I feel a combination of offline and online education is more sustainable in our country right now: Anushree,IBA

These are first-hand student accounts on how our young population is managing to keep their exam prep or college course work going from the confines of their homes. In case you want to share your lockdown study experience, write to us at publish@shiksha.com.

Post COVID-19 crisis and global lockdowns, the percentage of online classes have increased substantially. With schools, colleges, and all educational institutes closed for an undefined period of time, educators had to resort to online platforms. Well, it took a pandemic to cause this shift globally. Otherwise, online education would not have acquired such a vast audience all at once.  But is it sustainable? Can it match the standards of an offline learning session? These are the questions, which we have always pondered on and probably kept us from choosing online over offline.

Crises like this taught us that education never stops and all thanks to online platforms. They have kept the momentum going without having to sacrifice on the learning part! Therefore, it showed the potential online education possesses, giving us global access to a completely new world of knowledge and skills. You name a course or subject, you have it. Therefore, looking at the fast pace of market changes, the rate at which new skills are coming into the picture every day it is important to have a resource that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and learned at a pace we are comfortable with. That is only possible with an online medium.

I particularly have utilized platforms like Udemy and Coursera, exploring different courses on HTML, digital marketing and web analytics. I have found them quite intuitive, and well explained along with several practical assignments to test my learnings.

They also give certifications at low prices. I have had a positive experience studying online.

Besides, the offline classes of schools and colleges that are now being conducted online by educators do not feel much different with the help of platforms like Zoom. They can still teach, do practical assessments, and engage class participation as they used to in offline mode. It is a matter of mindset and ability to adapt to completely reap the benefits out of online learning. Over time, the maturity of the sector has enabled it to become more manageable and executable than before.

I personally feel we need both online and offline education. Some feel that online education has made learning accessible globally, enabling education for all. And, some feel that it somewhere lacks the personal touch of student-teacher communication that helps in the overall development of students. I feel, instead of completely and only weighing down on the offline education system, it is viable to extend its roots and make some parts online.

For example, conducting online exams instead of paper & pen exams, Railways in India could save about 4 lakhs trees. Imagine the impact of this on a global scale. Even subjects requiring comprehensive answers can be put online. After all, the motive of education is not finishing a paper on time. It actually understands the subject such that one can answer any question. Therefore, mindsets need to be changed. Methods need to be changed. There is nothing that cannot be done online today, especially when it comes to learning and exams. Institutes just have to be willing to do it. Therefore, I feel a combination of offline and online education is more sustainable in our country right now.

About the Author:

Anushree is a second-year student at Indus Business Academy, Bangalore. She is a writer, visual content creator, logophile and avid movie lover, A digital marketing enthusiast, she loves chai and is extremely fond of huskies