Making yourself at ease with the shift to online learning !
Nelson Mandela has famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world “.
And nothing could be truer. Education acts as the stepping stone for one’s life and aids in a child’s overall development. In addition, it boosts our communication skills and makes us more efficient in the workplace as well as in our day to day life.
However, the past seventeen months have been a rollercoaster, with pros and cons in every area including education. Students all over the globe have been stuck at home with the feeling of uncertainty and doubt on how their schooling would keep up. With everything shifting to the online mode, children found it tricky to cope up with it. They could not go meet their friends, have parties, or play sports because everything had changed. Education which is key to shape a child’s future was at a crossroad-hold its guard up and be the way it was, or build a new norm. Adapting to its new circumstances, A new terminology came in online education- changing the way the world perceived learning.
But the process of adaptation is unending and need constant change. Students have suffered drastically due to this mode of learning, resulting in disliking of subjects, lower marks and zero motivation to learn new things. Thus, hampering the aim of education.
We cannot function like this; we need to come out and realize that this is the new normal. New policies and strategies are to be formed from the grassroots level to aid the students as well as teachers to bring out a comprehensive solution. As online school is new, unfamiliar and different for students, teachers and students. The responsibility falls upon their selves to find plausible answers to this issue.
One of the methods the current situation can be resolved is a holistic approach to education. It addresses students’ learning, social and emotional needs which is critical, particularly in times of crisis.
Learning needs to be made fun, interactive as well as personalized so students are tempted to study and not feel like it is a burden. We need to introduce activities to keep them in the right headspace and avoid any distractions that might curb their understanding of the subject. One of the few ways this could be achieved is by incorporating games and group discussion time.
Teachers need to understand students, on the other hand, children must be patient with education. Learning being a two-way street cannot improve without active participation from both ends.
Thus, we must recognize that students today are going to help rebuild the world tomorrow. Effective measures to make learning fun again is the need of the hour, and we all should work together as a society to attain that. Tell me your thoughts below!
