Sep 12, 2020
The pandemic Covid-19 has shut educational institutions across the country since mid-March and brought colleges and universities to reimagine and rethink how to deliver an engaging and holistic learning experience to the students in the absence of physical learning mechanism. Colleges and universities have made a technological shift towards online mode of study/courses which will cause some impact on the success and retention of students. This requisite change has been challenging for most colleges, especially the ones which emphasise an intimate college experience.
Also, as most colleges are closed across the states in the country, colleges have lost the opportunity to actively engage with students through on-campus experiences. The dynamics of a physical class are completely different from an online class, but academicians have pitched in innovatively and enthusiastically so that the challenges posed by the pandemic to the education sector can best be minimised to a great extent.
The situation though challenging, is also a massive opportunity to break out of old habits and take advantage of newer technology tools to create new, impactful and relevant modes of learning. Colleges and universities technologically equipped found the transition easy and adapted quickly than others who were struggling. If there is any positivity about the crisis, it is the realization of the significance of technology to students and the community on a large. The general expectation to all of us is that the pandemic will result in colleges and universities becoming more tech-savvy and will redefine education and will be more accessible to the students.
Moreover, the ability to attend classes while living at home may become a much more palatable option for parents who are afraid to send their children to live in densely populated campuses especially in the metro cities. There is a general belief that tough times don't last forever. There will be an end to this pandemic. As industry veterans are fast engaging to interact virtually with the students to contemplate the effects of the pandemic on education, students will have access to a road map for a career that is rewarding and impactful. New hiring mechanisms are setting in.
Although we have no idea on how the pandemic will affect the education system in the long term, these experimental short term alterations can bring a long-lasting impact on the trajectory of learning innovation and digitization. The students must be taught and should know how to beam towards being techno-savvy. Hiring methods will move to online-based interviews and WFH.