Digital learning booming, but a hybrid model of education delivery to thrive

The impact on education due to COVID-19 is likely to have worsened educational inequalities but the increased adoption of digital education and lessons learned during the crisis provide countries with an opportunity to create future-ready education systems.


COE-EDPCOE-EDP | Updated: 08-06-2020 15:06 IST | Created: 08-06-2020 15:06 IST
Digital learning booming, but a hybrid model of education delivery to thrive

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education of over 1.5 billion children and 195 countries have had to close schools as the fight against this virus brought the world to a halt. While these figures are dropping, over a billion learners are still out of school and dozens of countries are yet to announce plans for reopening schools.

Amid the gloom and doom, however, it’s incredible how even the low and middle-income countries have embarked on a path to embrace distance learning. Digital education is having a watershed moment as the pandemic has forced countries to undertake its biggest-ever trial. The areas that were erstwhile resistant to change, such as primary schools and the government, are embracing technology as the most efficient way to continue education during the time of crisis.

Students, teachers, and parents are going through a huge behavioral change, which will result in a paradigm shift that will shake the foundations of the education systems, but for good.

As discussed in an earlier analysis by the Centre of Excellence on Emerging Development Perspectives (COE-EDP) titled, “Education post-coronavirus: Schools to rush for more digitalization”, online education is here to stay but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will replace traditional education altogether, instead it will complement traditional ways of schooling and can drastically improve outcomes. The disruption has not only skyrocketed the use of online education but has also amplified the challenges like digital divide and cyber risks, bringing them to the mainstream and paving way for innovation.

Initiatives

Acknowledging the need to ensure continued education, almost all the countries announced various initiatives. Billions of dollars in fresh investment have been committed to education as technology forces its way in and the sector won’t be the same ever again. In the earlier report we discussed that even the high-income countries were not ready for the change and since then, these countries have taken massive initiatives to tackle the challenges. Initiatives by developed countries have been well-documented but it’s really the developing countries that scream the need for change and also have maximum return on investment. In this analysis, we try to unfold the dynamics of where the education sector is headed through the most notable initiatives of developing countries from different continents.

China

Nearly 200 million students were impacted in China as the disease spread across and beyond the country. Upon suspending the opening of schools after the Chinese New Year, the Ministry of Education launched an initiative called “ensuring learning undisrupted when classes are disrupted.”

The initiative was implemented with the cooperation of school management agencies, online platforms, course providers, telecom providers and other stakeholders. The foremost challenge, just like all other countries, was to ensure that all students have access to digital learning, and teachers are prepared to design and deliver online lectures.

Ensuring that all students have access to digital learning opportunities is the foremost challenge, together with teachers’ readiness to design and deliver online tutorials. This led the Ministry of Education to collaborate with various stakeholders and take various steps which include collaborating with telecom service providers to support online education, providing thousands of courses, adopting flexible and appropriate methodologies to facilitate learning, and strengthening online security and provisioning psycho-social support to children and parents.

China has also become one of the first few countries that have started reopening schools. On March 18, the country reported no new local coronavirus cases for the first time since the outbreak and has gradually lifted restrictions in the weeks since. Various precautions have been taken by authorities to ensure that schools don’t become breeding ground for COVID-19, which include opening windows to ventilate classrooms, maintaining physical distance, checking temperatures daily, and wearing face masks.

But the majority of the schools still remain closed and online education remains a major part of the day-to-day life of students in China, paving way for a hybrid model that takes the best of traditional as well as online education.

India

India has launched a program called “eVIDYA” meant to facilitate online education in the short as well as the long-term. The program would also consist of ‘Diksha’ portal to provide resources for learning and teaching along with QR coded energized textbooks for all grades and will be called as ‘one nation, one digital platform’. The government also plans to roll out one earmarked TV channel per class from 1 to 12, also named as ‘one class, one channel’.

Under the program, the top 100 universities will be permitted to automatically start online degree courses by May 30, 2020.

To tackle the digital divide, 289 Community Radio Stations will be attempted for school education. Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired students will also be provided. It is developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube, the HRD minister informed in a tweet.

Considering the digital divide in the country, the government has also introduced is a group of 32 DTH channels called Swayam-Prabha to telecast high-quality educational programs free of cost.

Kenya

The Kenyan government has also taken various initiatives to promote digital education including radio and television broadcasts and providing high-quality learning resources through online platforms.

In partnership with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), educational radio programs are being broadcast on all weekdays. Authorities have also facilitated education television broadcasts through the Edu Channel TV owned by Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD). These broadcasts along with other digital educational resources including e-books of textbooks have been made available for free on the Kenya Education Cloud for all students.

The Kenyan government has also fast-tracked the regulatory approval of the Alphabet's internet-delivery balloon service, Loon. The balloons can provide internet connectivity across an 80km diameter area and will allow Kenyans to buy 4G service from Telkom Kenya. The project has been in the works since 2018 when Loon and the operator signed a contract.

Rwanda

Utilizing district-level radio stations such as Huye, Musanze, Rubavu, Nyagatare, Rusizi, as well as the Parliament station, the Rwanda Education Board (REB) has facilitated broadcast of educational radio programs which are aired on all weekdays for 6 hours. REB is also looking to start learning television programs for science and mathematics that are hard to deliver only through radio.

REB has also revamped its online learning websites and launched a new YouTube channel called ‘REB eLearning’ which provides lessons in English language, elementary science, and advanced sciences such as chemistry, mathematics, and biology among others. The platform also aims to facilitate communication between teachers and support peer learning.

To provide more diverse support, it has separate websites for remote learning for school education and teachers, for tertiary education and vocational education. The eLearning platforms also serve as a communication channel for parents and teachers.

The e-learning platform by REB has already been in place. However, in order to emphasize on multi-format approach and increase its usage, REB has partnered with local telecommunication companies like MTN Rwanda and Airtel to waive internet fees and bundle charges for e-learning platforms.

Peru

The Peru government has taken a multi-channel approach to ensure maximum reach of digital education. The Ministry of Education is sensitizing the population and raising awareness along with focusing on its “plataforma unica” (single learning platform) to facilitate distance learning.

The ministry has collaborated with stakeholders to create educational content in audio and video formats, which will be made available on national radio, television, dedicated apps, and its website.

Text messages and Whatsapp chatbots have also been developed to create a communication channel between parents, teachers, and schools.

To tackle the digital divide, the government has announced the distribution of over 800,000 tablets to children in rural areas and to low-income households in urban areas. In addition, 97,000 tablets with the same characteristics will also be distributed to teachers. The government also reportedly aims to provide internet connection as well as solar chargers with these devices.

Argentina

Argentina’s Ministry of Education, through its online education portal as well as television and radio, is providing digital resources for teachers, students as well as parents. Educ.ar is the online educational portal that makes available a collection of on-demand digital educational materials and resources. The platform includes self-learning resources and communication proposals through social networks and videoconferencing tools, agendas for online events as well as proposals for free time for students. Argentina is one of the few countries that are providing a virtual reality (VR)-enabled videos aimed at allowing the user to have an immerse educational experience, although there is a long way to go for realizing the potential of VR.

To ensure that this school closure does not exacerbate inequity in access to these learning resources, Argentina has partnered with telecom companies to waive internet charges while browsing its Educ.ar education portal.

The Ministry of Education has also collaborated with Secretariat of Media and Public Communication to broadcast educational content on television as well as radio under its program called “Seguimos Educando” (continuing to educate). The television broadcasts are aired on the public channels as well as private, provincial, university, cooperative, and community channels. Radio Nacional and its 49 subsidiaries have been broadcasting 7 hourly programs on a daily basis throughout the country.

To ensure students without access to technology can learn effectively, television and radio broadcasts are supplemented with ‘notebooks’ packed with learning resources being delivered to homes of these students.

Reopening

Almost all countries have embraced digital education to ensure continued learning during the crisis but the increased adoption has also amplified the challenges and exposed shocking digital divide that exists even in the developed countries. The problem is not limited to devices and the internet, as most countries have also expressed concern about the readiness of parents and teachers to facilitate home-based distance education, regardless of the income groups.

The crisis has also exposed the shortcomings and inability of digital education in completely replacing schools in the near future. Schools are a vital part of the development process of a child and not merely a place where children go to get an education. From nutrition to social needs, schools impact every aspect of children's lives and give them some of the biggest moments of their young lives, something that is not possible with technological solutions that are available right now.

But digital education can be very effective if deployed along with traditional education and will thus be paramount for the safe and efficient reopening of schools. The topmost priority ahead of reopening should be safeguarding children, teachers as well as parents from the infection as well as mental health issues.

Necessary hygiene facilities, reducing class sizes, and ensuring social distancing are some of the measures taken by countries that have started reopening schools. But reducing class size shouldn’t mean compromising on learning, instead, online education coupled with traditional classes with reduced frequency could facilitate a stable delivery method.

Despite the initiatives taken by governments as well as various stakeholders, the impacts of school closures are likely to be unequal, and disparities would need to be addressed. Strategies for reopening should keep into consideration the access to online education to ensure that educational inequalities, which have arisen during the crisis, can be bridged.

The impact on the education of COVID-19 is increased educational inequalities. But the increased adoption of digital education and lessons learned during the crisis provide countries with an opportunity to create future-ready education systems that avert long-term negative impacts and, instead, bring them closer to ensuring inclusive and equitable educational opportunities for all.

Centre of Excellence on Emerging Development Perspectives (COE-EDP) is an initiative of VisionRI and aims to keep track of the transition trajectory of global development and works towards conceptualization, development, and mainstreaming of innovative developmental approaches, frameworks, and practices. 

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