The Challenges and Benefits of Online Education During the Pandemic

After the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the world three years ago, students and teachers had to adapt to the online classes in a context of urgency and a lot of improvisation.

This situation raised some benefits of this modality, but also highlighted points that still need to be reviewed so that distance education can meet expectations.

Lhe pandemic was a watershed in education by opening the possibility for children and young people to approach the digital environment and experts on the subject agree that this exercise brings benefits such as flexibility, access to multiple resources and self-management of the students themselves.

And although face-to-face education also encourages interaction between students and teachers, virtual classes could have improvements so that a hybrid model is established, where both schemes complement each other in order to share knowledge in the best possible way.

Nevertheless, online education entails the approach to the internetfrom a mobile device to a computer, which brings with it certain challenges at the technological level, from the lack of teacher training, to connection problems to this resource, explained Lina Rodríguez, vice presidency of Education and Culture at the Association of Internet MX (AIMX).

Without a doubt, virtual education today is an important reality. It is a facility that we could take, but it is necessary to clearly establish what the guidelines will be so that it can have the same validity as a face-to-face class

said in interview.

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Main advantages of virtual education

Lina Ramírez, co-founder and director of Genuine Digital School, commented that among the main advantages for parents when opting for virtual education is the saving of expenses once the school year beginsamong them, uniforms, lunch, transportation and a part of the supplies.

Along the same lines, Emilio Saldaña ‘Pizu’, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) analyst, said that the cost generated by face-to-face education it could be omitted if distance education is implemented, which would be a substantial saving that could be used for other educational aspects of the minor.

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The CEO of Adigital also stressed that the importance of a guide or teacher who is accompanying students in their learning it is more relevant in the distance modality, since there is greater interaction between both parties and the approach of the minor to knowledge is facilitated.

The face-to-face attention that a teacher can provide in the learning process is much more intense and easily received by the student than in online education, so the presence of a teacher in particular processes is important

Saldana said in an interview.

In this sense, the analyst pointed out that although minors would have more interaction with digital tools in online educationthey need a trained teacher to accompany them in their learning process, in addition to facilitating the content and answering their concerns.

The issues to be resolved

Rodríguez said that the issue of technological acquisition in private schools occurs naturallya situation that is not similar to the reality of public schools, since they still have challenges to have many digital tools within reach.

For his part, Ramírez explained that although it seems that minors are digital natives, not all of them have the same capabilities and tools. In this sense, it is also important accompaniment of teachers that they are prepared so that they can guide students with their knowledge.

Public schools need to have access to state-of-the-art digital tools, so that teachers can be immersed in everything that is happening and know how they can use it to improve and personalize their classes.

Ramirez said.

On the other hand, Rodríguez said that teachers should also act as a guide that teaches students which sites they can enter if virtual education is implemented; He also considered it important to generate educational models and programs adapted to the age of each student.

“It is one thing to explain a subject and another thing to carry out an entire educational program throughout the school year so that the student acquires knowledge and develops soft skills such as leadership, effective communication, teamwork, responsibility, being proactive and learning to organize “, said Rodríguez.

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Meanwhile, Saldaña commented that the issue of the socialization of minorsSince they have adopted technology from an early age —regardless of school— children have been impacted when it comes to socializing, since they are not used to this type of interaction.

The issue of socialization continues to be one of the most serious post-pandemic impacts (…) When knowledge is socialized, it is reinforced and this process had perhaps been underestimated in traditional school activities until the pandemic arrived.

Saldana said.

He also mentioned that the issue of coexistence with classmates is important when building friendships, teamwork and developing cognitive skills, processes that children would be avoiding if they took their classes online.

With respect to parents, the issues that should be addressed to improve a distance education scheme is a structure that determines whether the virtual education effort would be successful or not, and managing adequate hours and spaces so that the minor can carry out their activities. schoolchildren.

Saldana concluded that In Mexico, the history of distance education is not new., but the worrying thing would be that the new educational model will propose a separation of technology. “Teachers have the challenge of being the last conduit between minors and access to knowledge regardless of where it comes from, books or the Internet.”

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