A Success Factors of eLearning During COVID-19 Crisis

The disaster of the century, the COVID-19 pandemic not only drastically disturbed normal living but also caused the shutdown of education for nearly 1.3 billion students worldwide. If the warnings are to be believed, it would take a substantial amount of time for humanity to overcome the effects of this disaster. This tragedy has shaken up the education systems of around 186 countries resulting in an uncertain environment among all students.

What is e-learning?

E-learning is the use of the internet and related devices for educational purposes surpassing geographical restrictions. It is the method that connects a student to learning beyond the four walls of school premises. The average growth rate of e-learning before the pandemic was around 14% but it skyrocketed to 50% during the pandemic era. This was due to the huge demand that came with the closure of several institutions for safety.

Effects of e-learning:

The COVID-19 situation challenged educators around the world to shift to new ways of teaching. It was a severe change for both students and teachers and had its pros and cons. Several teachers lost jobs in India as they were unable to meet the demands of the new normal. This culture of studying online is very new to India and thus it took some time to be adapted.

It is said that e-learning solutions are affordable and have a good range as it will be able to reach rural areas. The World Bank and UNESCO are working with several countries to make this change smoother and adaptable. The education sector as a whole is responding well to this change and it can be noticed by the growth of e-learning solutions in the market.

Byjus, a Bangalore-based e-learning development company started in 2011 saw a 200% surge in students and became the leading online education tutor in the world. Several other projects also started investing in e-learning methods leading to several platforms coming to rise. It was noticed that students and teachers got used to the new normal and the transition went on well.

Benefits of e-learning:

There are various benefits of e-learning that came to light during the pandemic. They are:

1. It is self-paced

Students who use e-learning platforms to study can time their learning according to their own schedule. This leads to efficient learning and also reduces stress significantly. It gives students the liberty to learn at their own pace thus ensuring that each child gets due attention. They get to repeat a lecture as many times as they like.

2. It is Cost-effective

The cost of education has been rising with time but the sudden surge of e-learning solutions has controlled it to an extent. Universities are saving tons of their investment in building infrastructure which has led to a decline in fees charged. Students are getting value for their money. They are also saving on study material and commuting expenses as the need for them has vanished.

3. Use of Analytics to Improve Learning

The extraction of data from online learning platforms has been put to use in various ways in order to improve the experience. An Indian e-learning development company like Vedantu has used data to understand the needs of the students and cater to individual learning styles.

This revolution in learning helps students to understand the subject with ease. The data captured also gives the opportunity to eliminate potential pitfalls in the system which leads to better learning possibilities.

4. Environment Friendly and Effective

The use of paper decreases significantly with e-learning replacing traditional textbooks. In a study, it was seen that distance learning uses less power and helps cut CO2 emissions by 40%. Moving on to effectiveness, e-learning was found to be more fruitful than other methods. Students were able to grasp at a higher rate than they used to.

E-learning has proved to be a viable solution to many issues faced by the education sector pre-pandemic. It has not only increased the quality but also has made education reach the most rural areas as well. It has broadened the perspective of learning as both students and working adults are using the platforms to upskill. The platforms are scalable and thus help in providing the same experience to several at a time.

The pandemic has taught us various things but the most important of them is that a country’s economy is highly dependent on education. With the lack of skilled personnel, there is no industry that could flourish. This has opened the eyes of many governments which are now taking appropriate actions to improve education quality in their countries respectively. E-learning is becoming a major factor in building a solid foundation for a better future.

Conclusion:

To conclude, e-learning is the future of education and it won’t be a surprise to see the same amount of growth post-pandemic. The number of platforms are increasing every second, giving students as well as working professionals more chances to learn and grow. Soon, industries would be hiring employees on the basis of skills rather than degrees.