Student, Education, In The Distance, School, Study

The current
Covid-19 global pandemic has changed the way we live our lives in so many ways,
and education has taken a big hit, with many schools closed indefinitely, while
others are open, with many restrictions in place. As the Coronavirus can be
airborne and easily transmitted from person to person, we simply cannot allow
our children to be exposed at this current time.

Education Must Continue

The idea of simply
postponing school indefinitely simply isn’t an option, so most governments are
already putting in place an online education system, which will enable students
to study with a remote teacher. Schools in the US, UK and Australia are already
running a distance learning curriculum, while many parents have decided to
school their child at home, using classroom architecture from the online supplier to create a
classroom in the spare room.

Home Schooling

Given that their
children cannot go to school, many parents prefer to educate their child at
home, and your local authority would be happy to advise you regarding home
schooling. Of course, you must have the time to do this, which is a full-time
job, and providing your child passes term exams in all subjects, you can
continue to educate your child at home. If we get back to normal, here is a
great guide to choosing a school for your child, which outlines what a good school should
have.

Essential
Hardware

In order for your
child to study at home, you will need a good computer, an Internet connection,
a webcam and a microphone, then you are ready for online study. The school
would set up the video conference software, which you would need to download
onto your computer, plus they would send by regular mail things like text books
and other learning resources.

Teacher
Training

All regular
teachers will require some training in order to make the transition from the
regular to the virtual classroom. Indeed, many teachers do not have the IT
skills, so governments will initiate IT classes for teachers. This will take a
few weeks, then all teachers will be able to manage their classes in a virtual
environment, and this is likely to be the normal until at least next year, with
no end in sight of the spread of Coronavirus. Here is some UK government information about teacher training, which is an interesting read.

Active Learning

While in the
traditional classroom, the students take a passive role, with distance
learning, the student must have a degree of discipline and be active in the
learning process. There is one great benefit that comes from this current
situation, the students will develop self-learning, using the Internet as a
learning resource. Older students will require less supervision, while younger
children will need to have their parents with them while learning online, so do
bear that in mind if your child is younger than 10 years old.

If your child is
soon to start online learning, make sure you are well prepared and it should be
a great experience.

By Manager