A Literacy Initiative Group (ALIG)
August 2020
Online Learning in Lockdown Era
Imran Ali, PhD. Executive Director ALIG
Education like any other sector is not untouched by technology. It is helping in reaching out to more students more efficiently. Possibilities that is brought into the classroom because of technology are endless. Access to Education is significantly enhanced and it is widely accepted that the students who learn through technology can create a set of skills that will help them throughout their own future careers,
COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown resulting in the closure of educational institutions have paved the way for a new dimension in education- physical classroom has been replaced with online teaching and learning.
Government School Students in a way has been largely untouched by this new phenomenon due to various reasons but our insistence on using technology in schools have ensured that those students with smart-phones had regular classes. ALIG Educational and Welfare Society (ALIG Society) teachers, who are trained in using digital pedagogy, all thanks to Loss of Generality is reaching out to more than 1800 students in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand alone.
Various platforms like zoom, WhatsApp, group calls etc. are being used to reach out to these students. Students have been divided in different groups and classes are being conducted as per the defined syllabus.
This year because of lockdown summer camp in the Schools could not be organized. To keep the students engaged and teach them something new, virtual summer camp is being organized in collaboration with a Dubai based organization called Coded Minds. There are 70 students who have been enrolled for two months to learn English Communication, Mobile Application Development and Animation.
The pandemic has taught us that the future schools and teaching learning tools is going to be amalgamation of online learning and face to face learning i.e. Blended Learning. This pandemic has also given an opportunity to us to bridge the digital divide as well as improve education in Government Schools.
ALIG Society has ensured that the targeted students are not left behind for want of technological tools. ALIG Society appreciates the fact that embedded technology in the program is right approach to ensure program delivery.
