As societies have started to protect themselves from the Coronavirus crisis, things have started to become more online. A major inclusion of this has been in the online education system. The generation Z is typically more technologically averse, but is this system really to their benefit?
There are certain benefits to the children accessing the online education system, first being the convenience to access the classes from home. Generation Z has had technology and internet available to them from a very young age. Even with this provision, the new remote online learning system has not been all the merry for them. These children face various challenges through remote education.
There are various distractions for students in remote learning. With the access of the internet in online learning, students are generally not concentrating in the online classroom. Students can possibly take the opportunity to open other tabs during the classes.
Students and teachers often encounter with technical difficulties during classes. Almost every video call starts with “can you hear me?” and “can you see me?”. Even though the students are generation Z, technical problems are almost bound to occur every now and then. A similar issue is the stable internet connection required for the classes.
A major problem for students is the inability to socialize with their friends through online learning. Students do not get the chance to talk to their friends in the 5-minute breaks between classes. Socializing is obviously a major part of their school life. But this becomes difficult with online education.
Teachers have said that some subjects or topics are difficult to teach online. The understanding of these topics for the students might not be the satisfactory. This may hamper their examinations, and their learning in the future as well.
Another challenge is that online learning is boring for students. Online learning has a low level of interaction between students and teachers. This means students can often get bored with the classes due to the lack of engagement.
I will be keen to see if the Indian education system adopts or excludes this practice of online learning even after the Covid-19 crises ends, if it ever does end.
