History & Trends of Online Learning & Screen Time

Online learning for young children in schools is an area that has received widespread acceptance and fair share of criticism. A close examination of facts, best practices and expert views reveals that online learning for all age groups is here to stay. Online learning is the only strategy that schools possess to ensure continuity in learning and personalized learning journey for each student. There is worldwide acceptance of the benefits of the online learning that further the cause of quality education however, the limitations of online learning must also be recognized. 

School educators, policy makers and regulators must focus on staying the course even under the pressure of outbreaks. Keeping student interests in mind, schools must ensure that learning continuity is maintained until full operations are resumed. Online learning techniques today have evolved substantially and can be channelized to assist with the student’s cognitive development as it is clear that learning consistency, routine and developmental learning window are important factors for children of young ages. In fact, leading schools across the world have employed the latest in online learning and designed systems that address the obvious reservations related to virtual environments and target even the social and emotional learning of their students.

Leading medical and child welfare organizations have now assumed a more supportive position of the idea of online learning. Organization such as WHO, UNESCO and IIEP have come out with new guidelines that provide an extensive framework on how to employ online learning techniques in an ethical and productive manner. The push for online education from local and global governments is substantial and is a clear indicator of the renewed understanding amongst leaders and reformers of the countries. It is clear that the common understanding now is that online learning can yield credible results provided it is administered and monitored in the right way with the help of systemic safeguards. 

Concerns around screen time have now been deliberated upon enough to prove that the quality screen time must be encouraged. While it is widely agreed that children must be allowed to engage in physical activities, it is also possible to ensure that young children do so with the help of online coaches or embedded bursts of free time. All stakeholders must approach the screen time issue from an objective viewpoint and differentiate active and passive screen usage. Experts have clearly mentioned that it is the passive, mindless and mechanical use of screen time on activities such as aimless social media browsing, binge watching and excessive gaming that inflict much more damage on young, developing minds than productive and cognitive activities such as investigative and experiential learning. Hence, rules, regulations or guidelines must consider the ‘good or bad screen usage time’ rather than ‘good or bad screen time’. 

Schools must now be more ready than ever to leverage online learning and ensure that students continue to grow and develop as they ought to. With no end to the pandemic in sight, online learning is the only way to render education to children of all ages. If the policy makers, regulators and schools can collaborate to share best practices and learn from each other around the globe, they can efficiently and swiftly cover the lost ground and provide high quality education to all students.

Eduvisors partnered with FICCI ARISE to develop a report containing insights with specific reference to systemic safeguards for all schools to consider: Available here.

School Quality Assurance: Standards That All Schools Must Attain

All leading schools must aspire for excellence across all schooling practices and operations. It is the mark of a well-rounded institution that strives for quality beyond education and curriculum. The pursuit of excellence should be weaved into the school ethos and pedagogy. As the schooling market becomes more competitive at an exponential rate, a qualitatively appealing value proposition is perhaps the strongest differentiator all premier schools would possess. The schools commitment towards quality in education and operations has a direct correlation to their student results and admission volumes.

The critical question therefore becomes – how do schools ensure quality standards par excellence? It is interesting to note, that all schools claim to offer excellence in quality education, however very few actually deliver on these claims. Objective measures of quality are essential to understand the true picture of a school’s quality standards. It is a common practice for schools to comparatively evaluate their standards of quality against those of competitors in the same region and offering similar infrastructure, however, such evaluations are seldom based on analysis and methodical calculations. These are in fact just a comparison of student intake and annual results.

Quality assessment necessitates an investigation of all aspects of schooling in order to understand what emerging improvement areas should be addressed on priority. There needs to be an independent evaluation in order to safeguard against a compromise due to a personal bias. An industry accepted mark of quality is AuditED. A hallmark of excellence in quality of education, school audits and improvement or AuditED is a method of quality assurance developed over the years through process and function audits of K12 schools globally, and is designed primarily to distinguish schools adhering to a set of high educational standards. The AuditED process is well known for its ability to effectively drive student performance and ensure continuous improvement in education

A significant recognition of a school’s quality of education, AuditED is also an enriching process for the K12 schools to get an opportunity to improve on the existing standards of delivery. AuditED enables K12 schools to compare their performance against research based quality standards thus producing a wealth of rich insight and enabling them to raise their performance and effectiveness standards. The process requires schools to critically evaluate its vision, strategies, priorities, leadership, programs and resources. This method of earning and maintaining the accreditation provides schools and educational systems with clear and compelling direction for implementing changes required and move towards excellence.

AuditED approaches the idea of quality improvement as an investigation of critical aspects such as school administration, employee management, teaching and learning, student management etc. Understanding the policies and procedures across these aspects and pitting them against internationally recognized best practices and standards, AuditED prepares the schools for an enhanced learning experience and recommends optimal frameworks for providing high quality education. Schools that attain the accreditation benefit from a global network of distinct and quality committed schools as well as receive external and objective validation of the areas in which they are doing well and areas that can be improved upon. Needless to say that AuditED prescriptions have been tested and proven across the industry and come recommended by experts that have pioneered the best available ideas and education practices.

Schools must also commit to a review of policies and procedures every few years in order to maintain their excellence in quality. Revision and modernization of teaching methodologies is necessary to keep pace with the dynamic market and diverse student and parent needs. AuditED pre mandates the cooperation of the school and leadership in respect of document provision and candid interaction with stakeholders. Tweaking policies to combat modern realities such as outbreaks is essential to develop a formidable response to current and future pandemics. Students, teachers and staff must be ensured of their safety and protection at all times. Additionally, with revenue depreciation in the past few months, schools, also need to re-evaluate their expense structures in order to withstand the onslaught of the pandemic. AuditED can help schools optimize their costs by highlighting wasteful expenditures that would not have come to light under normal circumstances.

As schools prepare to gradually open, it will not be long before they will need to consider all possibilities of maintaining learning continuity for their students as modern learning and teaching techniques will define education in the very near future. Recognized quality standards will give schools the edge and the benefit of being ahead of their competition since accredited standards instill confidence and signal preparedness on behalf of the schools in the minds of students and parents.Find out all about AuditED and it's benefits here.