COVID-19 has been making dramatic changes in our lives. One of the most dramatic changes, however, is in education. Still, we need to continue educating people, so e-learning platforms gained great importance for public benefits.
Considering the fact that we have been living in an age of technology, finding alternative ways to maintain education is not very difficult. Using all the tools we have so far, it is still possible to educate people and improve humanity without physically gathering through online education technologies.
COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of e-learning
Soon after COVID-19 was announced to be a pandemic, global quarantine and lockdown started. That has been the beginning of a new age in education because all schools have been shut and people have been locked in their home.
E-learning is not a new concept, but obviously, the situation is changing in favour of online education. Many different institutions and companies already started to get digitalized in education even before the coronavirus crisis started, just because online education has many advantages. They also offered a certification or accreditation upon completion of their courses. So, online learning is as official as offline education.
As a growing concept, e-learning is becoming more popular during the coronavirus pandemic across the world. The outbreak made it very obvious that an alternative is possible to our traditional way of education. In an age where most of the other things are all done online, education is no exception. Platforms, just like Vedubox, enrich the online education and carry this experience to a higher level.
Online courses provided by prestigious universities gained many new students in March 2020. The Science of Well Being course by Yale University had 1.3 million sign-up during this period. And there is no doubt that it is not the only course attracting people’s interest.
Schools and universities turned into online educational institutes, and that shift was normalized without questioning as people realized that it is the best option to maintain sharing knowledge. In addition to them, other educational institutions and instructors have gone digital. We started to see online yoga teacher training courses and online dance classes, which are pretty new in the education sector.
These new branches of courses revealed how flexible online education is. When the problem is obvious, the solution just appeared by adapting to a ready concept, which was considered limited before.
Advantages of Online Education
This process was a big step for moving education from classrooms to online platforms. This kind of digital transformation in education enabled people to deliver knowledge regardless of location and time.
Let’s see some advantages of online education compared to traditional formal education:
- It is timesaving—no need to commute to a school or institution. So the instructor and students do not lose time for travelling. Starting classes is just one click away.
- It is less costly—no need to pay for a school bus, lunch, or school uniform. Also, institutions and companies do not need to deal with physical classrooms.
- It offers a flexible learning schedule. You can schedule your day and tasks. People can maintain education according to their schedule, which is quite attractive for many people.
- It offers freedom in terms of location. You can offer education to people in the comfort of your own house.
- It enables effective education. There are fewer distractions, and it is an effective learning environment.
- Interactivity is possible. It enables interactive communication and live class.
Conclusion
All in all, it seems that the change from offline education to online has excellent advantages if we consider how all the world has embraced e-learning. Even though the change has been sudden, the new adoption seems to have long-term consequences.
With the support of governments and big companies and institution, e-learning is securing its position. Also, many technical developments for providing seamless online schools for students in different age groups across the world are making the new trend more attractive.