Shift from brick-and-mortar learning to digital education
COVID-19 emergence has raised awareness of skills shortages, emphasizing the importance of gaining traction across industries when it comes to implementing digital education and training. In this situation, whether classrooms are set to permanently re-open, or whether a more hybrid online/in-person approach will become the new norm, digital education technology will be at the center of the educational experience.
Decisions made now in the framework of COVID-19 will have long-term implications for educational outcomes. Learners all around the world can now take advantage of a variety of remote learning options thanks to digital technology and enabling educators to create intriguing digital education for all. Now is the time to develop a vision for how education may emerge from this global meltdown stronger than ever before, as well as a strategy for leveraging education's newfound support in nearly every community on the planet. Digital education has come up with interactive whiteboards, tablets, and laptops that have replaced all the chalkboards, textbooks, and clunky desktop computers of the traditional classroom.
Diminishing the line between classroom-based instruction and virtual learning
Virtual learning can supplement existing brick and mortar classes, promote inclusive learning and maintain educational continuity in the face of long-term closures. As more educators are utilizing virtual classrooms, we can take a closer look at the advantages:
Utilizing virtual classrooms to maximize interactivity
Through remote learning, the organization, materials, and activities are all replicated in a different physical area. Take for example, most schools and colleges continue to arrange sessions with teachers and students in class groupings and follow online school schedules, trying to replicate traditional teacher and student interactions in “Virtual classrooms” and maximize interactivity.
Teachers during this crisis have been the creative ones in adapting the new virtual classroom practices. In layman terms, teacher and student simple greetings and building the student-to-student relationship to maintain engagement through virtual sessions - Teachers have mastered it all. Teachers have successfully re-created many of the small-group student learning structures to support collaborative and higher-level learning with the help of breakout rooms.
Digital specific course design
Instead of just converting offline content to a digital format, online programs should be built expressly for digital devices. Simple course design ends up creating a disengaging experience for students. Lecture content merely converted to video format is not enough to engage students. Teachers should make use of digital tool such as interactive video to make their online lectures more engaging.
H3: Face-to-face interactions to improve online retention
Face-to-face connection does not have to be limited to teaching; it can also include help from teachers through video call, whether via Skype or Zoom. Learners need a sense of being cared about by their professors and that this feeling can dramatically improve their motivation. These sessions also help you understand your courses and training with clarity and also clarify your concerns directly in the presence on educators.
Expect immediate feedback on your training and education
Regular and constructive communication between students and teachers improves the online learning experience. It is often referred to as supported engagement. Quality and timeliness of lecturer feedback can be the most valued form of online learning connection. The feedback loop which is automatically present in face-to-face interactions needs to be considered in online course delivery. Teachers can use educational tools such as assignment review or they can deliver their feedback in the form of discussion response, regular formative assessment.
Digital education not only presents opportunities for today’s remote learning environments but also promotes new ways of thinking about teaching, learning and the traditional classroom. Digital education turns away from the tradition of static, unidirectional lectures, uses more interactive forms of learning, including activities such as:
conceptual mapping
brainstorming
collaborative writing
case-based instruction
cooperative learning
role-playing
simulation
project-based learning
peer teaching
Epilogue
Digital education is not a traditional classroom activity moved in an online environment. It is a learning experience embedded within the learning curriculum that is designed to experience online. This learning strategy is online regardless of whether a classroom is face-to-face or remote. Students engage in core learning processes and outcomes in a virtual learning instructional sequence, which will require different types of computer technologies.
