The use of digital platforms for education has seen a huge rise in recent years and is still rising. It is not a very new thing to see in a day to day
The use of digital platforms for education has seen a huge rise in recent years and is still rising. It is not a very new thing to see in a day to day life that teachers and students are constantly using the internet for educational purposes.
It started with the big change every millennial child saw when smart classes were introduced in many schools. The internet is becoming more and more handy every day with the changing technologies and has now become an unavoidable part of the education system.
Not only students but also the teachers are leaning towards and relying more and more on online platforms.
The New-Age Revolution
E-learning is one of the biggest new-age revolutions that have a groundbreaking impact and reach. In a country where affording institutional education may be difficult for a large population, E-learning is breaking many levels of barriers to the educational system and helping people reach affordable modes of learning. The minimum that is required is the accessibility to the internet.
In this time of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all schools, colleges, institutions across the country are closed, newer ways of learning are coming up every day which in this situation mainly includes E-Learning methods.
These ways, though creating a great digital divide, are helping keep the students up to date with their courses and not miss out on anything they might be learning at this time in their schools and colleges.
This is a peak time for every student- semester finals are closing in, with assignment submission and more. Thus, most colleges have shifted to conducting the remaining of the semesters online. All assignments and even examinations of colleges are being conducted by using different online methods.
Colleges like SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai and all colleges under Symbiosis University have declared to conduct their semesters online while some colleges are still coping with the new ways and deciding what to do and how to do it.
ZOOM app for video conferencing
It is one app that is most commonly being used to conduct mass online meetings and classes. It allows big groups of people to come together on one screen and also allows many other options like screen sharing, private chatting and more.
The screen sharing option on zoom allows one to make their laptop or phone screen visible to everyone else in the meeting on zoom. This option is mostly used by teachers to share the study material and references to their students and also by the students to give online presentations and more.
There are many other video conferencing apps available like Microsoft teams, Webex, Skype, etc, but because Zoom is extremely user friendly, it is one of the most used video calling apps being used right now. The Zoom app for video conferencing and meetings saw a sudden boom amid the global lockdown.
Google has also come with many educational solutions over the years that make it easier to cope with the changing technologies. One such solution is Google Classroom.
GOOGLE CLASSROOM
It is a free website that allows one to bring the entire functioning of a physical class to an online platform. This website has vast choices for both the teacher and student to conduct a class. From bringing all the material required for the specific curriculum online in a very systematic manner of giving out assignments to a group of students or even to an individual, this web service allows everything. It allows the teachers to mark the assignments online itself. As a Google service, Google classroom is easy to link with one’s Google Drive, where they can store all the required documents in, Google slides, Google docs and the most important, the users’ Gmail ID.
Teachers and students have a different setup of their profiles which allows maintaining the balance. Both parties are also allowed to upload and share not only PDF and image files but audio and video files as well.
Google classroom is not only a website but can also be used as an app for both Android and IOS devices.
Another similar app/ website that is being used mostly for school level children is SEESAW.
This also another platform that is completely focused on providing support and easy solutions to students as well as teachers. It is benefitting families with remote learning ways which are the new and rising way.
Students can also create their digital portfolio on Seesaw, and teachers can gain regular insights about their respective students.
This helps keep a regular check on the development of their students and plan their further steps. This app also allows family members to stay connected to the videos and keep a follow up on the progress of learning while everyone is working from home.
E-Learning, the saviour!
These online platforms of education cannot ensure practical and fieldwork in education but currently it is the best way to not only continue students’ education without interruption but also maintain the discipline in students as it should be in the working school and college days.
Like many other things, this also has its pros and cons. But it is one of the best options to continue uninterrupted education for the students all through the lockdown period.
This lockdown that has forced everyone to stay in their homes and depend completely on online platforms for not only entertainment, but also work and education has given a huge boom to such platforms and may result in bringing a further change even after the lockdown is over.
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