Over the past two years, the pandemic has caused massive changes to the educational system. The rapid rise of e-education and e-learning technologies has changed education dynamics for both teachers and students.
While opinions might differ on whether the pandemic has positively or negatively affected the educational system, everyone agrees that the educational sector needs reimagination to accommodate today’s challenges.
In this article, we will be looking at why the pandemic can reset the educational sector. Without wasting more time, let’s get down to it.
Load management for educators
Educators have always complained about heavy workloads, and with the pandemic ushering in an extraordinary time for learning, teachers’ workloads have increased significantly.
At the moment, teachers have to master SaaS e-learning platforms while juggling teaching and administrative duties.
On the bright side, AI-powered remote learning software can handle these admin tasks, which reduces the workload for teachers.
Also, SaaS e-learning platforms play a massive role in helping teachers manage their workload through improved access to data, content, and communication networks.
Educators can use these tools to edit PDF files and provide real-time feedback to students. They can also use grading software to rate students’ schoolwork.
Increased focus on school infrastructure
The abrupt switch to electronic learning was difficult for everybody at first. But today, that sentiment has changed. Teachers and students have discovered the joys of e-learning and want more of it.
And as the pandemic fades away, it has become clear that e-learning is here to stay.
Moving forward, schools will start focusing on updating the school infrastructure to accommodate e-learning, and they’ll spend more money on the best e-learning software.
Besides, schools now use e-learning to meet diverse needs for students with illnesses, part-time jobs, and special needs.
Better decision making at all levels of government
COVID-19 forced governments to make tough decisions at every level of society to ensure COVID cleaning.
At first, schools had to shut down to curb the spread of the virus. Then, government funding prioritized e-learning software tools as a means of keeping students in school.
Also Read: Pros and Cons of COVID-19 Vaccine
Currently, government officials are contemplating the use of vaccines in schools. Some believe students must be vaccinated, while others think parents should decide the best option for their offspring.
Either way, the government now has to bear the mantle of making data-informed decisions in the education sector.
Widening gap between learners
The past two decades have been a constant battle to make education more inclusive by offering equal access and participation to students from all walks of life.
But the pandemic has set these efforts back by several years. Due to COVID-19, the gap between low and high-income students has widened.
As a result, schools and educators will have to put a lot of effort into bridging this widening gap by providing quality education. Institutions will have to subsidize learning costs for students from low-income households.
Collective engagement and mutual accountability
E-learning software, especially the gamified tools, makes it easier for students to be engaged and allows the teachers to hold students accountable for their performance.
E-learning developmental tools can use timestamps to record participation, ensuring that students reach the required number of engagements over some time.
As schools return to normal, software e-learning tools will have a permanent place in the new school system as a new way of increasing classroom engagement.
Also, group projects and collaboration tools help students to adopt mutual accountability for each other. And this level of responsibility fosters a harmonious digital classroom environment.
Improved extracurricular activities
The pandemic has reshaped extracurricular activities forever. In the past, students could interact socially and physically.
But with remote learning, physical contact is slowly disappearing from education. And with social distancing regulations, schools will decrease the number of social interactions in the curriculum.
With e-learning development software, teachers can now focus on recreating the social environment of in-school learning online.
In essence, these gamification tools will change extracurricular activities post-pandemic.
Threats of privatization
The success of e-learning content development tools has led to an increase in corporate interests across all levels of education.
By applying private-sector management models to educational institutions, these corporate bodies seek to privatize the educational system.
And since most governments are reeling from COVID-19’s financial impact, public schools won’t have the funding to provide quality education to students.
Therefore, most schools will come under the threat of going private in the coming years.
Some argue that privatization will increase the available funding and foster innovation in schools. But at the same time, the cost of learning will increase astronomically, leaving disenfranchised students in the lurch.
Emphasis on mental health
Remote learning has placed a lot of emphasis on students’ mental health, which was not a priority in the traditional educational system.
A recent study showed that remote education reduces social anxiety and builds trust between students and teachers.
Essentially, distance learning diminishes the stress and pressures of in-person school interactions. Moreover, cases of bullying have decreased since students started learning from home.
As the world returns to normal, educational institutions add remote learning practices (like one-on-one interaction between students and teachers) for students’ mental health to the school curriculum.
Improved school safety
Some parents have campaigned against the return of their children to traditional in-person schools. They say students are safer learning from home — safe both from the virus and other school hazards.
These fears are justified considering the ongoing political debate regarding vaccination and school policies.
On the bright side, the pandemic has given schools a wake-up call, leading to better guidelines and enforcement on public health. Teachers and students are now acutely aware of the dangers of poor hygiene and public health practices.
Conclusion
The pandemic has hit the educational system hard; that much is clear for all to see. The effects have been both positive and negative.
Nevertheless, the pandemic helped educational systems re-evaluate their current practices and change some inefficient practices for better ones.
Ultimately, these changes will benefit teachers and students and reset the old education system.
