In the past couple of months, 1.1 billion children in 195 countries in the world are out of school due to Coronavirus pandemic. These disruptions are expected to be extended into the coming months. However, the world online education is experiencing rapid growth with many countries, schools, parents and students across the world struggling to get hold of a tool to facilitate their continuity in education.

This move away from traditional classrooms across the world has left many wondering whether online education will continue post-pandemic and how the education systems and pedagogues will be impacted. It is evident that education stakeholders in the globe have had to adopt an online model in a very short span of time and in crisis but was the shift to online education that sudden as it seems? In 2019, the global EdTech investments reached $18.66 billion and it is anticipated to reach $350 billion by 2025. This means that there has been an extraordinary growth and adoption in technology in education in recent years way before the coronavirus pandemic.

Continuity of Education during pandemic 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been an upsurge in consumption of educational apps for virtual tutoring, video conferencing, content delivery platforms and online assessment tools. Formation of very unique partnerships has also emerged during this season too. Media houses like Citizen TV has partnered with content developers through Viusasa to offer video-based learning contents to learners at home. Telecommunication companies such as Safaricom has partnered with e-learning platform providers to provide subsidized internet data bundles for education purposes. Even celebrities have not been left behind. We have experienced a member of parliament offering online tuition streamed live on Facebook to secondary school students.

While these meaningful partnerships offer a wonderful supplement to student’s curriculums, they arenot able to replace a complete, teacher-managed learning experience. Further to that, majority of schools, parents and students are still struggling with technologies such as WhatsApp and other open source platforms that offer minimal structured learning to the learners. It has been particularly hard for pre-schools, primary and secondary school students.

Although technologies that enable online learning have been there even before the pandemic, schools have had to quickly and unexpectedly implement online learning which has led to poor user experience for millions of students, teachers and parents. Schools are also having to learn how to provide online learning with very little information, preparation and a lot of confusion. This confusion is particularly escalated by brief case companies trying to take advantage of the moment and providing half baked foreign solutions. But there are existing, high quality, tried and tested local solutions that address local curriculum needs and pedagogues like KlickIt Edsuite.

KlickIt Edsuite offers complete functionalities to take a learning institution to full Tech integration. The system closely looks at every single process in a school environment from online learning management, digital content delivery, video conferencing, curriculum and lesson plans, staff and student leave management, fees management, bus tracking and management to every other process in the school. With the KlickIt Edsuite, schools have the best chance to keep students engaged both while at school and when out of school. It gives learning institutions the best opportunity to invest into the future of learning and not just for the moment of the pandemic.

It is important to remember that what many of us are experiencing at the moment in many schools is merely stop-gap measures trying to keep students engaged. In ideal situations, covering curriculum and especially the new competency-based curriculum should have seamless integration of technology with or without the pandemic.

Benefits of Online learning

Digital education replaces traditional form of education day-by-day. There is no doubt that ever since inception of digital learning, education system has experienced

easier ways of approaching complex concepts. According to the World Economic Forum research, online learning has been shown to increase retention 

of information, and take less time, meaning the changes this pandemic has caused is here to stay. Research has also shown that on average, students retain 25-60% more information from online learning compared to just 8-10% in a classroom. This can be explained by students being able to learn faster online. Students need 40-60% less time to learn online than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace.

KlickIt Edsuite is built with the understanding that every institution has different needs but similar goals when it comes to ICT integration in teaching and school management. The goal is to tap into the potentials of technology and put the power in the hands of the learners, parents and manage all these affordably and easily.

The world is a little uncertain right now and traditional schooling will never be the same again. It is evident that online learning is transforming education across the globe and so, whether it’s a hybrid learning model that brings traditional and virtual schooling together or a complete transition to online learning, online is here to stay and this is the ideal time to embrace it and invest in it. To secure the future of your school, making an informed investment in systems that will enable seamless teaching and school management will go a long way in continuity of your institution.

Written by: Jonah Wanjohi