COVID_19 and higher education since 2020

 By S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

COVID_19  pandemic has not only successfully devasted economies throughout the globe but also disturbed the smooth-flowing education system in both developing and developed countries. It is plightful to know that around 1.5 billion primary, secondary and tertiary school-going students do not have physical access to schools. COVID_19 impact however was not only dramatic but also transformative. Transformative in the sense it has made educators/tutors come up with strategies to let not pandemics affect the teaching-learning process. But in the emerging market, it has given an additional challenge like finances and infrastructure. 

Key points to be noted:

•  Due to pandemic university courses are made online.
• A new teaching-learning model can be expected in near future.

Among the different levels of education facing their own challenges, it's higher education that has to revolutionize. Even though the students here are old enough to explore technology and navigate platforms but are the Universities following the traditional campus education system, ready to makeshift, in order to approach and engage students, in terms of technology familiar manpower and infrastructure? 

At present platforms like Zoom, Google meet, WebEx, etc are serving as major support and a major lifeline to universities, however, it was noticed that the educators- lecturers or professors are still struggling with the technology. They are still trying to get themselves familiarised with these platforms to host online classes or other virtual activities. Not only this, but the struggle is also in maintaining a classroom setting environment and rapport with learners. The experts advise them to find a solution because now this is new normal and in order to maintain quality of education without compromising they should buckle up. Apparently, the most constructive solution to deal with such an issue is to either make digital platforms like Coursera work for them or work with them.

 According to HolonIQ (a market intelligence firm), higher education comprises only 2% of the $2.2 trillion global higher education marketplace (ripening for disruption). 

Even before the onset of COVID_19, it's been observed that students were more inclined towards online courses offered by the universities in comparison with their traditional courses. Universities that started taking online courses as a threat are now trying to acquaint themselves with the online teaching and learning process. Since COVID_19 has introduced Edtech as new normal. 

The online solutions since 2020 were adopted unprecedentedly by educators across the globe which are however considered as an experiment at an infancy stage. It is expected to flourish in the coming days and the association between tech companies and universities will grow strong beyond the pandemic crisis.

The present situation, no doubt has been painful but it has also helped all the stakeholders (society, policymakers, educators, and learners) to understand and realize the shortcomings of our education system not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. 

In conclusion, like the first industrial revolution, which was responsible for  present education system, the emergence of digitalized education model is expected from COVID_19.