Online Learning during COVID-19

The world has been thrown into absolute turmoil during the current COVID-19 Pandemic. Lives are being lost daily and immense measures need to be implemented in order to prevent the loss of life of many more people. One of these measures that has been implemented all around the world is the temporary closing of educational institutes from Primary Education all the way to Tertiary level education institutes. However the learning must continue even when students cannot physically attend a class or lecture, but how is this achieved? Never before in the history of humand-kind and the internet has internet conectivity been such a vital necessity of paramount importance.

Many educational institutes world wide have adopted an online learning approach making use of various internet technologies to facilitate learning such as ZOOM, MS Teams, Webex, Skype, Discord and numerous othr softwares, however these technologies come with certain implications that could lead to other problems such as disadvantaging certain students. These implications include lack of data and bandwidth issues as well as lack of access to various technologies such as software that has certain hardware requirements in order to run, like microphones and web cameras.

One solution to distance learning is the streaming and sharing of video lessons by teachers and lecturors however students that have limited data plans and network connectivity could potentially be negatively impacted by this as they may not be always able to access the videos and streams and thus are not recieving all the information needed for their field of study.

Another solution to distance learning is the utilisation of television and radio networks. This would not be an optimal solution for subjects that do not have a large number of students, however in the instance of subjects such as Matric Maths and Science this platform could serve as alternate method of distance learning for students.

The COVID-19 pandemic will have forever changed numerous aspects of our daily lives whether it be the loss of loved ones, unemployment, financial crashes and various other factors. When it comes to the continuation of education during this pandemic all efforts must be put into ensuring that no student is disadvantaged by any technologies that are used and that all students have an equal oportunity for education.