Mobile apps that provide enhanced learning opportunities for school children have become mainstream. Since mobile phones have already found their way into their hands, these apps are being used to supplement classroom learning. Teachers and parents need to act as anchors and mentors, curating the kind of educational content students are exposed to, during the tricky phase of finding the right career to pursue.
Opening Education Opportunities To Every Section Of Society
Virtual public schools, that offer a full scale K12 education, have already sprung up in some parts of the world. They even offer a combination of the traditional system with online education. There are programmes that provide support to families that wish to home-school their children, in the form of online course material. These programmes bring parents and teachers into the fold, by involving them into their child’s education from the get-go. However, their effectiveness in the long term needs to be studied.
Online learning programmes will also open up opportunities for children from weaker socio-economic communities, who possess a limited access to learning resources i.e. teachers, textbooks and infrastructure. It will connect them to a global network of online learners, exposing them to new perspectives. The ideas that they receive, will not be limited by the number of heads in one classroom.
Online education for educators
Online education can also be designed to be accommodating of a variety of learning styles among students. As educators, it is likely that we will have to put in additional efforts to incorporate online learning programmes into the curriculum, in the most suitable manner.
Online training programmes are helping teachers/educators advance their skills in curriculum implementation, policy, education systems and leadership, both independently and with the support of their institutions. It lets them collaborate with their peers, and learn new instructional skills, that are relevant to their career. These programmes can help them develop new skills and capabilities in their students, with the help of technology and interdisciplinary approaches.
As the overlap of the traditional and online educational worlds is becoming more and more inevitable, we owe it to our students to make their education relevant to their future, through our own ingenuity, passion and careful planning.
This Article is written by Mr. Naveen K M, Managing Director, Trio World Academy
