Has Covid Changed the Way We Study?
Covid has changed the world. We have lost some of our favourite restaurants, developed a newfound gratitude for our freedom, and learned to appreciate the ability to be able to freely spend time with our loved ones. But what has the impact been on the way we learn, and how has it impacted our children’s education?
The pandemic saw schools, colleges, and universities close, and many of them opted to shift their lessons online, but what is the long-term effect of this on our nation and how can we improve it moving forward? This article explores how we have manoeuvred through online education, and what the future holds when it comes to the possibilities of remote learning.
The Big Switch
The pandemic saw many teachers desperately trying to teach classes of 20 plus kids on platforms like Zoom. This was an extremely difficult task, as it meant there was little personal support for the students and therefore many children fell behind in their studies. This was largely down to the fact that teachers had no time to adapt to the new remote learning regime.
Whilst online learning works extremely well in some circumstances (for example, undergraduate courses for adults who wish to study flexibly) studies have shown that the school closures have had a negative impact on most children’s core subject skills, and also on their mental health, with a particular impact on younger children.
What Does the Future Hold?
The longer term impact of the Covid school closures on our children is still yet to be determined; however, in response to the studies so far, schools and colleges are now starting to put in place better provisions for remote learning. The pandemic was unprecedented, and with this in mind, the nation had little time to prepare or plan a robust learning system that could see our children thrive.
In truth, remote learning is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn more flexibly and at a pace more suited to them, and so creating better experiences in this area is going to be important to our future, both for young children and for older learners.
Remote learning is a great opportunity for employers to enhance their employee skills as well, so having good technology and platforms for online learning is crucial to futureproofing against any further worldwide crises like the pandemic.
Luckily, the impact of the pandemic on remote learning had led some companies, like Soapbox to create inspired new technology which makes online learning more fun and personal. Their speech recognition software, for example, allows children to learn to read, with interaction from their online learning platform. This is going to improve education no end.
Remote learning is a powerful thing which is great news for employers and allows flexibility for those wanting to study. The pandemic, unfortunately, showed that current systems were not working well, but the good news is that in response to this, lots of businesses have now jumped on board the challenge of making online learning as productive as possible. This bodes well for our future!
