Venture: Online Education is the New Norm
With unexpected return dates for many schools across the world online education is soon to become the new norm until life can return to normal. With current online education programs getting a lot of flak it is going to put a large strain on many schools to switch to 100% online. Most schools attempted to go online from the start of spring to the summer and it left most kids not learning and not getting the social experience of going to school. Large online tech companies like Microsoft, Zoom, and Chegg has seen a major rise in their stock valuation since COVID-19 and people will be expecting the same come school time.
The end of August is approaching quickly and thus, we are seeing moves being made quick and rash by a lot of school boards and it is putting the public in a stir. With mixed reviews across the board, the majority tend to lean against online education, but it seems that it is to early to tell for most areas.
Most colleges and universities have already started their plan in coherence with that state they abide in and typically have given the student body the option to come onto campus or learn remotely. Now when it comes to learning on campus there are a lot of caveats as students have to quarantine before arrival, are allowed to leave campus once there, and must practice all of the social distancing guidelines.
This begs the question of why any student would want to return to campus as the whole social aspect of going to school is lost. Many younger students deciding to go to college are opting out and deciding to take a gap year or find a school that they can commute to.
Many younger students deciding to go to college are opting out and deciding to take a gap year or find a school that they can commute to.
The situation is going to hurt a lot of colleges from a financial standpoint and we may see a decrease in the number of educational facilities in the United States when COVID-19 has run its course.
Currently, many companies have taken this misfortunate and turned it into a great opportunity. Students have been forced to continue their education remote many tech companies have adapted their products for that use. E-learning is a learning system that is based on formalized teaching but with the help of electronic resources. This way of learning is beginning to rapidly gain traction and is going to be the passage to the future.
Not only is E-learning used in the schools but also in the corporate world as many large companies utilize this tech, allowing a new approach of having meetings and releasing material to the employees.
Valentyna Yelina
Zoom is a video communications service that was released in 2011. This online chat services are allowing for teleconferencing, telecommuting, and distance education to become a virtual reality. The stock valuation for Zoom has risen over 260% and is still hitting all-time highs. As schools begin to reopen again lots of students will be looking to use Zoom to learn as well as communicate with peers.
Chegg and Khan Academy are two educational tools that are commonly used by students in order to aid their learning. Both companies have come out and talked about how COVID-19 has affected the education system and what they will be doing to help the world. Khan Academy has stated that they are making their resources free for use and be able to keep kids from ages 2-18 learning.
Parents are also left with the hard decision on what they should do for their child, either putting them back into school or doing online education. Weighing out the pros and cons it is difficult to tell what the right choice is with so many unknowns. One factor that is for certain is that most teachers and parents can agree on the idea of, why risk it. Would it not be worth it to wait till January when there are more answers out there and not a high chance that the outbreak will affect the schools.
With tech being incorporated into everyone's lives it seems like an ideal solution to the problem at hand. As time progresses kids will be using tech in their everyday lives but not all students are privy to the same services as everyone else. School is an equalizer between students, everyone going to the school can use all the services provided.
If students at home do not have the proper tech then they will fall behind in online education and could create a large number of problems with a disparity in learning.
Michael Hinojosa, who runs the Dallas Independent School District stated that “We think we can have a pretty safe learning environment, but we going to have masks, face shields. We’re going to have to plexiglass the classroom”.
But now as infections rise Hinojosa wants to delay the start of school. Time will only tell what will happen, but it will be a fight between the schools, families, and the government. The idea of going online with a vast amount of resources is a viable solution. Major tech companies are opening their doors and making new divisions focused on working on online education.
Major tech companies are opening their doors and making new divisions focused on working on online education.
An example can be found with Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams is an online communication software that competes with Zoom. Microsoft has added many new features for the future of education to make the software more manageable for both the educator and the student. The overall goal is to make meetings more inclusive, engaging, and effective for teams and students. Teams are even getting large television attention as the NBA agreed to use Teams to virtually seat fans.
However, We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg with actions like this, trying to return to normalcy while moving forward. Only time will tell.