How Has Remote Learning Influenced Students?

Remote learning is the new way of education. With the global pandemic, there is a surge in demand for tutors for remote learning. Online teaching and learning have become the new norm. While it looked like an alternative way of learning in a world that lacked infrastructure, online education is the new way to keep the pace going as it is a necessity now. In addition, currently, the educator's reach is not limited to one school or city, or country. Because of remote learning, tutors in Adelaide can provide online classes to students in Melbourne, Brisbane, or even New York; the only trouble they may encounter is the time difference.

Covid-19 and Transformation

Covid-19 was detected in China during the last part of 2019, and eventually, it spread across the globe faster than wildfire. It impacted businesses and the health industry; it also disrupted the previous way of education in schools, colleges, and universities. Today, almost 2-years down the line, we are still trying to emerge from the pandemic. Let's discuss how schools and colleges got impacted and how it paved the way for a new system of imparting knowledge and learning. 

One of the immediate impacts of the pandemic was a global shutdown of offices, schools, hotels, parks, and everything that had substantial public access. Work from home became a norm. The sudden setback in education gave rise to online classes and online tutors for personal coaching across the globe. 

Helping children with the new normal

The transition from offline learning to online learning is not free from challenges. However, there are some critical benefits of offline learning which are irreplaceable. Online education, if delivered in the right way, can improve the learning graph of the students. Besides, it has better reach, thanks to the penetration of the internet.

As per the Education Week Research Center survey on K-12 educators in the US, more than 8 out of 10 teachers felt their internet ability has made them more tech-savvy. It has made them more innovative educators. Basically, with online education and the remote learning concept, the horizon and reach of teaching have increased; though it needs improvisation, the transformation that it brings forth is commendable.  

Some thought-provoking statistics:

1.5 billion students, or 91.3% of the global enrollment, were impacted by the disruption and were out of classes. 

· There is a stark difference in how the countries are recuperating from the ill effects of the coronavirus.

· The pandemic uncovered a digital divide, meaning people belonging to Black households suffered from low-speed internet, which accounts for 25% of the US population. To mitigate this, the US State legislatures have passed bills to expand high-speed internet across the nation.

· Since students and teachers were not accustomed to digital learning earlier, it showed a drop in interest amongst students concerning education and following each other through a virtual medium. 50% of teachers expressed their unhappiness initially while teaching online owing to lag in speed and glitches that come as part and parcel of such a way of teaching.

This has directly impacted the educational sector and has led to the rise in e-learning platforms wherein the teaching takes place remotely via digital platforms. Teachers and students, after struggling with the initial phases of teaching and learning, have overcome the difficulty, and now people appreciate the new medium of education. Studies show that online learning has led to higher retention of information. 

E-learning makes use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). With digital transformation and the incorporation of technological resources, there has been a considerable change in the learning process. An important question that pops up here is whether e-learning is as impactful as the face-to-face method? The fact of the matter is that studies show that the result of e-learning is as good as the face-to-face method of teaching. 

The stats show that students retain about 25-60% more knowledge and material when learning online than only having only 8-10% during classroom learning. 

What changes has remote learning brought?

While we agree that the coronavirus pandemic is not to be celebrated, with the world slowly adopting online education and remote learning, education now becomes accessible to all. In many countries where it used to be challenging to invest in school infrastructure or have accessibility issues, the remote learning concept emerges to be a winner. 

Besides, the remote learning popularity has also bolstered the growth of companies that provided online classes. They bring together the best teachers who emphasize teaching in the best way possible. 

Previously, commuting to school was a challenge faced by many students and parents. Arranging for transport, paying for commuting, dealing with traffic issues and the resultant stress, being on time were also part and parcel of attending an offline school. Now, this has been eased out. 

Time management was a challenge for parents, especially ones who are working. To provide for lunch, packing bags, making sure the uniform is clean, and preparing a child for attending schools used to entail a lot of time management. Now with this new system of learning, parents find it easier to manage their work-from-home and online education, so it seems to be a favorite of parents as well in some way.

Some questions that need an answer:

In the present scenario, we have no better option than choosing the online medium to set the learning graph growing. But the fact of the matter is that online learning is a relatively new concept for many students and teachers. There are certain sets of challenges that hamper seamless information dissemination when it comes to remote learning. Students have certain apprehensions surrounding the continuation of remote learning; these are enlisted below:

What if the internet access is not that good? When we talk about remote learning or online education, it is comfortable only for students with a reasonable internet connectivity bandwidth. 

What about extracurricular activities? Another critical aspect that the students are missing is that they miss the extracurricular activities of the school. 

How to mitigate the difference in an environment at school and home? - While we continue to learn in the comforts of our home, it becomes difficult for students to cope with the change. They cannot differentiate between the environment at home and school. A home provides for a more leisure environment, whereas a school instills discipline in a student almost inadvertently.