In the present state of the world, we need to make peace with the fact that education can be imparted in a hybrid model only. Until offline classes can be continued when proper safety is assured in schools, online classes can back the education infrastructure until then. But besides the digital divide and other issues, another major challenge for virtual classes is the engagement of students. Although the classes operate in the line of offline classes, it lacks proper understanding and communication. Here are a few ways to ensure online classes are effective and engaging for students:

Making small children aware of technology

The secondary and senior section students are known to use the technology-based software and can adapt to the online classes better than the primary section students. But it is needed that students from every level can develop a level of understanding for online classes. For children to get used to virtual classes, they need to be trained about the same. If the Schools in Delhi teach them using the devices for learning purposes from a young age, it can offer long-term benefits. 

Using animations, videos in learning material

In a physical class, teachers can easily connect with the students. They can observe the reactions, behavior, and responses of the students and teach accordingly. Teachers can ask questions or practical examples in offline classes but in an online class setting, engaging with children can be a tough job. As children interact with videos more than texts, Schools in Noida can include videos, images, animations into teaching material for better comprehension and learning in virtual classes. 

Class quizzes are great

One of the best ways to analyze if students have understood is by asking them questions. And small quizzes serve the purpose in the best way. Small quizzes on every topic can involve every student in the class and along the same help them clear their doubts. The quiz questions should not be theoretical and lengthy but rather one word or sentence-based. 

Interact with the class

Interaction in the classroom plays an integral role in communication, learning, development, and understanding. Teachers need to ensure they are interacting positively with the students in the online classroom as they do offline. 

Smaller batches mean sounder understanding 

In a physical classroom, teachers can manage the strength of even 40-50 students. But in online classes, it is not feasible to teach such several students together. Even if the classes carry on with such strength, it won’t result in an enriching learning experience. A small strength of class means proper attention to students and thus better learning,

Organize co-curricular activities

Pandemic has been hard for everyone particularly students as they have been distanced from their peers, learning in school and playing with friends. This has resulted in several issues like depression and anxiety. While studies are important, co-curricular help students to develop skills beyond classrooms. Even in online classes, various co-curricular activities can be organized in Schools in Pune to boost creativity and enthusiasm in students.

Project work and research

Teachers can give projects and assignments to students where they can research the subject on their own and build ideas based on that. This can help in practical learning as students will learn from their understanding and experiences. Along the same, students will invest time out of school hours into studying topics which will help them comprehend the topic better. 

Encourage discussions

Peer interaction and discussion can do great for both online and offline classrooms. While this helps students understand, appreciate and explore the thoughts and ideas of other students, it also inculcates the habit of considering the views of other people. Teachers should encourage healthy discussions in classes to ensure online classes are effective and engaging.

Ask for feedbacks 

The best class operates with the suggestions of everyone. Asking for feedback from students and parents can help Schools in Jaipur create a better curriculum and virtual learning environment that can benefit students. After all, it’s students who have to be taught. It is a good idea to take suggestions from them about what parts they want to incorporate in online classes.

It is uncertain when the pandemic will be over and the education infrastructure cannot be left to degrade more in the time. It is the time when Schools in Surat need to adopt best practices and approaches to ensure online classes are effective and engaging. Children are the future and only comprehensive pedagogy can help them evolve as valuable individuals of society. 

Find the Schools in Kolkata here.

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Covid 19 has impacted almost all sectors, but the education sphere seems to have got an upside-down movement. Online education has been pounding up for a few decades now but its use was confined to skilling and buoyed by self-learning. When classes were suspended to enforce social distancing, educational institutions shifted to online learning and evaluation. And even after more than two years, there is no certainty about restoring normalcy. For now, we can say, this is kind of a permanent tilt if not a complete shift. But the question here in India is, do we have the bandwidth for online education and what are the virtual learning challenges? Let’s find out!

The modes of e-learning presently in sight

India is a diverse country with people from rural and urban areas with different priorities in terms of education, learning, technology access, and more. The most popular mode of online education in India is WhatsApp followed by phone calls, online platforms like Zoom, Meet, etc. No doubt e-learning has its own set of advantages but in a country like India with a huge population, limited access to resources, and technical barriers, this cannot be a feasible option in the long run. We are addressing a few of these virtual learning challenges for students here.

The mountain of Online education challenges

Am I audible? Can you see me? These have been a few common proverbs every house has been used to since the Covid -19 lockdown. School authorities and students have been trying to cope up with the online education stress. Besides, several other virtual learning stem challenges have been sweeping in exposing the flaws of the system. Starting from lack of access to quality education, inclusive education, underqualified teachers are the issues the current crisis turned into. The following content piece will address a few of these virtual learning challenges:

Lack of resources

Not every student in India belongs to a well-off family to be able to afford digital resources- tablet, phone, laptop, internet connection making digital education limited to people who can afford it. Moreover, many distant and remote areas are still far away from continuous power backup, for them getting an active internet connection is just a future story. 

Technical issues

Technical issues have been quite a common virtual collaborative learning challenge for nearly everyone during the pandemic. Be it the office people, teachers or students everyone faced this at some point of time where the video stopped out of nowhere, they were not audible or their video stopped working. A stable internet connection is not feasible every time making learning harder for students.

Distractions and addiction 

Well, digital devices have their own charisma and addiction. Many parents complained during the lockdown that their children have been using digital devices more than ever. Moreover, a large fraction of classes ditched online classes and hopped on to social media platforms during their classes. 

Exposure to devices for long periods

With the schools running online, students have been sitting with digital devices for a minimum of 6-8 hours a day. This increase in screen time is putting strain on the eyes making eyes weak. Moreover, using devices for such a long time has many other issues as well like sleep deprivation leading to insomnia, increased obesity risk, susceptibility to chronic diseases, cognitive ability loss, socializing skills impairment, weakened emotional judgment, delayed learning, and more.

Degrade in learning quality

Digital exposure is not ideal for the holistic development of students. It can be confined to some parts but for real confidence, social and skill development an environment of the real world is needed. Instead of taking notes, students prefer to take screenshots, exams have been just copy-paste, assignments have no practicality, books have been far away from sight, and inquisitiveness is replaced by Google. Schools nurture students in a motivated and enthusiastic environment where they can explore the best of them, but online classes have degraded the quality of learning with the least actual growth of students. 

Underqualified teachers and unfamiliar students

No one was prepared for this shift to online education and with this sudden thrust, it has been hard for everyone to adjust. Schools have computers as a subject where students learn how to learn, use and work on computers. Both students and teachers are not that tech-savvy to get along with this pace of online learning in a short span. Both are facing a hard time learning how to use digital devices. 

Pressure on teachers

Since the inception of education in India, it has always been in an environment of social interaction. Teachers have always been trained to teach students in schools, with hardly any involvement in online learning. Because of e-learning, teachers have to work overtime preparing a well-structured curriculum that can benefit students while learning online. This has imposed a lot of pressure on teachers to make learning effective and beneficial for students. And despite putting in so much effort, many complaints were reported from teachers about misconduct by students, abuse, and whatnot. 

Virtual engagement

Learning is best done in an interactive atmosphere where everyone is putting in their best effort to ask, answer and evolve. Virtual learning has this imperative element of learning, real-time interaction missing from it. Though many schools have tried to make students get involved in activities and co-curricular to make things better but being online the most of them were proven futile. 

Misuse

With technology comes responsibility and the minds of children are not that mature to decide what is good for them and what is not. With the forever availability of digital devices in their hands, children are using them more as a means of entertainment than a means of learning. They spend more time binge-watching shows, playing games, and spending time on social media. 

The list of virtual learning challenges for teachers and students of e-learning is long. But given the pandemic situation, being away from social interaction is the only way out to teach children. Since Covid-19 is not something that will disappear all of a sudden, virtual education is here to stay for long if not in complete adaptation, in a hybrid manner. The environment of the school is necessary to fulfill the aim of education and make children come out as better citizens of society. But given the time and circumstances, we need to balance the virtual learning opportunities and challenges of e-learning and ensure it is beneficial and making an impact. 

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The inclusion of technology in schools is not very new in Western countries where countries like the USA have incorporated the usage of tablets as an important part of schooling. Children in the US use the tablets more often at a very young age; say by around 10 years at a learning tool at school. This system is widely spread across the country which has paved the way for a smarter learning mode. The advantages that come with the technology are definitely to be considered as a positive whereas the negative points are not less either. Technology and education will go hand in hand only when it is executed well with proper guidance and supervision. Technology with its attractiveness as a prime quotient has attracted the kids making learning easy and effective.

In India on the contrary, traditional teaching practices are still not changed at many remote and underprivileged places where having a school itself is like a luxury. Classrooms with minimum facilities and premises with basic hygiene are like a challenge faced by the school authorities every year. At these circumstances, affording a technology friendly learning environment is like a mammoth task. E-Boards, smart classes and digital teaching equipment like AV screens or projectors look like a long lost dream for such children. The Indian government does provide grants every year for such schools. Yet getting technology into the scene will take a good amount of time.

The schools in the cities, on the other hand, are now emerging into better than the best institutions with the rise of techno-friendly learning platforms coming into existence. Blackboards are replaced by projectors and post-school tutoring has been replaced by learning apps that are extremely user-friendly and gives an in-depth knowledge about a topic via various perspectives and theories. Learning is no more a straight path. It is not a royal highway with many deviations leading to the success destination.

Let us discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of having technology as a helping hand for better knowledge sharing experience.

Pros:

• Multimedia is for sure an attraction when it comes to children. Using this as a learning medium will definitely prove to be more effective than the traditional method of using books and charts for illustrational purposes. The colourful visuals tend to stay in their minds for longer than the printed, stagnant material in the books. This is why kids pick up the jingles of the advertisements shown on TV better than those ads printed in the newspapers of the same product.

• Preparing themselves for a simpler tomorrow through today while using the technology. It is evident that in today’s world, there is hardly any job or a career that does not require any usage of technical jargon or technological stuff. A kid who can operate a PC easily today could perform better during his days of becoming a Software Engineer, or a child who grows up looking at better educational AV visuals turns out to be a great dreamer and shapes oneself to be an ace actor/performer or a cinematographer. Technology gives wings for their imagination and prepares them for an obvious tomorrow which includes the compulsion of using smart gadgets.

• Inclination towards technology could prove a cost-effective way of learning. Spending less over books and updating the technological application will for sure go lite over the parents’ pockets. Each year parents spend a good amount of money over the books which are perishable and difficult to carry. Instead of this burden over the children’s’ tender back, carrying lesser books and adapting eLearning can prove beneficial. This is an advantage of technology which is both cost-effective and environment-friendly. More the books more will be the production of paper which requires many trees to sacrifice their existence.

Cons:

• Affordability of this geeky stuff can pinch the pockets of those parents for whom affording quality education for their children itself is a challenge. The below poverty income group crowd, who can barely afford books admission, can only see technology aided learning as an impossible dream. Providing tablets is one cost and getting an internet connection for further learning adds on like a never-ending cost due to which compromising for a low key facilities school would be like an obvious option.
• Technology brings in a lot of health hazards with it. Each day paediatricians are recording many of their patients struggling with vision and concentration-related problems which come as an unpleasant gift for loving these gadgets more than required. Usage of tablets for studies or for fun can prove very dangerous if not used for a recommended duration. The young eyes and brains are under constant risk which is a serious concern for parents.

• Tools like auto-correct and spell-check are spoiling the skills of the children to a certain extent. The prominence given to handwritten scripts/assignments is gradually diminishing with the birth of the online submitting provision. Virtual classrooms and Smart-boards have given a back seat to a good parent-teacher relationship. Things are for sure becoming easy but at the same time it has decreased that zest for listening to a nice lecture from a scholarly teacher who explains a concept of germination the way it has to be and doesn’t just show videos at YouTube or any learning apps as a part of “Conceptual Learning”.

Thus, both technology and traditional schooling methods are equally important for our children to excel in both the virtual and the real world. Feeling and touching a pet cannot be replaced by just reading a blog about it. At the same time, it is also important to admit that an email saves time and energy compared to writing a long letter to a distant friend. Both technology and tradition must go hand in hand to lead a harmonious life in this racing pace world.

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