Skip to main content

Skilling during COVID – 19


Skilling during COVID – 19
COVID -19 has touched almost all aspects of our social and economic life. The way we conduct ourselves at work socially, and the way we associate ourselves culturally, the changes are far reaching and pervades all aspects of our lives. Similarly, a big shift has been in the education segment where the learning has moved from the brick ‘n’ mortar classrooms to online almost overnight!
Shifting from classroom to online classes
Given the obvious social distancing requirements, the shift to online mode has been almost instantaneous. Schools, Colleges and Institutions have made a beeline for third party apps like Zoom, Hangout or Team, trying to connect with their students remotely. In kind, parents have swiftly responded to fix all issues of broadband connectivity and devices at home. Due to the need of the hour, this transformation has been extremely quick, defying the natural evolutionary cycle, which might have taken years if not decades to actually happen.
Absence of peer learning
Online classes have ensured some form of continuity with daily log Ins and Instructor led or video-based learning sessions. But what the online mode is unable to recreate is peer to peer learning. Peer to peer learning is defined as students learning from and with each other in both formal and informal ways. Studies have demonstrated that the cognitive process of doing exercises together, raising questions and arriving at conclusions together greatly helps assimilate knowledge, which enhances a student’s understanding of the lesson. This is being overcome by the use of tools like blog discussions, online groups, Kahoot and other ICT tools like speaker views, virtual classrooms. However, these are early days and its real impact will unfold only in the coming months.
From seeing and doing to understanding and doing
 In a regular classroom, the cognitive senses play a critical role. We see and adapt, learn and implement the theories which allows for exchanges and interactions. In the current scenario, how does this change? Online education shifts the balance of communication between teachers and students. Teachers are now giving one-sided lecture, unable to make eye contact with the students and students have to take charge of their attention span and deep learning.
These are drastic changes happening in the world of education at the moment, for millions of students around the globe. Hopefully as the lockdown and social distancing measures ease in the coming months, an integration of the online and classroom learning will be established overcoming the above obstacles and leading to a better education for all students...
Sanjiva Jha, CEO and Founder BroadArks Technology, July 2nd, 2020, 
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/skilling-during-covid-19-sanjiva-jha
This article is written by Sanjiva Jha, founder of BroadArks Technology Pvt. Ltd. Through an end-to-end integrated model of job skills training, wage employment and entrepreneurship, BroadArks creates opportunities for individuals, enterprises and communities, contributing to large scale improvements in social and economic conditions. Know more about our mission at https://broadarks.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reigniting the economy...

Reigniting the economy... Forty days of 'lockdown' has not led to a flattening of the curve but has surely restricted the burgeoning infection numbers and have brought in both, a sobering effect and a realization of the new normal - that of disruptions in supply chains, social distancing and remote working. The lockdown has had its impact on the economy - reduction in consumption, impact on the labour market and livelihood in the informal sector in a large measure. The impact on certain sections - informal sector workforce, gig workers, daily wage earners, hospitality, travel and tourism and MSMEs has been rather severe economically. With the continued lockdown, conditions would deteriorate sharply. The bigger question is how do we bring about the economic resurgence? Clearly the key issue at hand is our ability to stimulate demand and consumption in the economy at this point of time. Only with a renewed demand and heightened consumption can we expect the secondary sect
Post a Comment
Read more

Unemployment or Unemployable​ : The bigger challenge?

"Unemployment or Unemployable"​ : The bigger challenge? There was some great feedback I received on my previous post on this subject and considering the statistics staring at us, it is clearer than ever that what needs fixing is 'unemployability'. ' Unemployability' is the illness and unemployment is merely a symptom . What we have been focused on thus far has been the symptom and therein lies our problem! Consider the following facts for a wider appreciation of the issue : The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for Indian higher education has been just 33-34% as compared to developed countries that have a GER of 56%. In spite of this, close to 60 lakh students graduate every year in several disciplines. Very few of them are deemed fit for employment. Reports indicate that as many as 47% of Indian graduates are not qualified for any industry job and add to it the fact that surveys indicate 70% of our engineering graduates are not employable. In the days o
Post a Comment
Read more

“Role of teachers – In the digital Era”

Dr. Sampreety Gogoi | YOUNG GEN   Assistant professor College of Community Science   Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam   In ancient India the teachers were spiritual and intellectual fathers of the thought. Education was impossible without a teacher; he was regarded as guru. The relationship of the pupil with his guru was very spiritual, intimate and cordial and there was no financial relation with the guru. In many instances the teacher would support his pupil and there weren’t any material relations. The teacher or the guru was the institution himself, the Alma mater. But gradually the role of the teacher has changed from being a sage to a facilitator. In the entire learning process the education system has evolved considerably from Vedic time. Classroom learning was efficiently facilitated entirely using the blackboard and lecture method, but gradually technology has entered classrooms with different audio-visual aids. This has helped the teachers to enhance the q
Post a Comment
Read more