The education sector has undergone a massive shift towards digitalization due to the advent of Covid-19. It has led to a significant rise in EdTech platforms. What used to be only an in-class education model has now shifted to laptops and other hand-held devices. Even the focus has shifted to creating engaging content and teaching life skills.
Students are becoming fond of virtual classrooms, and why not? E-Learning provides numerous benefits, but the most significant one is self-study capabilities.
Facilitating Self-Paced Study With EdTech Platforms
EdTech platforms offer the flexibility to students to study at their own pace. We all know that no two students are similar, and everyone has their learning curve. Addressing this learning curve was not possible with physical classrooms. In this scenario, if a teacher tries to abide by every student’s speed, others might have to wait. But this has changed, thanks to EdTech platforms.
EdTech platforms provide flexibility that allows students to learn at their speed. They also enable the teachers to mentor lagging students through online sessions. Additionally, teachers can upload pre-work learning to facilitate self-paced study. Let’s consider an example for a better idea.
Suppose a math teacher is about to explain Pythagoras Theorem to students. He or she can upload relevant learning materials like engaging videos, documents, example problems, and their solutions with the students. Students can go through the materials to get a basic idea of the Pythagoras Theorem and send all the doubts they have to the teacher through digital mediums like WhatsApp, Google Classroom, etc.
Later, during the online, face-to-face session with the students, the teacher can discuss student doubts. Discussing the doubts during live sessions will get everyone on the same page. Moreover, if students still have doubts, they can go through the uploaded learning material whenever required and contact the teacher for an explanation. This is one of the ways how EdTech platforms enable self-paced learning.
Instilling Self-Study Motivation
EdTech is instilling self-study motivation and habits in students. Engaging activities like quizzes, assessments, gaming, etc., encourage students to do self-study and practice. For instance, teachers are using apps like Quizlet, Kahoot, and Gimkit Live to prepare assessment activities that students can participate in at any time and from anywhere.
Likewise, the quick accessibility to solutions is also a motivating factor for students. Several apps and online websites like SweetStudy offer instant help to students if they face any difficulties while self-studying.
Let’s consider the same Pythagoras Theorem example for this. Suppose, while practicing, a student can find the hypotenuse of a triangle when the lengths of two sides are given. However, the student faces difficulties when the ratio of the length of two sides is given in relation to the hypotenuse. In that case, the student can take help from websites like SweetStudy.
The student needs to visit the website and insert the details on SweetStudy’s mathematics help page. An expert will quickly view the details and provide the solution. Getting quick assistance through such digital platforms and websites is instilling self-study habits.
Blending Education With Entertainment
There are a lot of distractions when it comes to online learning. Without appropriate engagement, students will easily get distracted from their studies. Hence, merging education with entertainment becomes vital. Entertainment boosts a level of activeness in students. It also helps improve engagement and remembrance.
Hence, gamification as a way of blending fun activities is rising. Popular EdTech startups like Byju’s, Cuemath, and Lido Learning believe gamification to be the future of e-Learning. One of the ways to include gamification in online education can be through a reward system.
We can all relate to getting a star from the teacher on excelling in one of the metrics in school. For instance, when we completed an assignment first or wrote the best essay, our teacher used to ask the entire class to clap for us. It was simply to motivate us. A reward system can bring in the same level of motivation.
Suppose a student completes a quiz first in a self-paced learning course. The student can get rewards or points from the EdTech platform that can be used for different purposes like unlocking new courses or as shopping vouchers on Amazon.
Conclusion
The pandemic has shifted us towards a new, engaging education system model. Through this interactive model, students can learn essential concepts and skills at their own pace.
As technology advances, the process of online learning will become more efficient. EdTech platforms will continue to use modern-day technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, etc., to create better, personalized, and immersive curriculums to facilitate self-paced learning among students.
