The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not always reflect the views of Reverb.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in many businesses and industries. Because of its high “in-person” component, the education sector is one of the foremost affected. During the pandemic, we saw many school boards and universities shift to distance learning. But the big question is, will these new habits and methodologies remain?
This shift to online means that parents and students are open to considering remote, digital learning as an alternative.
There’s likely to be a section of this group, learners and guardians, who will stick to distance learning or use it as a supplement when in-person learning is not a possibility (blended learning).
One third
Just to give an example, at the start of the shutdown, a third of the students tutoring with my company shifted to online learning, while the rest decided to stop their studies altogether, waiting to see how things panned out.
However, we are now seeing more and more students moving to online learning. Additionally, we are getting queries where parents are looking for a distance or online only option. This is very different from what was happening before February 2020 when parents only wanted in-person learning.
Something else to note is that this seems to be a phenomenon more common among high school and university students. This is understandable as higher education and high school learners are more comfortable with technologies and appreciate the fact that online sessions can be recorded to be played back.
Still, in-person education has its place, especially for younger and specially-abled students. These students need more intensive support that can only be provided by in-person instruction.
