User:Augustin Mbonyumwitsa

Advantages and limitations of online learning in higher education in emergencies context

Introduction

The Global Education 2030 Agenda of UNESCO is the quality education which aims

to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”

The concept of traditional education has changed radically within the last couple of years. Being physically present in a classroom isn’t the only learning option anymore. Nowadays, students have access to a quality education whenever and wherever they want, as long as they can get online.

Emerging technologies and the digital transformation in society have changed the way teaching and learning take place. Therefore, techno-pedagogical content knowledge has become an integral approach in modern teaching and learning ¹

Online learning is a type of education system which allows students to learn about any particular course or subject from practically anyplace by just having access to a good internet connection and digital technology²

The perception and judgment of online learning effectiveness differs from one individual to another, but what is certain is that the overall acceptance of this new revolutionary way of teaching and learning tremendously boosted the growth of the industry³

The COVID 19 pandemic showed that human society has been unprepared for this unprecedented circumstance. In reality, there are many things to learn from this situation for preparing to address similar emergencies in the future. The education sector was not spared as education systems all over the world were abruptly shut down, forcing students and teachers to switch into emergency remote education (ERE) using online and other distance teaching and learning approaches. Closures of educational institutions and interruption of education affected more than 1.6 billion enrolled students of all ages which equaled nearly 94% of the global student population. As a response to the COVID-19 crisis, emergency remote education was put into practice to ensure the continuity of education for students via home learning supported by the educational institutions. Today, digital learning has emerged as a necessary resource for students and schools all over the world. For many educational institutes, this is an entirely new way of education that they have had to adopt. Online learning is now applicable not just to learn academics but it also extends to learning extracurricular activities for students as well⁴

higher education plays a vital role in saving lives and giving a sense of hope for the future in the context of emergencies. It is higher education that will produce the leaders and skilled workforce that countries need to move forward, in particular after crisis and conflict. Yet in humanitarian crises, higher education is too often neglected. Based on best practices and lessons learned with recent crises (conflicts) and the pandemic (COVID-19), there are a key number of questions that have to be addressed if we want to bridge the existing gap such as: how to integrate higher education opportunities into humanitarian responses? How to organize and coordinate efforts for the effective implementation of quality programs of higher education during the emergency response?

In emergencies, technology is often utilized as part of a crisis response protocol by continuing education using emergency remote education (ERE)⁵

Online learning is thus becoming more and more important for education during the time of the worldwide health emergency, offering the opportunity to remain in touch, even if remotely, with classmates and teachers and to follow lessons. However, many challenges have been observed in different countries. The most evident and widely discussed by experts and policymakers is that socially disadvantaged groups face difficulties in meeting the basic conditions required by online learning ⁶

As the popularity of online education continues to rise, many colleges and universities are interested in how to best delivercourse content for online learners

Methodologies of online learning

Asynchronous courses

The courses are often referred to as self-paced programs and are time independent, meaning that the materials can be accessed 24 hours per day/7 days per week. There is usually a component of teacher/student interaction in the form of virtual office hours, weekly or monthly “check-in” online conversations or emails, and other such communications. These courses can often be accessed from multiple devices, making it easy to learn on the go.

Classes consist of downloadable pre-recorded lectures or slide presentations with or without voice-over commentary. There are often interactive discussion boards or other designated forums that foster student to student interaction. Email communication with the instructor and possible virtual office hours are part of this process. Collaborative tools, such as Google Drive, may be used for coordinating group projects or other interconnected activities. Student learning support tools, including virtual tutoring and resource centers, are often provided.⁷

Synchronous online courses

These courses take place in real time and can take many forms including a virtual presentation, live webinar, live webcast, and video/audio conferencing, instant messaging, and more. The instructor and students all log into the learning platform at the same date and time and the instructor delivers the lecture, demonstration or other planned learning activity. The process is live, and the students can ask questions in real time.

Attendance is often taken, and instructors post lecture notes and other materials for students who are unable to attend. Course books must be purchased, and syllabus will note due dates for reading assignments, course schedule, quizzes, tests, papers, projects and other relevant information. Virtual office hours, tutoring and resources centers are often provided.⁸

Hybrid Hybrid or blended online courses

As the name implies, this type, of course, combines specific aspects of the synchronous and the asynchronous learning systems. They often have the scheduled, live classes several times during the semester, but use pre-recorded lectures or presentations to deliver additional course materials. In another type of hybrid learning called the Flipped Classroom Learning, the students are required to self-study a particular topic (mostly online) and interact with the teachers in the classroom to clear doubts.⁹

Competency based online courses

It is a personalized approach to learning, where specific skills are mastered to support a particular employment goal. A faculty mentor oversees the process and evaluates if and when competencies are reached. It is a self-paced program, but unlike a traditional asynchronous learning course, there are no pre-recorded lectures or other materials. The student and mentor together create a learning process using the web-based documents, books, and job experience to help the learner develop skills and to define how and when competency has been achieved ¹⁰

Although online education has its limitations, there are several advantages of online learning that explain why eLearning may be the greatest revolution in today’s education.

Advantages and limitations of online learning

Advantages

Self discipline

Taking an online course requires more self-discipline to follow through than if you physically had lecturers and other students expecting you to be in the lecture theatre with them at a specified time. Enrolling in and completing online courses demonstrates a high level of self-discipline as well as illustrating that you are able to take initiative and don’t need to wait for others to tell or show you what to do.¹¹

Improved virtual communication

Learning to work with others in a virtual environment can make you a more effective leader. You’ll develop critical leadership skills by utilizing specialized knowledge, creating efficient processes, and making decisions about best communication practices, such as what should be discussed in-person or electronically. ¹²

Efficiency

Online learning offers teachers an efficient way to deliver lessons to the students. Online learning has a number of tools such as videos, pdfs, podcasts, and teachers can use all these tools as part of their lesson plans. By extending the lesson plan beyond traditional textbooks to include online resources, the teachers are able to become more efficient educators.¹³

2.1.4 Accessibility of time and place

Another advantage of online education is that it allows students to attend classes from any location of their choice. It also allows the schools to reach out to a more extensive network of students, instead of staying restricted by the geographical boundaries. Additionally, online lectures can be recorded, archived, and shared for future reference. This allows the students to access the learning material at a time of their comfort.

A large number of educational institutions and students today are moving towards online digital courses in almost every field. The methods used by online learning programs are primarily aimed at delivering the best possible learning outcomes in the digital world, thus contributing to the overall vision of the educational institutions.

In digital learning program development, courses are designed to maximize instructor-student and student-peer relationships through a range of highly effective and collaborative instructional tools and methods. The objective of each course is to create an interactive experience wherein students can actively engage in the learning process.¹⁴

Affordability

Another advantage of online learning is reduced financial costs. Online education is far more affordable as compared to physical learning. This is because online learning eliminates the cost points of student transportation, student meals, and most importantly, real estate. Additionally, all the course or study material is all available online, thus creating a paperless learning environment which is more affordable, while also being beneficial to the environment.¹²

Improved students attendance

With online classes, since the classes can be taken from home or location of choice, there are fewer chances of students missing out on lessons. ¹³

Suit a variety of learning styles

Every student has a different learning journey and a different learning style. Some students are visual learners, while some students prefer to learn through audio. Similarly, some students thrive in the classroom, and other students are solo learners who get distracted by large groups

The online learning system, with its range of options and resources, can be personalized in many ways. It is the best way to create a perfect learning environment suited to the needs of each student.¹⁴

Limitations

Inability to focus on screens

For many students, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle with focusing on the screen for long periods of time. With online learning, there is also a greater chance for students to be easily distracted by social media or other sites. Therefore, it is imperative for the teachers to keep their online classes crisp, engaging, and interactive to help students stay focused on the lesson.¹⁵

Online student feedback is limited

In traditional classrooms, teachers can give students immediate face-to-face feedback. Students who are experiencing problems in the curriculum can resolve them quickly and directly either during the lecture or during the dedicated office hours. Personalized feedback has a positive impact on students, as it makes learning processes easier, richer, and more significant, all the while raising the motivation levels of the students. ¹⁶

Technology issues

Another key challenge of online classes is internet connectivity. While internet penetration has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, however in smaller cities and town, a consistent connection with a decent speed is a problem. Without a consistent internet connection for students or teachers there can be a lack of continuity in the learning for the a student. inequities in accessing technology or learning computer skills, or even a lack of physical space for this teaching/learning process. E-learning is dependent on technology, the Internet, and various devices that not all potential beneficiaries can access¹⁷

Sens of isolation

Students can learn a lot from being in the company of their peers. However, in an online class, there is minimal physical interactions that students and teachers. This often results in a sense of isolation for the students. In this situation, it is imperative that the school allow for other forms of communication between the students, peers and teachers. This can include online messages, emails and video conferencing that will allow for face-to-face interaction and reduce the sense of isolation.

Building strong self-motivation and disciplinary skills is key to succeeding in an online learning environment. Additionally, face-to-face communication with professors can be substituted with online communication, and peer-to-peer activities should be promoted between online students similarly as it would be in traditional classrooms. ¹⁸

Teacher Training

Online learning demands the teachers to be technology-friendly and have a basic understanding of using digital forms of learning. However, this is not the case always. Very often, the teachers have a very basic understanding of technology. Sometimes, they don’t even have the necessary resources and tools to conducts online classes. ¹⁹

E-learning is limited to certain disciplines

All educational disciplines are not created equal, and not all study fields can be effectively used in e-learning. For now, at least. E-Learning tends to be more suitable for social science and humanities, rather than scientific fields such as medical science and engineering which require a certain degree of hands-on practical experience. ²⁰

Online learning is inaccessible to the computer illiterate population

96% of Americans own mobile devices, and around 73% of Americans own a personal computer. Therefore, it would be easy to argue that online education is easily accessible to most people. However, these statistics don’t paint the whole picture. Despite the booming growth in technological capabilities, the rates of computer literacy are still far from perfect. The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) average percentage of computer illiterate people hovers around 25%, meaning that a quarter of the population will have major trouble in accessing E-Learning as an educational method.²¹

Lack of accreditation and quality assurance on online education

If E-Learning is to be considered as effective and authentic as traditional learning, it must be ensured that all online schools are qualified and accredited. Unfortunately, at the current point in time, there are still a vast number of online learning platforms which are unaccredited and where all the materials are quality checked by no one besides the instructors themselves. As such, poor quality assurance and a lack of accredited online learning providers continue to weaken the legitimacy of online education.²²

Conclusion

Based on research done in various contexts, it is clear that e-learning is very important and can reduce the disparities in quality education that exist around the world. To achieve this, it is important to remove some of the barriers that prevent some students from accessing higher education. Regarding access to higher education in emergencies context, there should be advocacy to ensure that refugees and internally displaced persons are supported to access higher education.

Many are caught in displacement, often for ten years or more. Attending university or accessing other tertiary degree programs is nearly impossible with only 3% of refugees in the world able to access higher education (UNHCR 2019)

Higher-level education turns students into leaders. It harnesses the creativity, energy and idealism of refugee youth and young adults, casting them in the mould of role models, developing critical skills for decision-making, amplifying their voices and enabling rapid generational change.²³

As a conclusion, online learning can happen everywhere. It is a safe way to contribute to the continuity of education in emergencies in higher education contexts. Students and educators should prepare themselves accordingly, especially since emergencies can happen anywhere.

References

1 M. Mahruf C. Shohel, Ashraf Uzzaman, Md.Tarikul Islam, Shahriar Shams (August 2021). Blended Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities

2 (https://sourceessay.com/challenges-faced-by-students-in-an-online-classroom/Challenges Faced by Students in an Online Classroom

3 https://www.hurix.com/digital-solutions-universities-higher-education-institutions/: Digital solutions for universities and higher education institutions

4 M. Mahruf C. Shohel, Arif Mahmud, Munira Azhar Urmee, Muhammad Naveed Anwar, Mohammad Mojibur Rahman, Dev Raj Acharya and Md. Ashrafuzzaman (September 10th 2021). Education in Emergencies, Mental Wellbeing and E-Learning [Online First], IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.97425. Available from: https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/76482)

5 Crompton, H., Burke, D., Jordan, K., & Wilson, S. W. G. (2021). Learning with technology during emergencies: A systematic review of K- 12 education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52, 1554– 1575  https://doi.org/10.1111/ bjet.13114

6 Fernando Ferri, Patrizia Grifoni, Tiziana Guzzo, Online Learning and Emergency Remote Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges in Emergency Situations. November 2020 Societies 10(4):86DOI:10.3390/soc10040086

[7,8,9,10] https://blog.wiziq.com/online-learning-methods-for-virtual-classroom/). Online Learning Methods You Can Use in your Virtual Classroom

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