All You Need to Know About Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning utilises computers and internet connection at both teacher’s and student’s end to convey educational lessons.

News reports reveal that nearly 100,000 children tested positive for COVIDI9 between 16 July 2020 to 30 July 2020 as they return to school and universities in the US. 

As COVID19 still has no reliable Vaccine, hence it is not safe opening schools anytime soon.

Therefore, Virtual Learning has gained popularity in schools as well as colleges.

It is an innovative form of learning, which is adopted because of the closure of schools and colleges due to Pandemic COVID19.

As a parent, we should be thankful that the virtual model of learning exists in our country and in our times, and our kids are able to meet their educational timelines.

So, all of us need to have complete information on Virtual Mode of Learning.

Modes of Virtual Learning

Video Classes- In this teacher’s pre-record the sessions on a particular topic and share it with students

Online Classes- These are live interactions of teachers with the whole class on various platforms available. 

Virtual Learning Requirements

Both teachers and students should be equipped with the following to carry out online Learning.

• Smart Phones, Tabs, Laptops, or Computers are needed by both students and teachers, for virtual education.
• High-speed Internet data is also very essential.
• Zoom meet, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams platforms are used to carry on Online Classes
• Besides Emails, Messenger services like What’s App and Telegram are used to share educational videos, daily homework, and other important messages from school.

Challenges of Virtual Learning:

• Teacher supervision is not very effective while teaching the smaller kids.
• It is very hard to make the smaller children sit in online classes for a longer duration. They also get distracted easily.
• It is difficult to teach all the subjects online.
• Many children in rural areas face the problem of handling technology as there is very little expert help around to help them.
• Not all parents are techno-savvy, so they struggle to help their children in school assignments.
• Network connectivity is one of the main issues which hampers the tempo of both teachers and students during virtual classes.

Challenges of Rural and Poor students

Children of urban and well-off families are more likely to have access to the internet, smartphones, and laptops, compared to those who are poor and are living in remote areas. 

In rural areas, it is tough for institutions to keep pace with the rest of the world.

In rural areas, it is tough to access the internet due to the power supply, signal issues, device unavailability, etc. 

This keeps students and schools away from Virtual learning, which is the only mode of learning during Pandemic.

Children who are accustomed to Digital technology will take time to adapt to Virtual learning.

The wrecked financial condition and limited access to virtual learning have forced many children from unprivileged families to discontinue their education.

As per a report by The Hindu dated 23 July 2020, with employment gone due to COVID19 lock down, deprived families are finding it challenging to meet their basic needs. Therefore, forcing children to return to rag picking and begging to feed their families.

Disadvantages

• Social distancing and self-isolation help control the virus to spread due to which schools and colleges are closed. Therefore, Students get deprived of the fun they have with their friends and peer group in the school.
• Create a sense of isolation as kids are away from their peer group.
• Virtual learning requires students to be more independent and self-reliant, which can increase their stress level.
• Studying at home on laptops is very distracting many times due to network issues, and it is difficult to avoid them.
• Lack of spontaneity of the discussion due to technical interruptions.
• Longer duration virtual studies happening from past so many months can disrupt the learning abilities of a child.
• Parents are concerned about the increase in the overall screen-time of kids.

Legal Implications

Virtual Mode of Learning can land us into legal issues if we are not careful and choose to remain ignorant. 

Virtual Learning poses an imminently dangerous situation for schools, teachers, students, and parents.

•  If parents do not want pictures or videos of their children on the school’s site or anywhere online, then they should oppose it. Posting pictures of a child on any online platform can put the child in danger.
• Schools and parents should have an explicit agreement regarding the posting of pictures of their child on the social platform.
• We do not post our photos with our relevant documents on social platforms. Similarly, the online classes are an extension of proxy school set up to your home laptop. Therefore, Parents should not take pictures of the screens or record audios or videos of the school session. Not abiding by the rules can get parents into legal problems.

 Advantages

• Online Learning is a convenient and flexible mode of learning
• Virtual Learning promotes lifelong learning.
• It connects the global community.
• Virtual Mode of Learning helps students to become self-disciplined, independent, and self-reliant.
• Virtual Learning saves time and cost of commuting. 
• Virtual Learning gives real-world capability.
• Online education is available 24*7 for our access.

Conclusion

The current situation around the globe is an unpredictable one. The educational sector has promptly adopted a new way of learning. 

A virtual model of learning has become inevitable is increasingly seen as an innovative model in education.

It is the new normal in today’s time. 

Now we need to adopt more technological advancements in the curriculum to make it more effective, rewarding, and valuable.

It is a unique learning experience in terms of networking and participation.

The challenges are many, but if the Government assures proper availability of resources for unprivileged and rural students, the hurdles can be lowered to a great extent.

Parents and teachers should also stay vigilant and act responsibly.

Combined efforts will wither away these challenges with time, and we can reap numerous benefits of the technology in our society as a whole.