When writing this article we fully understand that online education has already claimed its rights to the educational field throughout the world. For better or for worse, its value, its meaning, its power will only grow and we will enjoy its benefits and we will face its drawbacks rather soon. Covid-19 pandemic changed the world, and it changed the world of education as well. Most of the companies that claimed it was impossible for them to launch a “work at home” strategy, keep it working till now. General managers share that they never expected such a swift change, and they would never invest in it, but now they see many benefits of a new reality work culture. And what about education? In many countries schools were closed all this time, terrifying parents, and now, after a short break schools are closing in most of the countries again, because of another wave of pandemic. Does it mean that soon, remote education will become more popular, more often than a traditional one? Does it mean that the system will change forever? And if it does, is it for better or for worse? In this article we will try to compare our/
Availability
How available is traditional education? Well, if we are not talking about some remote and very poor areas, traditional education is widely available. There are public and private schools, there are tutors, there are additional classes. Some of them are free of charge, some of them are paid, but it is difficult to find a place where you would not be able to receive the education you or your child need. The quality of this education is another topic. We all know that in the US, for example, parents try to move to some better school areas in order to have their kids enrolled in better educational institutions. Speaking about online education — it is a little less affordable. Of course, if we are speaking about middle class parents worldwide, online education of their children has no effect on the budget. However, even in the developed countries there are families with only one tablet or computer for the whole family — and it is really not the best option for education. When Covid-19 hit, many students faced problems with technical equipment and Internet connection in their areas.
Social (in)equality
At first, cloud computing, the internet, big companies donating computers for the developing countries and especially schools there was truly decreasing inequality in access to education around the world. However, as online education started turning from just web cam teachers talking to VR, AR and other opinions, it became evident that social inequality with online education may only grow. Kids from developed countries will have an enormous advantage in the speed and level of learning, while kids from other countries, not poor at all, will be learning using outdated techniques and remaining behind when it comes to better work and better opportunities in life. Still, we can be rather sad about it, but the fact is the fact — online education, VR, AR, will be only increasing its influence, and there is nothing that can be actually done about it. Traditional learning also gets developed thanks to these instruments which again increases the disparity between schools around the world.
Future
Obviously, the first thing you think about is that online education is our future, but it is hardly true. Traditional education will always be valuable, it will always have its impact, there always will be students and teachers. It was there in ancient Greece and it will be there in 200 years from now. As we said earlier, traditional education will also change, it will adapt to the demands of the market, to the demands of the employment market, it will be more focused on STEM disciplines and less focused on old good essay writing. So, if already now you feel much more concentrated on tech and robotics, and simply ignore some writing tasks that you don't see that important, address a reliable writing service, such as WriteMyPaperHub.com, for assistance and spare time for the disciplines of the future. There is nothing wrong in hiring someone to help you with your studies, especially if you have chosen your path already and want to be in demand for years to come. Tech specialty is booming, and it doesn’t look like it is going to stop.
Teachers
Will teachers adapt easily? Unfortunately, we don’t think so. Teachers should also be educated, it requires funds, time, it requires some people good with tech, online platforms, VR, AR, other innovative services and instruments to teach teachers how to use them. Have you heard of many government or educational programs dedicated to these goals? We didn’t. That is why both online and offline education are still not on the top of the game. Teachers had enough trouble going online, and they are teaching as if they are still in the class — there is no change in their program or their approach. Obviously, everyone was waiting for this pandemic situation to get better much faster, and it wasn’t logican to invent new approaches just for several months. Now that we know that it won’t go away fast, we need to adapt and some funds should be spared in order to help teachers be better in their job considering these new demands.
There are two more topics that should be discussed — quality of education and socialization. Quality of online education widely depends on teachers and technologies used. Unfortunately, again, the less financially comfortable parents get in more trouble with organizing decent education for their kids when it comes to online and innovative studying. Socialization is sort of a sore point, as students already often prefer the online world to the offline one. Can it be solved by transferring 90% of education back to offline? We don’t think so.