For more than a year we have been undergoing unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. The mystic nature of coronavirus is reigning over the humanity. Amid the pandemic, online education has been the single most approach to continue teaching and learning across the world.
In our country with the wake of the pandemic, the education went online to tackle the educational catastrophe. It is no denial that at the very onset of online education teachers and students underwent many difficulties but was expected that with the time this new normal educational approach would be a model for the country in the field of teaching and learning.
It is time to review how far virtual learning has been a model in our education. Many studies conducted in the country reveal that online education has not been as effective as was supposed from the beginning. Many more challenges in introducing virtual education to the optimum level are still unaddressed. In most cases it has failed to address inclusive learning.
According to media reports, almost fifty per cent students are denied of virtual learning due to some unavoidable reasons though initially we were optimistic that we would be able to address the shortcomings of online education with the time passage.
Initiatives have been taken at different levels of education to introduce engaged learning where teachers are the facilitators who ensure the involvement of every student actively in the class interaction. Still many teachers fail to make student-cantered class, rather they are found strongly motivated to run their classes with teacher-cantered approach. On top of that, in the wake of virtual education things get tougher as in many cases teaching and learning do not follow engaged approach of education. But it is true that unless we can ensure engaged online education, it is tough to address the outcome from the new normal trend of teaching and learning.
Amid the uncertainty of education online teaching and learning is the only platform to meet our aspiration to keep our education running. It is common to have an expectation that this new trend should be effective. But many are conducting classes online but hardly have any innovations to make the class more live and enjoyable for the learners.
The question may be common to raise; should we use the same tools as we would have in the real class room? Have we been able to introduce remote-centric curriculum to address the learners' outcome in a befitting manner? How far teachers and students have been efficient to access to online teaching and learning paradigm? What we have done to assess students' outcome through online education? In some cases our teachers and students have constrains to avail the virtual facilities.
Reports show that students' dropout has increased tremendously in the new normal education culture rather than making education more inclusive. Online class without innovations makes students demotivated to be with. Again, the question is pertinent to ask; how far we have been able to reduce digital divide? Truly, there are many who come out with a conclusion that once coronavirus is gone, is there any need to sustain our education online? Obviously it is. Like the new normal socialization, the new normal education will be an important part ingrained with our years' long chalk and talk approaches.
However, it is regretted that many teachers of different educational level are passing time with no academic responsibility for more than a year and their staying home in these unprecedented holidays is declining their teaching spirit although the scenario reports that they have a little concern over the matter. On top of that, teachers have hardly undergone trainings on conducting online class amid the pandemic. The government has decided to bring changes to curriculum and infrastructure at school level. The public and private universities have been directed to enhance their curriculum so that they can be able to address the post pandemic education catastrophe.
Undoubtedly, even after the reopening of education institutions, virtual education is going to be expected another stream of teaching and learning to provide supplementary efforts in education. In this regard, can our teachers deny their responsibilities? Obviously it is not. To make virtual education effective it is a must to develop materials along with the teaching pedagogy conducive for online education. In enhancing engaged virtual education there is no alternative to building a community where teachers and students will have their engagement to keep in touch one another.
Truly, more action researches should be conducted to find out different strategies to enrich our existing online education to make our learners worthy for the competitive global perspective. Finally, I like to end this article, quoting a few lines of Benjamin Franklin "Tell me and I forget; teach me and I may remember; involve me and I learn." Alaul Alam teaches at Prime University