BEING
RESILIENT
E-LEARNING
IS NOW
SERIOUS
B E I N G R E S I L I E N T. T H AT ’S L I V E E N T E R P R I S E.
COVID-19 is forcing learning and specialty courses — not primary specific school. No longer do students
to change at warp speed. and secondary education. have to be limited by that teacher they
Educators, students and parents don’t get along with. And given that
Resilience is important for educators
are all digging deep and finding e-learning supports cheap, bite-sized,
now as there are many challenges
the resilience they need to rise and sometimes free learning — this
and quirks to work through. But very
to the occasion. But even when could mean that many students get a
quickly, online access to classes will
students return to the classroom better quality of education. Or at least
become the new normal, and it will
- the technological leaps taken one more suited to their learning style.
open a gateway for three big changes
with artificial intelligence in
in the delivery of online and traditional
learning will remain. COVID-19 E-learning can provide a better
learning.
may be just the push educational
institutions need to morph into a quality of education at an
live enterprise. Mass-market education affordable price
Learning has changed overnight. The e-learning market will be
COVID-19 has made everyone But teachers too have the same
transformed by the entrance of
an e-learner. Teachers, students, opportunity. In just a few weeks,
millions of primary and secondary
and even parents are learning millions of teachers had to learn the
students and teachers going online.
and working online every day. skills to become full-time e-learning
The internet enables students and
E-learning itself is nothing new. instructors. Many teachers will get
teachers to expand their horizons
It’s a successful and rapidly good at recording lessons for their
and permits them to look elsewhere
growing market, forecast students and posting them on
for better instruction, or more
(before the COVID-19 pandemic YouTube or other paid-for learning
opportunities to teach.
hit) to grow to $300 billion by platforms.
Students and parents will increasingly
2025.1 But its mainstay is adult “YouTuber” is not a profession most
access alternative or improved content
education, corporate training, teachers would have aspired to before
and teaching from outside their
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COVID-19, but we should expect many be tailored to his or her learning style, help with math skills, spelling, act as
to emerge from this period as bona which can help the student learn at a a dictionary/thesaurus, and answer
fide YouTube stars. Take Joe Wicks, the faster pace. research questions. There are also
fitness instructor who has become the learning skills parents can add to
world’s PE teacher. Millions of people A plan tailored to a student’s their Alexa – like spelling bee, 1-2-3
stuck at home during lockdowns math, animal workout, curiosity, daily
watch PE Joe’s child-friendly workouts, learning style can increase dinosaur, this day in history, etc.
which he livestreams every weekday learning speed Moving beyond the voice, augmented
morning.
and virtual reality are helping
Long term, we can expect to see a It can also help once the content has students learn around the world. In
much more active market for teaching been completed. A startup company China, nearly 200 million primary
online at primary and secondary called Bakpax can automatically and secondary students can choose
schools. And we will see a significant grade student work and give learners from 22 online course platforms,
democratization in learning at the immediate feedback. Students most of which are empowered by
primary and secondary levels. By the simply take a picture of their finished artificial intelligence. In Italy, virtual
end of 2020, the amount of quality assignment and submit it. Teachers reality is improving the way people
teaching content online will have can see which topics are easy for a learn English as a foreign language.
grown exponentially, and could be student and where they are struggling, They’re using Rumii, which is a social
marketed to students from all over according to the company. virtual reality space where students
the world. The business model and On a larger scale, this data and insight can collaborate and communicate
method for teaching and achieving can also begin to inform education as if they’re all in the same physical
educational impact could significantly strategy at the district level. By tracking location.
change in light of this opportunity. performance and continuously
learning from interactions with
In person versus online
Artificial intelligence students, AI can be used to help
update regional curriculums. It could In this new world, private schools,
support also help identify groups of students colleges, and universities will have
with special requirements for further to prove why students should keep
Whether online or off, most teachers paying more to attend a physical
public investment.
struggle to spend enough time with school rather than the online version.
each of their students. Teachers often But perhaps more exciting is that
spend up to 50% of their time on AI can help teaching reach further As unemployment soars, it will
back-office responsibilities, such as than ever thought possible. Not only become more difficult for parents and/
grading exams, managing classroom could it help teachers with ever- or students to pay college tuition.
materials, planning field trips, dealing growing class sizes — most obviously An affordable online school will
through the use of chatbots to help certainly become more appealing.
with absent students, and responding
field questions from students — but As more schools offer this option, this
to parents. Technology, namely AI, can
also it could enable teachers to go will pressure expensive face-to-face
help. And while to date it has seemed
educators to prove the additional
farfetched to incorporate AI in the global. Language barriers are no
value they add through proximity.
physical classroom, it can be used longer a problem. Already, students
online seamlessly to help improve can take a class from a teacher who Harvard Business School is one
e-learning outcomes. Once lockdowns speaks a different language by using example of the increasing respect
end, AI could be brought back to the a free plug-in for PowerPoint called given to online degrees. In January
physical classroom as well. Presentation Translator. The app 2019, Harvard Business School
creates real-time subtitles while the changed the name of its online
AI builds a learning profile through learning platform from HBX to Harvard
teacher speaks. This technology can
machine learning that automatically Business School Online. The name
also help students with a hearing
reviews students’ submissions, change shows just how respected
impairment and open a world of
interactions, and performances. It can online education is now. The argument
learning to students far beyond what is
recommend specific learning content can be made that not having an
available at their particular school.
or pathways for individual students. online degree could hurt a school’s
This helps students fill in knowledge AI and virtual technologies are reputation — making them look as
gaps that teachers might miss on their already in many homes helping with though they’re not actively engaged in
own. Each student’s learning plan can learning today. Amazon’s Alexa can the online learning space.
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Figure 1. Wide variation in tuition for the same degree This period of unexpected closure and
forced e-learning is an opportunity
for schools to get comfortable with
University of Arizona Tuition 2020-2021
technology. Of course, security and
data privacy will also have to come to
the forefront of how schools manage
their online students as this becomes
the new norm – something that most
institutions will not have had to think
about at this scale. But, rather than
$36,600 looking at this change as a negative,
school administrators need to see this
as a chance to keep investing in new
models — including AI.
$12,600
$6,000
The idea is to turn an educational
institution into a live enterprise
Source: The University of Arizona It’s the right time for every
educational institution to become
While not an Ivy League school like but the savings make a college degree a live enterprise. Schools can build
Harvard, the University of Arizona is a a possibility for some who otherwise knowledge graphs by using AI to
well-respected school that illustrates could not afford one. And this bargain sense each student’s experience and
the savings of online versus an of a degree will look no different on learning patterns. The knowledge
on-campus degree. As illustrated a resume than the full-price degree base and AI can be used together
in Figure 1, U of A tuition will cost earned on campus. to customize the teaching method,
Arizona residents $12,600, out-of-state content, instructor, and the learning
residents $36,600 and online students path itself. The idea is to create a
$6,000 for the 2020-2021 school year. Become a live enterprise sentient educational institution, or live
Maybe the most important lesson for enterprise, that can sense, process, and
The University of Arizona offers 200
all of us in these uncertain times is react. This will completely change
online degrees, which provide the
learning how to change and adapt. the education industry by helping
same curriculum and classes taken
For teachers, this is a time to use schools behave like a living organism
by on-campus students, but the cost
technology to make their jobs easier, that is completely digital, responds
to attend online is significantly less.
whether they’re teaching from home with agility, and gives a seamless
The online tuition price is the same
or in the classroom. They can learn to experience to its key stakeholders
for everyone, whether they live in
teach their best lessons on YouTube — students, teachers, and parents.
Arizona or not. Sure, students will miss
and maybe even become a star in Investment in online learning will not
the experience of living in a tiny dorm
the process. be wasted when COVID-19 is history. In
room with someone they’ve never met
the future, schools will need an online
and attending a few fraternity parties,
footprint to be taken seriously.
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References
1. E-Learning Climbing to $325 Billion by 2025 UF Canvas Absorb Schoology Moodle, TJ McCue, July 31, 2018, Forbes
Authors
Mitrankur Majumdar Christine Calhoun
VP – Regional Head, Services Senior Consultant – Infosys Knowledge Institute
[email protected] [email protected]
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