Rozina Asif
GOING to school is the best public policy tool available to raise skills, even a relatively short period of missed school will have consequences for skill growth. But can we estimate how much the COVID-19 interruption will affect learning? It has affected not only the implementation of the curriculum and achievement of the said objectives and learning outcomes but has also shattered the mental and emotional health of all parents, students and teachers.
The severe short-term disruption is felt by many families around the world: home-schooling is not only a massive shock to parents’ productivity but also children’s social life and learning. Teaching is moving online, on an untested and unprecedented scale. However, there are many challenges we can foresee after schools will re-open and we need to be prepared.
Blended learning: No doubt the hybrid model is the future of teaching and learning, this pandemic has transformed our life altogether; from mental health to businesses to teaching and learning, everything is at a halt. Many educational institutions have adapted to a new norm of operating virtually; however, many students have not been able to take full advantage of this.
A great number of students live in remote areas that do not have access to necessary resources for online classes. School curriculums are still not supporting blended learning. It will take time. Teachers, on the other hand, are also in a learning mode; they are struggling hard to facilitate students alongside managing curriculums. Weak internet connection, unavailability of gadgets for every student and a working person in a family is again a serious problem.
Learning gaps: Shifting to a blended model of teaching and learning is a challenge, but the biggest challenge is to identify the learning gaps and devise a curriculum that can bridge the gap. We are still struggling to adjust to this new normal, however, some private institutions have developed good assessment strategies to identify the gaps. They have modified their curriculum to support the strategies too. Moving forward without identifying and working on these gaps we will not be able to produce learned people to trust with our future
Behavioural and adjustment issues: Closure of schools, parks gyms and many other things have increased the screen time and less physical activities. The social contract and engagement are restricted to online only resulted in many behavioural issues. The overall routine of a child is shifted from getting up early, getting ready for school/college to much lazy start of a day taking a class in night suits, and avoiding any video connection. Less physical activities and more screen time have increased anxiety. Delay in reaction opposing quick action on just one click on a computer has limited the real-life connections.
Differentiating institution brand from another institution: it becomes a great challenge for institutions to provide value-added services online. Every institution is trying to work on online strategies but how to create a difference in services is not an easy task. The institution has to think for out-of-the-box strategies and value addition which makes their brand stand out. More student engagement for holistic personality development and parental satisfaction is a key to success for online mode of teaching and learning
Need for faculty to access additional education: Now or never…. We have to invest in teachers/faculty training to update our teaching and learning strategies. Online classes demand a different kind of student-teacher relationship. The use of different online platforms and tools to make the best out of it still need to be explored by our teachers/faulty. Time will not wait for us, we have to take a proactive approach to handle the situation wisely by investing in technology and teacher’s training.
Need to provide distinctive pathways and services: A variety of new courses/degrees/options with a distinctive approach has to be designed to cater to the need of this pandemic. An institution and not rely only on old products/services but must provide a blend of onsite and online courses/education. Collaboration with universities abroad for different programmes can bring variety to the education sector. We have to shift from the traditional way of operations to an innovative and creative mindset.
—The writer is an educationist based in Islamabad.
