EdTech And Virtual Education

The novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted almost every sphere of the economies of many nations. In particular, the education sector has been hit hardest as schools across different countries closed to mitigate the risk of transmission of the virus, and help flatten the curve.

American schools, colleges, and universities are also in a new territory as far as education is concerned. For higher education institutions, the transition from in-person learning to remote or digital learning has seen many faculty members establish new routines.

However, there are other faculty members who are still trying to work out how to teach courses that require practical in-person classroom settings. For this group of teachers, there are online platforms available but they’re still learning to master the software and other requirements for best results.

Students are also trying to adjust to the “new normal” and keep up with the expectations of learning as much as they can without the energy and social connection of the physical classroom or residential school environment.

State Of Online Learning Statistics For 2020

Before the pandemic, 18 percent (1 in five) of US tertiary-level students were learning online exclusively, and by the fall of 2018, about a third of the students had taken at least one course online. Khan Academy, Coursera and Quizlet are top education websites, primarily for supplemental instruction and tutoring.

A report on Distance Education Enrollment found that of the students at US degree-granting, higher education students, 30 percent enrolled in at least one course. Plus, about half of the student population in these institutions enrolled only in online courses.

Another survey found that 42 percent of the respondents had taught an online-only course for credit.

As of April 2020, 98 percent of higher education institutions had moved majority of their in-person classes online. For example, the University of Washington, which closed on March 7, 2020, moved classes and examinations online for almost 50,000 students.

Similarly, 43 percent of education institutions had already invested in new online learning resources, while 93 percent of institutions implemented remote working policies for their teaching staff.

Best Online Learning Platforms For K-12 And College

Online learning has gone mainstream and there’s no better time to research online learning platforms.The challenge lies in picking the best option from the sheer number of choices available these days. Becoming a proficient user is a necessity and becoming a trainer or consultant in these technologies is a viable and burgeoning business opportunity.

We’ll mention some of the best online learning platforms available for K-12 and college learning levels being used around the world today.

The major Learning Management Systems (LMS) for K-12 and college learners are Moodle, Blackboard Learn, Instructure Canvas, and D2L Brightspace. These LMSes represent a significant chunk of the market share in terms of student enrollments in the higher education market in the US and Canada.

A 2017 report found that 91 percent of student enrollments and 87 percent of institutions rely on either of these big four platforms, with Blackboard being the most popular.

For K-12 learners, there are some unique challenges that accompany online education compared to in-person learning setups. There’s a need to inject online learning with in-person instruction. Also, primary and secondary schools differ from higher education institutions in terms of the legacy investments they have in online learning. One important resource for educators and parents is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). They are a community of global educators who believe in the power of technology to transform teaching and learning, accelerate innovation and solve tough problems in education.

The K-12 segment has quickly embraced Google’s G Suite for Education, which was astutely marketed to teachers as the latter drive adoption of online tools and platforms based on ease of use, cost, and application. This strategy isn’t as effective in the higher education segment.

Other platforms like Google Classroom, Edmodo, and Schoology among others used in blended learning can track and assign online work, which sometimes is linked to improved outcomes for the learners.

Unlike LMSes, which dominate the higher education market, these platforms are less feature-rich. Not only that, but they’re also designed for end users both in terms of ease of use and cost as teachers, parents, and students can experiment and use them at no cost.

It’s no wonder that such online, public-facing platforms boast millions of users across different countries around the world. This has blurred the lines between K-12 and college spaces owing to the popularity and rich learning communities that these platforms have.

For example, Schoology offers higher education courses on its platform, while Quizlet, which is used by one-third of US college students, allows teachers to embed online courses using any of the major LMSes.

Moodle is also popular among universities and colleges, but high schools looking for an open-source, modular platform that can scale beyond the other LMSes have embraced it.

All these platforms can be used interchangeably between K-12 and college levels.

Instructure Canvas offers a fresh interface, extensive integrations with other platforms and tools, native cloud hosting. Moodle, on the other hand, is feature-rich and suitable for colleges and higher learning institutions on a budget.

Schools interested in competency-based learning may want to go with D2L Brightspace over the other LMSes, while Schoology offers a blend of an LMS and academic social network. Like Instructure Canvas, Schoology also offers integrations with other platforms and tools making work easier for school administrators.

Blackboard also offers a cloud-hosted version of its platform, while others like Quizlet and Edmodo are popular for their ability to blend in with existing in-person courses.

Fortunately, you can use multiple platforms thanks to the support for learning tools interoperability (LTIs) and APIs. Native web hosting is another important consideration as it frees administrators from the hassles of having to host LMSes or configure servers.

There are many other learning platforms such as Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Coursera and more that offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) for self-paced learning, but at a cost. Such platforms offer courses on coding, languages, or even corporate trainings for employees.

For adult students, these online learning platforms help them meet certification requirements for professional careers as they receive certification from reputable institutions that are recognized globally.

Accreditation Requirements: Do Minimum Requirements Still Apply?

Learning institutions recognize the fact that the pandemic has created an uncertain environment for learners who have to make critical decisions based on their educational pursuits.

A good example is the University of California Irvine (UCI), which is delivering all its undergraduate courses in a remote format. All academic units in the institution have comprehensive plans that can handle any pandemic-associated uncertainty and offer students what they need.

UCI suspended some of its minimum requirements temporarily especially for admitted students to ensure that they can enroll as planned. The university has also adjusted financial aid packages on a case by case basis depending on family financial circumstances.

Admission policies have also been temporarily relaxed to ensure students don’t get penalized for not being able to take standardized tests or earn letter grades during the pandemic period.

The goal of these and other changes is to ensure that there’s a fair process in place that won’t affect the life chances of students who would’ve ideally been full-time students at the university.

All these changes are temporary and necessary, but they don’t lower the admission bar. Instead, they accommodate the real barriers faced by students so admission continues to be competitive either way.

New STEM Careers In Demand As Result Of The Pandemic

The pandemic has prompted young minds to consider careers in STEM-related fields and refocus their minds after witnessing the agility of engineers in mitigating and handling the crisis.

A research by the Institution of Engineering and Technology found that 63 percent of 10-18 year olds are considering a career in medicine having witnessed the efforts of the National Health Service workers and engineers in England to counter COVID-19.

Of the young people surveyed by IET during the research, 82 percent believe that science should have a huge role in government decision making.

STEM is now a desirable career field with young people putting doctor, inventory, and engineer as the ‘coolest’ careers. The children’s motivations revolve around priorities such as saving lives, improving health, and doing things that benefit society.

Smart Asset also found that in 2018, about 7.31 million Americans were employed in STEM occupations, compared to 6.80 million STEM workers in 2014.

There are further opportunities for those interested in joining the growing STEM industry to find jobs, with an expected uptick in most STEM occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that by 2028, the number will increase to be 8.05 million STEM workers.

Occupations such as mathematicians, statisticians, actuaries and others lead the way as the STEM group with the highest projected growth in job demand. Similarly, computer science occupations make up the highest representation, with engineers as the runners up.

Computer science occupations is predicted as the group that will yield more than 1 million job openings by 2024, while surveyors, architect, cartographers and so on will yield the smallest projected career openings.

Some of the STEM careers projected to have the highest demand include computer systems analyst, statisticians, software developers, mathematicians, and financial advisors. Students benefit from knowing and understanding that what they focus on at school has a real-world application.

With the rise in online learning and the advancements in education technology, the post-COVID future looks bright. We’ll have a robust learning ecosystem that will serve both students and knowledge seekers well.