Lazette Special Issue: Living Not Surviving May 2021 | Page 8

The lives that we live today look completely different from the lives we lived a year ago . Not a single soul had the foresight to understand just how much this pandemic would change everyone and everything for a long time . Nothing has been the same since then , and nothing will be the same in the future , ever since the authorities imposed restrictions like social distancing and quarantine to halt the spread of COVID-19 .
To date , most countries have established a national quarantine regime , and in an attempt to not let the future of education be stalled by our current predicament , academic institutions have adapted to the online setting to adjust to the current changes in society and the economy .
The education sector has redirected its resources towards utilizing virtual classes as the “ new normal ” way of teaching and learning since the pandemic . The number of increasing COVID-19 cases prevents students and teachers from taking face-toface classes and has caused a national controversy because of the questions it poses to the future of education . With that said , this opens
a realm of possibilities that come with exploring the challenge of implementing and maintaining an entirely online education system for as long as the pandemic demands it .
There is reason to believe that online learning unlocks the doors to the fullest realization of personalized learning for each student . That it has maximized the efficiency of delivering lessons by using various tools such as PDFs and PowerPoints , and has
challenged teachers to become more resourceful and creative educators , especially with the limited time that each subject now has .
The virtual set-up gives students the opportunity to be more flexible when it comes to their own individual learning because additional resources have now become more available
and accessible to students than ever before . This includes the immersion that comes from the utilization of interactive content in the digital classroom and the inclusion of a chat that allows for easy
communication between a teacher and a student . Additionally , the online setting allows teachers to have the chance to modify their lessons and lectures in order to accommodate student preferences . And in doing so , provide better learning experience from multiple tools such as PowerPoints , interactive reading materials , video lessons , etc . Aside from this , they can also make use of tools that observe trends in student activity , making it easy to find solutions when problems arise .
However , online classes can cause burnout to students due to the abundance of workload . There is also the issue of students having difficulty focusing and studying at home due to current
factors like the present situation , changes in their lifestyle , and adjusting to the new platform of learning . With the isolation brought about by the pandemic and the fact that social interaction is no longer an option , students are more likely to lose motivation and inspiration to work and do their tasks well . Because of this , schools have adjusted their standards for a passing grade , thus , making this present state of education unprecedented and marking its future as uncertain because of the possible effects it implies on the benchmark for colleges and jobs .
Both students and teachers alike are burdened
with a lack of motivation and some eventually become overcome by procrastination , causing their mental state to degrade , further affecting the progress of the education sector . Due to the quarantine , some
people are clouded by hopelessness and lose the will to do just about anything . They simply do not care about what is happening around them because in their eyes there is no point in doing a single thing during this time . Everything they do will be for naught as with each passing day , no good news ever comes . A year has passed and everything has stayed more or less the same ever since the beginning of the pandemic .
More than a hundred million students worldwide have transferred to online schooling as their tool for educating . It addressed the benefits and drawbacks of at-home schooling , which has a good chance of becoming a common practice and
a daily routine for both teachers and students alike in the near future . Education will evolve and academic standards will change . Selfdirected learning through online technology and mobile devices has the potential to replace the conventional educational model , in which students are expected to attend school for long periods of time . By
combining the home-school philosophy and conventional schooling into one scheme , it could possibly lead to a more successful method and learning system .
New ideas will appear from the need to be creative in the journey to keep searching for solutions to improve the
current educational systems , with one such possibility in the future being the development of mixed or “ blended ” learning . With regards to this , the current state of education right now challenges both educators
and learners because they are forced to come up with ways to continue developing towards the future of education without having the luxury of experiencing real , live physical learning where one has the greatest ability for learning and experience . Because of this , learning in the future could take concepts from the current systems and utilize them for a more refined system of education .
Truth be told , no matter where education is facilitated , the key to maximizing learning is within each and every individual involved in the process . This includes both the teachers and the students . The only limitations that they have are the limits that they
impose upon their minds . No matter what platform is used for educating people , the value of learning can always be developed within everyone . All it takes is to try .

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ONLINE CLASSES