The world has now become dynamic, every second brings a new change. Be it new technology, unprecedented crisis or simple policy changes. You can never truly be prepared for the future.
Even before the stay-at-home era began, ed-tech had found its place at home, however, COVID has accelerated the pace at which the schools have started embracing technology. Before the pandemic, though schools had exposed students to educational aids like Smart Class, Smart Boards and other Interactive learning aids, the rate of adoption had been slow.
But now schools across the country have started adopting online class aids, assessment tools, community portals, virtual groups and many other aids e-learning has to offer. Though pandemic came as a great shock to the schools, the schools have thriftily adopted technology in the right areas. The pandemic has also got the best teachers online, several teachers are recording their lectures and posting them on YouTube for free
“Online classes are much more organized and settled now, students have accepted the changed way of teaching- learning process. They enjoy the class because of the use of different methods and even parents have opened up for all required help” says Amrita Gaur Swaroop, HOD- Chemistry, Sushila Birla School when asked about how things have changed compared to the initial days of online classes.
Also, pandemic and online classes have compelled schools to embrace formative assessments. Gone are the days when the only form of evaluation was summative assessments. Platforms like Quiznext have made formative assessments possible for schools. QuizNext has turned homework into small bite-sized practice sessions that make homework less of a task and more leisure.
We started using technology as we had no other choice, now we are seeing some benefits. When things get better and schools re-open, we will definitely continue to share more videos and content with students. We are demonstrating experiments using items we can easily find at home, and students find it more interesting and they are trying on own. We will continue to engage students using this kind of activities even after we get back to normal” says Sunita Srivastava, Principal, Sahu International School.
With the classes, homework and assessments going online even parents have been able to get a detailed analysis of the student’s performances instead of subjective feedbacks like in PTMs. However, one area of worry for parents has certainly been the increased screentime, that has more than doubled during the pandemic. While taking online classes has become inevitable, parents have started reducing the negative screentime of their kids. This has created a spike in the users looking for apps that offer bite-sized practice sessions such as Quiznext and Quizlet.
Instead of rejecting the new change, all stakeholders have learned to embrace it. The only way we can lead a happy life is by accepting the situation and making the best out of it. As the saying goes, “The only thing certain is uncertainty”.