Pandemic And Education

                                         

When I thought about pandemic and education, I think it has both positive and negative effect on students. Somehow students come closer to technology but also it has negative effect on the mental health of students. Pandemic offer us new ways of teaching and learning. The coronavirus pandemic has spurred the adoption of distance learning at all education levels. Thousands of colleges and universities closed nationwide. The mass transition will be a proving ground for online education.

 

Covid-19 has made it more obvious that the public school system cannot fulfill its mission without families. This pandemic—along with the many overlapping pandemics our nation now faces, including racial, economic, political and environmental injustices—has also heightened existing barriers between families and schools. The pandemic, however, brought all these innovative, yet still considered by some to be “alternative” education methods to the forefront in ways that our team could have never predicted. It forced school systems to not only rethink their instruction but also figure out how to best use technology to facilitate instruction. Often, that meant moving completely away from replicating in-person, lecture-based models online.

We watched in awe as millions of educators across the world learned how to use Zoom, Miro, Google Classroom and many other curricular tech tools in a matter of weeks, in some cases, only days. They successfully demonstrated that quick change is possible in what has been perceived as an intransigent system, and students can learn how to collaborate quickly using technology, but only if they have training and support.

The takeaway for us is that we must continue innovating and thinking differently about how we can restructure the school day, homework and assessments inside of new education models, given the potential for our students and teachers to collaborate wherever, whenever.

Going virtual also allowed us to explore other opportunities to synthesize small-group learning settings, supported by educators and mentors, and where students can share and collaborate across communities, cultures, cities, states and even countries. One new programming element from this effort included our first-ever national pitch competition for our scholars who worked on generating health-based and edtech solutions to COVID-19.

Students said they enjoyed meeting their peers in other states, and we noticed an enhanced desire to engage along with increased creativity. We will continue to research, leverage and promote the latest tools in tech to enable competitions and events that encourage diverse student participation while also broadening the kinds of professional and peer connections they make.

Global research on e-learning further highlights that it improves the retention power while curtailing the overall time spent in learning a concept. With solitary access to knowledge, some students focus more on their own learning process and cut unnecessary competition of being the "first" to answer in the class. It allows kids to understand themselves and their keenness on any subject better, which enables them to make better higher education or career choices. It also promotes critical thinking among children.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many challenges to students, educators, and parents. Children already coping with mental health conditions have been especially vulnerable to the changes, and now we are learning about the broad impacts on students as a result of schools being closed, physically distancing guidelines and isolation, and other unexpected changes to their lives.

According to a new survey , 78% of households with a high school or college student have experienced disruptions stemming from COVID-19. A worrisome side effect of these disruptions has been the impact on student mental health. Among students impacted by COVID-19, an overwhelming majority (81%) somewhat or strongly agreed they were experiencing increased stress.