ICT for Education and Development

I have spent a good part of my career defending and promoting online learning and it would certainly appear that with Covid-19 and the pivot to emergency remote learning with everyone having to move their teaching online, online learning’s time has come. And indeed I do believe we will see a surge in both fully online and blended learning in the future, health crisis or not, and overall, this will be good for learners and for society.

But it has also become increasingly clear to me during the pandemic that despite the hype, mainly from outside the educational profession, there are significant areas of education where online learning is not an appropriate solution, at least on its own, despite the views of ‘disruptors’ such as the Christensen Institute, business schools, and some politicians looking to save a few bucks on taxes.

There is no doubt about the fact that the era we live in is the era of technology. Technology rules our lives and has made everything from shopping, communicating, ordering food, traveling to entertainment, fitness, comfort, and learning easier and more accessible for us. Let’s talk about the role of technology in learning, it being the subject of interest to us.

The last decade has seen Learning and Development (L&D) professionals making great strides in imparting better learning to corporate learners through the use of technology. For example, blended learning, microlearning, mobile learning, gamification, AR/VR (Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality), simulations, adaptive learning and even AI (Artificial Intelligence) are now being used to develop skills and knowledge in corporate employees. And, all this is possible because of technological advancements. Technology is not only the present but the future of learning. But what else does technology hold for learning in the future? In this article, we’ll discuss certain likely applications of technology in learning in the future. Let’s have a look.

Previous experience with eLearning seems to be a key factor in the preparedness, as reported by Barnes & Noble Education [1]. The survey conducted in March 2020 found that 60% of respondents found the switch to be relatively easy.

The setting of their learning environments is another reason for worry. Not everyone has a home environment that will allow them to work or study from home. 64% of students expressed concern over staying motivated and maintaining focus, as they get easily distracted.

Students at a collegiate level seem to be more understanding of the scenario. For many, the assignments and readings were mostly done online already. Today, even several standardized and aptitude tests [2] are also conducted online. The only difference is that the lectures have moved online.

"The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted daily life for virtually every educator, parent, and student in the U.S. It has disabled our education system, creating challenges to educational access, barriers to student academic progress and strains on teachers’ and students’ physical and emotional well-being."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to ensure that learning continues at home. Discover resources to make learning at home as fun as possible.

Higher education as we know it is approaching economic collapse. I appreciate the frantic gestures college presidents are making to prevent their own campuses from failing. Many intend to open their campuses for the fall term and avoid economic ruin. It is the wrong call.

Even the most optimistic of epidemiologists have two opinions about the remaining months of 2020: mass gatherings should be prohibited, and people over 55 and/or with pre-existing conditions should continue to stay indoors. We also know that individuals under 25 are least likely to become sick with the coronavirus and are most likely to flout requests to stay indoors, wear masks and avoid public places such as beaches and parks.

Start reading this text on Manifold Scholarship at CUNY.

Educators know we encounter many different types of learners in our classroom. Science class affords us the opportunity to meet the needs of hands-on, auditory, and visual learners. As we are faced with the task of teaching remotely, connecting with these types of learners is vital to our success.

One significant challenge familiar to all science teachers is getting students to understand data that is placed in front of them. Students often struggle with looking at different data sets and trying to make comparisons and interpretations.


My solution? Infographics. Infographics has been a great way for me to engage my students with data and encourage them to apply creative as well as critical thinking. And with the shift to online learning, I’m finding infographics more useful than ever.

What Are Infographics?

Check in on student emotional wellbeing and provide support for your students with the same tools you’re using for distance learning.

Online education can be as effective as traditional classroom-based education, even if it's often seen as a less preferred option. Read more at Monash Lens.

Hundreds of companies are making their digital education tools free to schools during extended closures.

Free resource of educational web tools, 21st century skills, tips and tutorials on how teachers and students integrate technology into education

Higher-ed institutions must help their faculty approach online instruction and ensure teaching is high-quality and well-structured.

As uncertainty surrounding the longevity of social distancing measures is likely to continue into the autumn at the very least, the rush to move third-level programmes online has sparked a debate over the quality of such courses and how they will compare with those delivered through the traditional means.

Students registering for college in September will expect more than the emergency remote teaching approach that was adopted in the closing weeks of the last academic year. Most will accept that the college social experience will be limited to some degree this year but they will at the very least also expect learning outcomes to be on a par with what was on offer in previous years.

"Many students look at online learning courses as a respite from the rigors of brick-and-mortar learning, but that’s only true if educators and administrators choose not to maximize the digital learning environment to challenge their student populace.  While digital learning has its limitations and flaws, it can also be used as a powerful tool to stimulate critical thinking in students. In fact, there are plenty of ways to induce such propensities for critical thought without a student even being aware of it!"

In order to make the transition from the physical classroom to the virtual teaching environment, teachers need to master 6 main areas of skill and knowledge.

We live in a period of incredible upheaval. No matter your profession, no matter your walk of life, COVID-19 has affected you. It has touched every single industry and every single person in some way. The eLearning industry is no different. Understanding those impacts on the industry is important, both for navigating these challenging waters today and for charting a course into the future. Below, we’ll explore some of the most important ways that the pandemic is affecting the eLearning sector.

Can the solutions being slapped together during the pandemic help create more permanent solutions during the recovery?

Like many teachers around the world, Vinson wonders whether all this time her kids spend glued to a screen is developmentally appropriate. And if not, how much time should students be spending on schoolwork, when the structures of a traditional six- or seven-hour school day have been so thoroughly obliterated?

Regular check-ins with students and families are key to making distance learning work well. Edtech can help make those check-ins happen.

Physical campuses are closed, and students have moved online—here are tips from online educators to help students adjust to online learning.

Today, we are rolling out Messenger Rooms, which are joinable group video calls that make it easy to spend quality time with friends, loved ones and people who share your interests. Create a room right from Messenger or Facebook, and invite anyone to join, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. Rooms will soon hold up to 50 people with no time limit.