Before the Covid-19 pandemic, internet usage on smartphones was largely limited to entertainment purposes. Nowadays enforcing social restrictions became a thing of paramount importance. Schools, colleges, and businesses had to keep their campuses shut to prevent the spread of the virus. But things had to resume at some point and eLearning seemed to be the only safer and practical option. Eventually, organizations and educational institutions established action plans to ensure learning wasn’t affected.
They embraced tools like Zoom, Google Classrooms, and Microsoft Teams which provided a platform that enabled the students to resume their learning. Thanks to remote proctoring software, the skepticism around conducting exams were also solved.
eLearning has allowed all the courses and academic activities are easily accessible to students. But eLearning is not limited to academic activities. Even businesses are using it to upskill their workforce and make sure their sales are not affected. And this trend is only going to grow in the future. Here’s a look at how things have changed across different spheres
eLearning for Students
For students, online learning came across as a boon during the pandemic. It ensured students did not have to wait for a year to resume academics. At the same time, universities and colleges took proactive measures to reduce class hours and academic syllabus. Some argue this impacted academic quality, it was comparatively better than having an entire year wasted.
Not only this but assignments, examinations and seminars, all have been smoothly conducted during the last few months. The most advantageous fact is that all this came at no extra cost. The students simply needed a smartphone or PC and an internet connection to attend classes.
eLearning in Business
For businesses, eLearning had already been a lucrative way to upskill and train employees. Owing to the low cost and flexibility, organizations in different industries had been using tools to improve the skillset of their workforce. During the pandemic, companies significantly scaled up the scope of eLearning across their departments.
The change was visibly seen in the innovative ways adopted to enhanced learning. They started creating microlearning content like infographics, podcasts, and videos to make learning effective and more engaging.
eLearning in Healthcare
eLearning has remarkably helped in training healthcare staff on how to combat the pandemic. Software and tools ensured healthcare could communicate and train medical staff about the appropriate diagnostics and treatment methods to be followed. This helped governments and healthcare workers to scale up the workforce employed.
In addition to combating the pandemic, it opened up an entirely new field of delivering healthcare services – Telemedicine. It is a practice that allowed healthcare professionals to provide medical consultation over the phone or the internet.
Accompanied Challenges with eLearning
Along with the many advantages of online learning, some challenges also need to be addressed.
Strain on Health
Sitting in front of your screen can take a significant toll on your health. Students and employees can develop eye strains, shoulder or back pain, and gain weight. All these can negatively impact their mental health. To prevent this from happening educational institutions and corporate organizations should educate individuals about the correct practices that they should follow while working with digital devices.
Technology Disparity
The biggest difficulty with eLearning has been for the older generation. Having grown up in an environment where the use of technology was a luxury, they have suddenly been forced to live with it as a necessity. It is difficult for them to adapt to modern technologies that keep changing every week. eLearning practices should focus on helping these teachers and employees to get used to the challenging technology environment.
Conclusion
So what can we expect in the future? The pandemic will be gone someday but the push to eLearning that it has created will help mankind for decades to come. People have realized how online learning can become a mass tool to educate and empower individuals. Organizations can take the help of a software development company to create their own educational environment that can deliver a customized learning experience. So there is still a lot of space for eLearning to grow around the globe.
