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Emerging Trends of Education During & Post COVID 19: A New Challenge

Article  in  Solid State Technology · August 2020

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 Solid State Technology
Volume: 63 Issue: 1s
Publication Year: 2020

Emerging Trends of Education During & Post COVID

19: A New Challenge
Prof. Gunjan Jain
Faculty of Humanities
Sharda University
Andijon, Uzbekistan
drgunjan.virgo@gmail,com

ABSTRACT

According to Oscar Wilde, “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from
time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”

Education is a fundamental right of every individual as it plays a prominent role in life.

The spread of COVID19, has paused the life due to worldwide lockdown effecting the life of
people, families and communities. Many countries outside Asia have declared shut down of
educational institution impacting the life of approximately sixty billion students across the
globe. All the sectors including education sector are to the utmost grinding halt disrupting more
than 300 million student’s education due to the global pandemic because the educational
institutions are not ready to meet the challenges of giving protection and safe educational
facilities to students.
As an alternate way of learning Online/ E learning mode has been widely accepted
which is proven to be an opportunity and a challenge as there is still unknown that is not giving
the desired output in teaching learning process.

This paper aims to highlight the impact of pandemic on education globally, while
adapting the E Learning and exploring the opportunities and facing the challenges during and
post COVID19

Key words: Education, Online teaching, Learning, Challenge, Process , Innovative Learning
E Teaching.
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Publication Year: 2020

1. Introduction

According to Arnold Palmer, “the most rewarding thing you do in life are often the ones that
look like they cannot be done.”
COVID 19 has drastically affected the life of people across the globe. The virus is spreading
exponentially in the world irrespective of climatic conditions, country, religion. Many
countries have declared lockdown with imposing severe quarantine for controlling the highly
contagious infection. Billions of people are facing the COVID challenge on the global level,
due to lockdown as they are restricted to visit one another, unable to go to work or attend
school, fail to meet or greet each other at public places.

According to UNICEF monitory report 106 countries are implementing nationwide closure,
resulting which 1.3-1.5 billion students are influenced by the closure of educational institutions.
Though, the educational institutions are temporarily shut down due to the pandemic but the
after effects will be alarming as it will not affect the education system but will influence the
other aspects of student’s life. UNESCO has published a detailed document on the unusual
situation of COVID19 in the world of academics. Closure of academic institutions impacted
the life of 72% of the world population and its repercussions on society can be summarized as
follows: [1]

 The closure of educational institutions impacted under privileged learners because they
do not have other learning opportunities other than schools, colleges, universities.
 Many educational institutions provide free meal to attract the students to join schools,
and after declaration of the lockdown the nutrition of the learners is compromised.
 Teachers get disconnected with the students in a situation of unprepared lockdown
resulting in failing to full fill their responsibility.
 Parents fail to expedite the learning of their children because of limited educational
resources.
 Transitions from traditional classrooms to virtual platforms tend to be messy and
frustrating for students and teachers due to enormous human and technical challenges.
 In the crisis of global pandemic, the financial constraint is a major hurdle for the
parents as they are bound to stay at home with their children due to the closure of
educational institutions in the absence of alternative options.
 Many children and youth fail to connect with their peer group and miss social contact
which is equally important for learning and development as the schools are declared
closure

Corona warriors – doctors, police, nurses, cleaners are willing and dedicatedly contributing the
society ensuring the safety of each and every individual. In the same chain the support of teachers
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is widely acknowledged as they are passionately working while involving students in learning
process through virtual mode knowing that this mode of teaching is not easy of them as well as

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Volume: 63 Issue: 1s
Publication Year: 2020

for the students and their parents, still they initiated with the process of teaching and learning
virtually.
However, since there are not many options for the time being, educators are trying to adapt and
adjust to the new mode of education. Many new learning perspectives will emerge as there are
many unknown areas that are yet to be explored by teachers, parents, administration and
students.

2.Online Education- An Opportunity During COVID 19

World Health Organization declared COVID 19 global pandemic. It is assumed that
approximately 23.8 million additional children and youth might not get access to school,
college and Universities in the coming years. Social distancing and restricted mobility have
displaced the traditional way of teaching and learning with various strategies and electronic
resources. The people around the world have been readjusting to the work-from-home trend
and students are everyday following learn- from- home- phenomenon.

Technological advancement has made education easy and approachable. Online learning, open
learning, web-based learning, computer-mediated learning, blended learning, m-learning, offer
an opportunity to learn from anywhere, anytime and with any means. This innovation in
teaching and learning process along with speedy changes in mode of delivery has highlighted
the optimistic approach in education sector. Presently, the real time classrooms and interaction
have been replaced by the virtual classrooms, with the help of chatrooms occurring through
online channels. The virtual classrooms are being planned using the platform such as video
conferencing (Google meet, Google handout, Webinar jam, Microsoft Team, Zoom, Slack,
Cisco WebEx) and customised cloud-based learning management platform (ELIAS/
MOODLE).The flipped classroom provide online study material, pre-recorded videos and
lecture link before the commencement of lectures. Online learning established trust and level
of comfort as it provides flexibility for participation and interaction. Besides the more the
country digitalized the more the possibilities contributing to creating digital native and to them
online exposing and managing everything standing on virtual platform is always easy-going
(Orlando & Attard, 2015) [2]

COVID 19 has substantially changed the life style of every individual. Education field
cannot be isolated from the alternative opportunities of virtual education during ‘keep social
distance’ period. The pandemic has transformed the centuries old traditional method i.e. Chalk
and Talk model to one driven by Technology, use of information communication technology
has become the preferred choice to ‘re start’ education from face-to-face lectures to online
classes. As futurist and philosopher Alvin Toffler once wrote: "the illiterate of the 21st century
will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and
relearn."[3] Global pandemic has provided an opportunity to teachers and students to learn,
unlearn and relearn the teaching modes and develop new skill or enhance the existing set of
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skills. Teachers have started creating the study material, training material and skill
development program in collaboration with variety of content like Word, PDF, Excel File,

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Volume: 63 Issue: 1s
Publication Year: 2020

Audio Video etc. The online teaching can be termed as ‘blessing in disguise’ for teachers as
well as for students. The opportunities examined during COVID 19 can be counted as follows:

Online Teaching- An Opportunity for Teachers:

 Online Teaching gives teachers an opportunity to explore innovative methods of teaching

with the help of technology and online tools like: digital libraries, search engines and social
media
 Students and teachers can be connected across the geographies through computer assisted
teaching and learning with flexible schedule.
 E Learning develops a sense of community and compassion among teachers and learners as
it develops belongingness by transcending obstructions.
 Online teaching supports teachers in overcoming administrative obstacles, as maintaining
students track is not essential, resulting they can work more on self-development.
 Computer assisted teaching enhances the efficiency of the teachers as mismanagement in
working is avoided.
 Online teaching supports student teacher one to one interaction during sessions, which builds
confidence in each other for each other.

Online Learning- An Opportunity for Students:

 Online teaching and learning have given students an opportunity to overcome the academic
hurdles created by the closure of academic institutions. Students developed the ability to
learn using different online tools and methods which worked as learning with fun resulting
learning is not disrupted because of the pandemic.
 It is observed that student’s retention increased from 25-60% more content through online
teaching in comparison to offline teaching where students understand only 8-10%.
 E-learning requires 40-60% less time as they can re-read, skip, or accelerate the concepts of
their choice.
 Online teaching gives introvert and shy students a platform to share their personal issues
like frustration, adjustments or mishaps in private chat conversation more freely.
 Online learning mode is affordable to the economically weak students as they can access
internet in small amount according to their need.

3. Online Education – A Challenge During COVID 19

In the emerging scenario of the global pandemic while examining the future trends of
education both myths, and realities are addressed. The academic schedules are badly disturbed
due to the closure of academic institutions and the online teaching is not viable for the those
residing in the rural or backward areas as they have limited computer access, erratic Wi-Fi issues
and pathetic electricity supply result being virtual classes are very stressful for teachers and
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students who are not used to of working with technology. Many countries could not support the
learners during COVID 19 crisis
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The global pandemic is likely to continue for a certain period of time until vaccine is
available and the academic institutions authorities put forward in place alternative methods for
learners and teachers to continue with their teaching learning process till the time educational
institutions are ready to provide safe working environment. Corona crisis has encouraged
innovation in education sector and training continuity from radio television to take home
packages. However, since there are not many options that are user friendly so all are working
hard for adjusting and adapting to the new technology-based- education system as normal as
traditional mode of teaching and learning (face-to- face- method).
During COVID19 schools and colleges are facing a wide scope of difficulties, like
students are withdrawing from the schools and colleges, high dropout rates, and the instant
switching from conventional "one-size-fits-all" method of teaching to E Learning out any
technical knowledge, way to deal with training. Students are under terrible psychological stress
due to stigma and discrimination of physical and economic well-being related to the pandemic.
The pandemic crisis has aggravated pre-existing education disparities by reducing the learning
opportunities for children, youth and adults and erase decades of progress. The World Bank
identifies three possible scenarios for the loss of learning:
 A reduction in average learning level for all students
 A widening of the distribution of learning achievement due to highly unequal
effects of the crisis on various population
 Significant increase of student with very low level of achievement due in part to
massive dropouts. [4]

The field of online teaching & learning has given everyone a chance to experience new learning,
develop new perspectives, and accept new trend of education while heading into the great
unknown field of imparting knowledge with technology. The teachers, students and parents are
facing challenges, as the practice and assessment of online education is limited in the variety and
modes in which they are allocated is affecting the students and teachers ending that they are
experiencing a number of challenges. Adapting to online environment can be a challenge for
both facilitators and students. The technical issues, complexity, sequencing of activities is among
the major obstacles to the incorporation of multimedia application in the learning.
Major identified challenges are as follows:

Challenge 1- Economic Disparity:

Th economic impact on household is likely to widen the inequalities in education. Many times,
due to financial constraint student fail to get the benefit of online teaching and learning because
some students do not have the financial stability of buying smart phones, computer, laptop etc.
needed to adapt to the new mode of instruction. Student’s belonging from lower socio-
economic background lack reading opportunities, parental support with their home work during
school closure.

Challenge 2- Missing Technical Support

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Around the world because of the high usage rate of online learning system people across the
world are experiencing technical difficulties. In some country’s challenge is faced because

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Volume: 63 Issue: 1s
Publication Year: 2020

internet connection is unstable to cover the progressive e-learning needs, platforms are
overloaded, resulting poor quality video and audio. Students in both urban and rural areas are
struggling to bridge the ‘homework gap’. The teachers and students are trying to encounter the
issue of the bad internet connection during the online lessons, for which maximum time is
wasted in connecting with the students and teachers.
Challenge 3- Lack of Technical Skills

Teachers, parents and students are not adapted to the use of technology equipment, skills and
working conditions as they are familiar with the traditional method of teaching and learning.
Teachers are not trained for conducting virtual classes along with this they have to bear extra
expense to use numerous digital tools for conducting lectures and students are not friendly with
the virtual mode of teaching.

Challenge 4- Stressful Living Conditions

Closure of academic institutions and movements restrictions obstructs routine of students and
social support system. In some countries where children are provided with the childcare have
put parents into terrible stress of finding new child care options. The impact of lost
opportunities to learn and loss of freedom of movement as well as future uncertainties add lays
of stress on everyone.

Challenge 5- Long hours of Work

The extended working hours for teachers and students are stressful and leave adverse
psychological impact on them. Teachers try to connect with the parents, students, attend virtual
schools, try to handle the amount of information and also plan the teaching strategy. They are
overwhelmed by technical knowledge they attain while they try to conduct the digital classes
as well as frustrated when they face the issue for which they are neither prepared nor trained.

Challenge 6- Challenge for Weak Learners

Online learning is a kind of challenge for the students having language barrier, or those
suffering from physical ailment, these students face a double problem multiplying the chances
of falling behind.

Challenge 7- Data Security

Covid-19 outbreak, just as any other emergency has given a chance to digital criminals
releasing the wave of cyberattacks. Security of data is overlooked while meeting the objective
of adapting to online learning, especially when temporary free subscription plans are offered
by large e-learning software companies. Teachers and students from the initial days of
lockdown have explored uncountable digital apps, tools to conduct their online lessons without
paying due attention to the personal data that has been filled by the companies. It is important
to keep the sensitive data safe from being stolen for digital tools that supports e-learning.

Challenge 8- Lack of Interaction

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during COVID 19 students’ motivation and learning progress is highly affected as during
classroom teaching students are in eye-to-eye communication with each other, so that they can
react to each other, sharing their experience, crack jokes, & develop understanding for non-
verbal contact, and strengthening the social skills. For many students, a classroom has been a
kind of sanctuary, which is now taken away. It is difficult to put into practice online teaching
without in-person instructions. Online teaching and learning have put teachers and students in
state of psychological stress resulting which most of them feel isolated, scared by the pandemic,
lost their jobs, fully disconnected.

Challenge 9- Missing Result Oriented Education

While online learning students miss to learn to deal with forms of discrimination, anxieties like
stage fright, dealing with groupmates of the opposite sex, and also imbibe emotions and
attitude. Teachers are doubtful about the student’s alertness during the class and it becomes
difficult for them to assess the student’s performance and the understanding of the concepts
through online teaching to student as students are not accustomed of online examination and
teachers of online evaluation, which develop a huge gap in teaching learning process.

Challenge 10-
While opting for online teaching and learning it is observed that students are not prepared to
create balance in their work, family, and social lives along with their studies. There is the
predictable stress for the completion of syllabus while ensuring safety and welfare. Students
were also found to be poorly prepared for several e-learning competencies concerning the usage
of Learning Management Systems

Indeed, academic institutions could not transform all of their academic curricula into an online
resource overnight. Innovative solutions provided by institutions can only work as a support
system to engage the teachers and students in the teaching learning process during this
pandemic. The challenges faced while online teaching justifies the reasons and need to reinvent
education along pathways too long that is blocked by negligence, arrogance and rigidity. The
calamities check the preparedness for the future, so the challenges should be overcome with
the passage of time.
4. Online Education - A Challenge Post COVID 19

No more pencils no more books/ No more teacher’s dirty looks/ Out for summer/ Out till fall/
We might not come back at all/ School’s out forever…/ School’s out with fever”. It seems
these lyrics of Alice Cooper have come back to haunt us.
The opportunity — and challenges that could bring to advanced education are noteworthy.
COVID19 highlights the need for attention towards the need of reformed education system in
which the national affiliations are supplemented by a global affiliation with the purpose to serve
human needs in response to global challenge. In the pandemic situation students are
accustomed to online teaching and teachers are also acclimatized of teaching Online doing
multiple tasks along with teaching, so the future transformation ensures the face to face
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teaching with technological tools. The challenge is, to identify the methods to keep children

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Volume: 63 Issue: 1s
Publication Year: 2020

safe and home when their parents will be back to work Post COVID 19 even if in a staggered
manner.
 The educational institutions will not ready to spend money on infrastructure development
required to shift from traditional learning to online learning.
 The curriculum needs to be reframed keeping in view the objective to impart the right skills
to the students so they remain relevant in the long term, which again is a big challenge for the
authorities to redesign the syllabus.

 The current trend of online teaching and learning requires higher education support
collaboration, educators will need to add more elements of interactivity and collaboration
in their online courses, which is a challenge for the educators to accept the online mode, as
the majority of teachers are not technology savvy and might face problems.

 In tune with the current trends in education, educators would have to repackage their course
content in small sized modules in the form of audio or video, of about 3 to 5 minutes long
containing concise information about a particular topic, that can be accessible on all
platforms including tablets, laptops, PCs and the mobile which will add on task for the
teachers

 Teachers have to learn and adopt technology to upgrade their skills and engage their students.
They would also have to prepare the students for this new situation and equip the parents to
their new roles and responsibilities, which is again a challenging task for them

 Students will not be willing to go to school as they are adapted to the online mode of learning
and can explore new areas and content of their interest.
The pandemic has made the academicians and individuals realize the need to reframe the
curriculum to ensure the presence of the required skills eg. problem solving skills, critical
thinking and adaptability to survive in globalized world. Teachers are hesitant in accepting
change as they find themselves comfortable and confident in face to face teaching, but amidst
this crisis they are left with no alternate but to adapt the online mode of teaching accepting the
challenges which had to be compromised and overlooked in comparison of the benefits during
COVID and Post COVID era.

5. Recommendation & Suggestions

The global pandemic has made everyone realize that life is unpredictable and one need to be
ready to face the challenges as any epidemic does not give time to plan and execute, so it is
important to plan everything from the very beginning in-spite of that it goes waste. The
pandemic has forced to realize and analyse the shortcomings in education system. It is
mandatory that institutions and organizations should prepare emergency plans to deal with
natural and unnatural disasters to overcome the problems that in control of human beings.
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Online teaching should not be taken as a stop gap in the crisis of global pandemic, but it is high
time to analyse and resolve the apt
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solution of education deficit. Post COVID the educational institutions need to improve the
overall efficacy of the education system and the performance of the students. The emphasis
must be laid on the following areas:

- In the digital era education has turned from teacher-centric to both teacher and student-
centric education, virtual classrooms and various online tools keep them engaged as close to a
real, in-classroom like experience, as possible. Technology-based education makes the
education system more transparent and equal. It needs a balanced coordination between course
content, educationists, technology and course-takers and it can only be successfully carried
out with the availability of basic facilities like internet connectivity, availability and
affordability of online systems, PCs, laptops, software, etc. Technology helped to overcome
the crisis but the powerful IT infrastructure is a pre requisite for the online learning as it must
be strong enough to give unobstructed service during and after COVID. Innovative Pedagogies
and technology-based teacher student interaction should be followed by educational
institution to make student a life-long learner.
- Blended Learning need to be adapted that enhance the technological skills along with the
classroom learning. This approach will give students their own pace to study and will develop
high level of self- discipline towards their studies. Use of ICT will redefine the role of teacher
from a knowledge giver to a facilitator. Teacher will focus more on self- development and
course improvement as the major academic task, assessment and evaluation will be conducted
with the use of technology.
- Teachers training is the primary requirement of conducting effective online classes. It is
necessary to ensure that they are comfortable with technology and will be able to seamlessly
switch between online and offline modes of teaching the curriculum. Effectively conducting
online classes will not only be beneficial for the students but also make teachers will feel
empowered to deliver a more impactful lecture than before.
- The role of teacher will be redefined from knowledge giver to guide, mentor and felicitator,
because they have to conduct their class session in more creative way because the students are
updated with the content knowledge through internet. Educators will have to use innovative
techniques to bring in the element of interactivity and collaboration in their e-learning modules.

The mode of virtual teaching does not detach teachers from the sacred responsibility for
shaping the mind of the future generation in being creative. Teachers must follow three
phases during teaching learning process:

 Planning
 Implementing
 Reflecting
In is important for the teachers to plan their academic assignment in advance to overcome the
lastminute issues in both (traditional & technological methods) and then it must be
implemented while conduction classes which must be reflected in the overall personality of the
student. The teaching and learning must be result oriented and creative in nature focusing on
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developing the skill of students to make them ready to meet the global challenges. During the
time of global crisis lot has been learnt following physical distancing and lockdown in many

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Publication Year: 2020

ways: and the period of learning is just beginning of unpredictable situation that will occur in
future but all in educational institutions need to prepare for a different future.

6. Conclusion
The global crisis has made everyone realize the need to change: change in lifestyle, change in
attitude, change in working conditions and change in education system: which is the need of
an hour. In the quarantine period despite the social distancing, self-isolation and online studies
children are facing unprecedented levels of anxiety, which is quite natural, as they are bound
to stay at home, disconnected with their friends and school. It is the prime responsibility of the
educators to equip the students with suitable coping mechanisms and help them to build and
strengthen their connections with supportive manner. The four important issues have been
observed during lockdown that:
Firstly, teacher cannot be replaced by technology. During the closure of education institution,
the entire education ecosystem is putting on the effort to discover new ways of innovative
teaching and learning that could connect with the students and can create more coordination,
more support, and more presence for their students.

Secondly, it is observed that merely watching the videos or listening the lessons is not
sufficient for making the understanding easy for the student. The role of an instructor matters
as they engage, question, explore the content with students through interaction and cross
question students which develops confidence that either they will be appreciated or criticised
by the teacher.

Thirdly, the online course content (LMS) cannot be relied for effective learning. The course
content is designed by the experts is a rigorous rethinking and reimagining as it is based on
effective learning experience, learning concepts and theories that are applicable and adaptable
in the real world.

Fourthly, virtual classrooms on Zoom, Google meet, Microsoft Team etc. help student to
understand the concepts and the content by one-to-one interaction, self-study and the project-
based work that students do on their own is important than the synchronous learning involving
an instructor through online teaching.

The evolution of the education system after this crisis is unpredictable. The lessons learned
during this experience of remote teaching that the entire education sector along with the
teachers and instructors have to adjust in a pervasive world of online learning. The crisis
caused by COVID-19 seems to have brought to light, all the capacities, knowledge and
resources available at all levels of education. Post COVID19, the new challenges and new
factors will come into existence that will alter the environmental conditions, curriculum,
teaching methodologies emphasising its agents and creating new niches to be occupied.
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7. REFERENCE

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1.http://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/consequences[Online]
2. Orlando, J., & Attard, C. (2015). Digital natives come of age: The reality of today’s early
career teachers using mobile devices to teach mathematics. Mathematics Education
Research Journal, 28, 107–121. doi:10.1007/s13394-015-0159-6
3.Ratcliffe Susan Oxford Essential Quotations 4 Edition Oxford University Press 2016

4.https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/09/26/world-bank-warns-of-
learning-crisis-in-global-education [Online]

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