NURUL SYAFIQA BINTI ISMAIL (GS58268)

Question

a) Discuss what can education learn from COVID pandemic experiences?

Answer:

Nowadays the whole world is having same huge crisis which is the pandemic disease,
Corona Virus-19, called COVID-19. Throughout the issue, every nation down to an individual is
struggling to adapt to the new life normal in the economy, social and every aspect. One of the
most challenging for the students and educators is to adapt in the new situation of education
systems. It is a stress test for the education system around the world. More than 1.7 billion is
affected and 190 countries apply complete or partial closure to the school as a prevention of
Covid-19 pandemic. It is so quick to blend in the new culture of education for the youngster
through remote learning.

Some of the student and educator is happy to work and learn from home as they said it is
timesaving, jammed free, less cost and less energy consumed. However, generally everything has
their advantages and disadvantages as well as good and bad from the individual perception. At
one-point, remote learning teaches us how exhausting it is to be on the screen for all days and
how powerful the learning process when we are engaged and in face-to-face learning session.

The pandemic disease, COVID-19, cases keep surging and rise from day to day indicate the
education session need to continue having online learning and less hope for physical approach
study. Experience in the COVID pandemic resulting the Education Department and policy maker
education to construct many strategies to maintain balance for the education to keep going and
no one left behind. One of the experiences learned is which give good to the educational
community is the flexible time. This is because due to the work from home ‘new normal’, the
educators and students are more time-free at home and just seat in from of the laptop or desktop
to have education session. However, the time spend in from of the screen is not ideal.

According to the University of Peking, online learning session need more concentration and
15 to 30 minutes is more than enough to have a productive leaning session. Secondly, the
advantages learn for the education is the improvement of virtual communication and
collaboration. The remote learning could improve the leadership skill as the learning process in
virtual environment need extra effort than the face-to-face discussion. Online learning consists of
discussion board with classmates, communication via email with professor and collaborate in
various software program.

Clearly, the education systems change because of the pandemic in country could give
advantages to student and educator. lastly, the new systems of education greatly reduce cost in
the mostly everything such as cost for fuel traveling every day, cost for tolls and also beverages
for the whole working days. This is because the fully occupied day need educator and student to
have everything for instant to reduce and save their time and the charge is the cost. Therefore,
the education system in the pandemic COVID-19 does a huge change to the people around the
world.

As for the disadvantages for the education system during the COVID-19 experience is the
new environment of online study as the platforms. Many institutions were forced to the virtual
learning environment despite of traditional physical approach due to the pandemic. Even though
the resources are easy to reach and the notes is uploaded to the leaning and administrative
platform, it is not easy move for everyone to adapt quickly in the moment. Some of the students
and educators having problem at the start of the pandemic to used the virtual learning due to their
lack of preparedness and new to it. Thus, the online learning perform surely could become a new
and good approach but still need to have some time to fully the people adapt.

In addition, the most problem and disadvantage of the virtual learning and teaching is to
have up-to-date technology. The technology is the crucial technical equipment to have for a
digital platform study. This is because an old digital device could not support some of the
learning software and resulting non-user friendly and less effective. Therefore, it is vital for
every people to have to go through the virtual learning and does not left behind in education.

Lastly, less valuing community also one of the online system education disadvantages
during the pandemic. This is because the on-distance-learning make the educators, students,
collaborators a hard time to reach and into continuous contact. Thus, resulting in poor
understanding, late project submission and many more. Clearly being isolated from family,
classmates, teachers really give a huge challenging to the people and that is why the community
must play their role as good as possible to stay in touch with each other.

In the conclusion, there are so much good and bad experience as well as advantages and
disadvantages of the virtual education system and surely giving a huge impact towards the policy
of the education in the country. The education policy maker and minister of education as well as
every individual in the education department giving their best effort to keep on the education and
make sure not even single person left behind in their study. According to The World Economic
Forum, in order for students to adapt to the new normal, education policy must will to change
curricula, the educational model and even the schedules for the student to concentrate and
participate in class. Therefore, this is the right time to pause, analyze, reflect and rethink the
education that we have known before and the new virtual education systems.

Question:

b) Propose appropriate educational policy, strategy, and action that have stronger respond in
safeguarding our future and support their learners to COVID pandemic.

Answer:

First of all, when we are facing the abnormal situation like Covid pandemic, education
field must have a plan that absorb emergency with minimum inconvenience known as
Contingency Educational Planning. In this case, the contingency having virtual class rather than
physical class to minimize the risk for students to get expose in pandemic situation. This is new
norms for Malaysian especially for primary and secondary student do the open and distance
learning (ODL). Somehow, we need to do this to help our nation to prevent the Covid to become
worse. It might not be easy due to our readiness to face the problem but we ought to have more
policies or plans or strategy to make this to be effective for all of students without anyone left
behind in education.

Secondly, Adaptive Educational Planning which is we adapt the current situation as a

result of reaction of the educational development should be implement in order to support the
safeguard our future and support their learners. The adaptation is essential to solve the problem
in the narrowest sense. In adapting, we need to have policy to aid educator to deliver the lesson
efficiently. One of the suggestion policies is every educator need to make the videos for every
topic of the subject regarding to lesson plan. The video should be uploaded on YouTube so that
students can access more new knowledge from over the nation and also can overcome the
understanding problem in the online class. This is because; there is barrier in learning virtually
specifically to understand better the learning outcome and educators have limitation on observing
or evaluating unlike they did it during the physical class.

Apart from that, in the same roof of Educational Planning, I propose the culture of ODL
be promoting to ensure that the traditional parents or parents in rural area adapt with the new
norms of learning. The strategies that can be applied are spreading the awareness through media
such as the Ministry of Education do some advertisement of how parents can help the kids in
learning at home and also involving the politicians to educate the people around them and
respective department by using his power.

Next will be Compulsive Educational Planning where in education there must be a

detailed account on what should be done. For example, there must have a schedule or timetable
of class that will be held. The attendance of teachers and students must be recorded. If teacher do
not feeling well, should have medical certification as the attendance of going to school and there
must another teacher who is release the class. The same idea goes to student; they must have
strong reason for not joining the class. They cannot skip the class unnecessarily. If they cannot
make the deal without concrete reason, the authority should take an action towards the
delinquency.

Furthermore, we should have Indicative Educational Planning to safeguard that right

indications given in the hope that the students in turn will actively involve in virtual class. The
first and foremost, the Ministry of Education ought to improve digital software that education
friendly. For example, if we using Zoom software to conduct the online class, it not friendly
since it have limitation of time (40 minutes per session). Virtuous software that stress-free to
handle by Baby Boomers generation teachers must be created so that the lesson can be conduct
well. As the software is friendly to everyone, there will be minimum issues regarding to the tools
for having the virtual class.
 Besides focusing the right signal, we have to evoke that not all the student capable to join
the class, for the most part is the B40 family and also people in the rural area. Most of them can
afford the facilities like laptop or personal computer or tablet that we are using to join the class.
The support should be in term of providing facilities and internet connection has to give to them
so that they will not left behind in education. These needy groups have to get the same
knowledge and receive the same education as the other citizen to be fair and there prevent the
edification gap between the rich and the needy. This will be inflated if government do it itself,
somehow we also can increase non-governmental agency involvement since there are a lot of
registered NGOs and volunteers in Malaysia that always ready to help the Malaysian. By
involving them, many areas can be access and people in need can be aid more rapidly.

Lastly, the Manipulative Educational Planning must be fulfilling so that the maximum
result will achieved. The private sector also should take part to counter the issues of poor internet
connection. The telecommunication company is duty-bound to recover the coverage problem
since the delinquent so obvious when citizen start working from home, the connection of internet
become deprived at the certain area specifically beyond the urban area. The telecommunication
substation can be added to more places in Sabah and Sarawak to be specific so that there is no
more issues of climbing the tree to get the internet line in order to submit the assignments.