The World of Learning During Covid 19
The outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic has closed schools, colleges, universities and all ‘unessential workplaces’’ across the island of Ireland and across the globe. In the world of education, learning must go on and we are looking at the trends in the world of learning and education during the current environment.
eLearning is a term that was coined around the turn of the millennium and over the past two decades a lot of schools and universities have incorporated online learning into their learning programmes, but in the light of Covid19 education has had to fully adapt to an online format. Globally, 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom. Many people have asked the question, ‘will this be the way of the future?’.
In education in young children and for teenagers, traditional schooling allows children to develop a number of skills and allows them to develop socially and make friendships which sometimes breaks down cultural and socio economic barriers and allows for a healthy mindset and a positive outlook on life.
In the workplace and in college and university where eLearning is already very common, an increase in use of online learning management system use would be expected. Outside of the traditional school and university demographic, Covid 19 has also created a switch in the market. The supplier was the driver of the market, but now students are the drivers and creating a demand for courses and skills that was not previously there.
For example, many people are now out of work and there is a huge amount of uncertainty in the workplace, within the job market and in various sectors there aren’t currently a lot of opportunities. However, in other industries and fields such as the pharmaceutical and medical industry there are opportunities were onboard training may not be possible or at least in a physical manner. The need to quickly onboard staff into a company has created opportunities in the LMS world and further increased the user driving phenomenon in the eLearning market.
People out of work who are staying at home are seeking ways to fill their days. They have baked banana bread, rearranged their wardrobe and even matched odd socks and all while doing these mundane tasks, they have had time to think and considered upskilling.
Then there is the creative among us in the hair and beauty industry who have spent months turning down work and face another two months before reopening. They are turning to online learning to upskill and gain a competitive edge for when the world of hair and beauty recommences. Whenever things to return to ‘‘normal’’, one thing that is certain is that education, training and online learning will be changed forever.
