How students can modify their at-home activities; get into the habit of taking online classes and using learning apps to minimize disruption to their studies.
Amidst the massive outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in China in late December 2019, countries across the globe have been facing an extraordinary ripple effect of the epidemic at multiple levels be it, economic slowdown, obstructions in international travel, trade hindrances, public seclusion and so on.
With regard to Education, approximately 290.5 million students worldwide have been affected by the outbreak so far, owing to the closure of schools, cancellation of classes and exams, etc. as per a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation. In India, almost all the schools and colleges have been closed and institutions have begun to cancel the classes and move them online, as a part of the country's sweeping attempt to contain the spread of the virus.
However, this raises a serious concern for learners and coaching/tutoring institutes preparing for competitive examinations with students not being able to access learning resources during the last leg of their preparation and having all the major entrance and university exams like UPSC, NEET etc. between now and the next two months.
How to ensure the continuity of learning: The power of Digital
While health officials scramble to get a grip on multiple outbreaks in different cities, it has become critical for institutes to step up and become more responsive towards catering to the needs and demands of learners. The need of the hour is to harness the power of digital and shift towards online and virtual ways of learning by:
Forming peer to peer groups on Whatsapp or Telegram
Facilitating online lectures
Another way in which coaching institutions and academies can help students remain up to date with their preparation is enabling online lectures or classes by teachers so that all the major topics can be covered and revision can be done in an effective manner.
Creating an online doubt clearing platform for students
Through organizing live webinars, video calls and conferences from time to time, institutes can provide students with an opportunity to clear their doubts and receive the right guidance from instructors. This can also include the creation of a live forum wherein students can post their queries and get timely responses from their teachers.
Apart from the above measures, there is also an overwhelming need for institutes to adopt an online digital learning platform which can not only help students and teachers stay connected and take classes virtually, but can also-
- Provide a personalised learning experience to students by customising itself to the unique skills and needs of every learner.
- Provide a repository of mock tests, previous year papers, practice questions etc. in order to help students brush up their knowledge from time to time and stay focused.
- Provide real time assessment and feedback through periodic quizzes and review tests along with remediation, which could help students not only to evaluate their scores but also work on the problem and weak-scoring areas.
Additionally, opting for such a tech enabled platform will support students and allow them to learn by staying in the safety and security of their homes, while helping coaching institutes to ensure better learning outcomes, save time and increase accessibility for everyone, at the same time.
As a part of its mission to empower learners and expose them to a new age and 21st century model of education, Pearson offers MyInsights, which is an AI-powered digital assessment platform helping students prepare for IIT JEE (Mains and Advanced). Having four levels of testing, adaptive assessment, detailed solutions and insightful reports, it is a complete learning solution for effective and robust preparation for students and tutoring schools.
Institutes can form peer to peer groups on platforms such as Whatsapp or Telegram which will help teachers and students to stay connected on the go and share all the relevant updates and information regularly such as study notes, syllabus, exam guidelines, preparation tips and so on.
India has entered the fifth week of its nationwide lockdown on Friday as Covid-19 has been declared as Pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO) and there is a sense of fear and panic all around the globe.
Given the government-led advisory for schools to remain shut to protect students from Coronavirus till further notice, the role of online education and learning apps has become critical and is seeing a sharp growth in acceptance and usage.
It is now widely understood that most students may not be able to resume classes in schools and colleges until the end of summer.
This has led more and more institutions exploring most effective e-learning applications to make learning accessible to students in the comfort and safety of their homes.
Rise of online learning in Covid-19 lockdown
Online classes, e-learning platforms, virtual classes on social media platforms have started emerging to provide uninterruped teaching-learning processes.
Home learning applications like Learnflix are offering comprehensive learning with the availability of eBooks on their platform which provides a student more in-depth information and study material.
With schools shut, there is barely a boundary between the bedroom and classroom now. The play time and me time is getting merged with school time for millions of children in the country.
Hence, a student needs to change their at-home activities so that they can get into the habit of taking online classes or using books and learning apps since preparing for exams from home and home learning is usually not an easy task to do.
To get your at-home schedule on track and prepare for exams effectively, here are a few pointers that can help:
1. Setting up goals
Define your goals so that you can measure your progress and create a timetable to achieve these goals. If you have a goal in mind to achieve, then you can easily separate your study time to accomplish that.
[Parents can encourage goal setting in their kids - during this time this skill is important] There are a few proven techniques in setting goals that you can use:
- Write a clear goal
- Place it where it is easily visible
- Create a specific action plan for each goal
- Visualize yourself accomplishing them
- Celebrate your accomplishment
2. Set a routine
To ensure that each day is productively utilized, a routine is a must. Following a timetable ensures that students are able to allocate adequate timings to each academic subject, recreational activities, personal time and even family time. Some of the steps we should keep in mind:
- Making their weekends special
- Parents can give rewards to kid
- Remain calm and connected
- Set a TV and play time
- Prepare the night before
By setting these rules a student can ensure that he/she has time for every activity be it related to study or home.
3. Create a proper learning space
There should be a proper desk and a space for learning activities or studies. Find a quiet place where you can focus on studies with minimal distractions and that space should be away from the TV and video games.
Also, there should not be any kind of eating or playing activity around the desk.
4. Exchange of knowledge
Students can have some feel of studying in a group and interactions by having informative conversations with family members in the house, discuss their learning with friends over calls.
This exchange can be stimulating and engaging somewhat like a real-life classroom during the Covid-19 lockdown.
5. Stay healthy and charged
Learning from home can be a new experience for you as you are just sitting at your home and studying but it shouldn’t be like sitting 24x7 in front of your desktop or system as that can induce boredom and eye fatigue.
Students should take breaks between lessons to stretch, hydrate, or just unplug.
6. Reward yourself
Remember to treat yourself to a movie or game or anything you like when you finish the task for the day.
It will keep you motivated to finish the work and look forward to doing something more and achieve.
7. Stay connected
During the Covid-19 lockdown, not following your daily routine of getting up, going to school and not seeing your school friends face-to-face every day can be hard. One should also be connected to their friends.
Some other ways of being connected with them can be doing common assignments and then share your experience and progress with them.
8. Sleep well
Last but not the least, in spite of this disruption to your normal routine, ensure you have proper sleep to feel charged for the day. Sleeping poorly, or less adequately can make you lethargic and your can have difficulty in focusing.
The Covid-19 lockdown is a critical time for students as they make a sudden transition to a new mechanism of learning.
Students - and parents - must keep the engagement levels high and monitor their continued progress along with all the steps indicated above on a daily basis to help them prepare better for their exams during this unusual, disruptive time.
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