
9. Set clear expectations for your students regarding the syllabus, schedule and due dates, doubt sessions, and how you will communicate.