Articles
Impact of COVID-19’s on the Education
by APSense News Release AdminCOVID-19 pandemic has created a major negative impact on
numerous sectors out there in the world. Education sector holds a prominent
place out of them. We can see near closure of universities, schools and
colleges all around the world. Numerous countries came up with the idea that it
is better to close down all the educational institutions so that they will be
able to take complete control over the spread of the virus. By the end of
September, more than one billion learners were directly impacted by it. Hence,
it is worthy to deep dive and takes a look at the nature of the impact that the virus
has created on the education system.
How has the COVID-19 impacted education sector?
Formal education is mostly impacted by the COVID-19 virus.
Most of the primary schools and secondary schools are closed from the month of
March. This was a measure taken in order to minimize the impact of students who
attend primary schools and secondary schools to the virus. When you take a look
at countries such as Australia, even the daycare centres are closed down.
Likewise, we can see closure on the colleges and
universities around the world as well. These measures have been taken to ensure
the protection of students, administrative staff and academic staff. Apart from
temporary closures, we can see how some of the educational institutions are
have delayed commencements period. On top of that, we can see them adopting
digitization at a rapid pace.
There are millions of students, who are waiting to start
their college and university education because their admissions are delayed
along with the negative effects created by the virus. For example, academic
programs are delayed and there are shortages in spaces in the universities. Due
to the same reason, a large number of students who were supposed to start their
studies during the 2020/21 academic year have been asked to stay for more time.
Some of the universities and colleges have taken decisions
to offer refunds to the students on tuition. In the meantime, the country has
made a $6 billion emergency fund available for all the students.
How would COVID-19 transform education?
Even though COVID-19 has created a negative impact on formal
education, we can see how it is transforming the education sector as well.
These transformations are quite impressive and we can see how positive results
are being offered along with them. Let’s take a look at some of the most
prominent transformations that have become mainstream along with the COVID-19
pandemic.
- -: Online learning
Online learning is the biggest transformation that we can
see in the education sector. It is true that online learning was existent even
before the pandemic came into this world. However, we didn’t see any
educational institutions or students using it. However, things have changed by
now and we can see how numerous educational institutions and students are using
it on a daily basis.
Along with the development of technology, it has become
possible for the students as well as teachers to continue with their work through
online learning platforms. Before online learning became mainstream, we assumed
that it will not be possible for the students and teachers to collaborate with
each other in a better way by going beyond traditional textbooks. However,
online education has been able to transform that dream into reality.
Most of the schools and higher educational institutions
started conducting classes through the video telephony systems such as
Microsoft Teams and Zoom. This is where both teachers and students understood
the benefits that come along with online learning.
Students and teachers were forced to stick to online
education by the pandemic. However, we will be able to see them sticking to
online learning in the future. That’s because they have discovered that online
learning is a better way to go forward than sticking to traditional textbooks
and classes.
- -: Better access to educational resources
Along with the impact created by the pandemic, we can now
see how students are provided with better access to educational resources.
That’s because numerous initiatives were taken in order to offer open access to educational resources. Back in the day, this was not something possible due
to copyright limitations.
For example, the International Council for Open and Distance
Education went ahead and launched a dedicated portal to offer online teaching
tips, webinars and numerous other resources that can benefit the teachers. Such
initiatives further contributed to the effectiveness of online teaching
and online learning.
Likewise, we can see how numerous other platforms that offer
educational content for the students were made available. Likewise, the
existing educational platforms started offering free access to the students to
go through courses and gain more knowledge. Platforms such as Coursera hold a
prominent place out of them.
-
-: The rise
of digital credentials
Another trend that we can see taking place out there with
online education is the increasing demand for digital credentials. Digital
credentials are an excellent method available for the students to showcase that
they have completed a course and gained a skill online. The concept of digital
credentials was also existing out there in the world. However, it has started
receiving attention because of the increased demand for online education.
Upon the completion of a specific course online, it is not
practically possible to provide a physical certificate. That’s because students
are in a remote location. In fact, there is no need to spend time and effort on
it because there is a better way to recognize the achievement of a student.
That method is none other than digital credentials.
As of now, a student can share their degrees online with the
help of digital credentials. Higher educational institutions and the employers
will be able to verify them and ensure that the student has acquired the knowledge
needed.
Conclusion
As you can see, COVID-19 has introduced many changes to the
education sector. We will be able to see these changes becoming mainstream out
there in the world in future.
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Created on Oct 12th 2020 17:19. Viewed 356 times.
