How education will transform after Covid? Pros and Cons of Online education for Children
The education sector has transformed the most drastically during the Pandemic.
The Traditional Classroom education got transformed globally. Many welcomed the change but still a larger population out there are not sure about the long-term implications of the online education.
Adopting to online education at this stage globally is a never heard story before. Many international universities have few subjects taught online.
Also, there were few online course aggregators so far those offering pre-recorded courses on a wide range of subjects.
So, now with risk of spread, schools and colleges across the globe have adopted the practice of online learning.
It is still debatable about the overall effectiveness and the impact online learning has on an individual student.
For the Graduate and Post Graduate Degree Students the impact on an individual’s academic excellence will have a lower impact if the classes are shifted online.
As most of the Colleges it is self-learning and minimal consultation with the faculties.
In the online space, there is a chance of lack of personal attention unlike in the classroom environment. The one-to-one online sessions definitely has its limitations.
The extent of requirement of personalized attention is more for the primary school students where the early learning and understanding basic concepts is essential.
Primary education sets the base and will be shaping up the child’s future the right way. The right guidance from teachers have to be imparted to the students through personal tutoring for weak students.
Often during the online classes, the children are not receiving the desired attention due to the scheduled fixed timings and due to the use of pre-recorded sessions.
Taking the case of K-12 education, let’s look at the Pros and Cons of the online education
Pros
- Being at the Comfort of Home
The most obvious advantage of online classes are the children can be at the comfort of their home. They need not wake early in the morning, get ready and wait for the school bus to come.
All the tedious tasks of reaching the school on time could be eliminated and can be fresher to start their sessions well without any tiredness.
They can have their breakfast on time and be prepared for the class much in advance.
2. Under the Supervision of Parents
Being at home means the young ones will be mostly in parental control or a guardian to look after.
So, safety of the children is assured. Also, by being at home they can feel comfortable and relaxed at the same time focus well by being at their own study desk.
Again, since the parents are around, any update on their class schedule, test reports, home works, additional support, etc., could be offered on demand.
The parents could get more involved in their child’s study matters and provide constructive feedback and support too.
3. More Flexibility in Attending Follow-up Classes/ Re-visiting Classes
Also, since most of sessions could be presentations and pre-recorded classes, the students can hear the lectures multiple times at their own pace and study well.
Also, the online live sessions would be later shared for further reference making it easy for the students to go back and refer the sections they feel that require more attention and understanding.
The listed positives are not exhaustive, depending on the structure of the online classes designed, it could have umpteen advantages for students. Again, this topic is still debatable and personal opinions vary due to many circumstances.
Cons
Now let’s delve into the negatives of persistent online classes on students.
- No One-to-One Personal Attention
The online classes are mostly scheduled as per the time table, or will pre-recorded.
So for any feedback sharing or personal doubts scheduling a one-on-one meeting with the teacher often leads to dissatisfactory results due to the limitations of online classroom.
In schools, the teachers would guide the students in a different way may be by explaining the concepts more extensively.
Again, in all scenarios it might not turn-out disappointing, often online classrooms using the latest technology might help students understand better.
It again is a personal preference about how the student perceives the online session and how user-friendly is the platform that is in use for teaching online.
2. Prolonged Digital Usage
The continued digital device usage is harmful for the younger once for their eyes and brain development.
The long hours of sessions make them feel restless, not able to concentrate, and also bad seating postures will take toll on their health.
Online classes for younger ones at least till Age12 must be designed such as way that they get enough breaks to walk around, have food, and relax.
Continuous exposure to digital devices will adversely affect their ability to concentrate and be extra productive.
3. Lack of Focus and anxiety
Online classes are more likely to render the students with a lack of focus after say an hour of continuous screen usage. For small children the prolonged screen usage is deemed to be unsafe.
Also, there can be a chance that a majority of students might face anxiety problems during the online class sessions.
The children are not meeting their classmates in real and feel like they are missing out on their playtime or daily chitchats in the school hours.
So, in a nutshell the current trend of moving to the online education has its own pros and cons.
However, considering the current scenario it is almost like a must have to continue the online lessons to educate the future generation.
A gap in their education would at a later time be a drawback, so whatever is the situation continuing the journey of learning is important.
As adults it is our duty to guide and support the children the right way so that they are empowered to face the challenges of future better.
Parents must find out time to spend with their children. Many of the kids by being at home throughout have become more sensitive and lonelier. They would be missing their friends at school and the time they spend at school.
So, parents must understand the fact and be more jovial and encourage them to be a part of the daily home routines and play games with them.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Share your comments in the comment box below, what do you think about the improvements in the online education for kids?
