Distance learning 101: Useful tips and tools for the 'new normal' in education
Most educational institutions around the world are adapting to the 'new normal' in education, which is distance learning.
Students, educators, and schools can use apps to make distance learning easier | Source: Pexels
However, not all are experienced and knowledgeable in navigating this new set up.
Therefore, GMANetwork.com got in touch with Zoho Corporation's vice president and general manager in Asia Pacific, Gibu Mathew, to get some useful advice and discover tools that can make distance learning easier to navigate for students, teachers and educational institutions.
Mr. Gibu Mathew, VP and GM of Zoho Corporation
Transitioning to distance learning
Some educational institutions have started incorporating remote learning into their curriculum even before the pandemic struck.
Nevertheless, there are some who are just exploring this new set up now.
So, Mr. Mathew suggested some of his recommended tools and how each can help facilitate distance learning more easily.
“We must find out tools that are similar in functionality to what typically happens in a school.
“Owing to this situation, they have to be delivered in a similar manner, but digitally. You need to have an equivalent technology.
“Like say, for example, Zoho Meeting is software that can help you to emulate a classroom environment, in terms of seeing and talking to the students.
Some of Zoho's distance learning tools
“And with Zoho Writer, you could create fillable documents online and share it with children.
“You can send that document to the children, and they could fill up that document online and you could get different copies of that document added into your own online workplace.
And aside from these helpful apps, Mr. Mathew also highlighted the importance of having a staff room experience.
“Well, teachers need such an environment because they need to prepare themselves to be in line with what the school wants to be communicated to the children.
“There is important communication coming in from government and other education authorities.
“So, that has to be discussed, communicated to the teachers, and then the teachers have to effectively communicate that to the children.
“So, tools like Zoho Cliq can facilitate that. It comes even with what they're familiar in the banking industry a two-factor or multi-factor authentication, which is quite secure because that kind of secure environment allows you to have a password for accessing the online account, as well as the need for maybe using a phone for one-time password (OTP) to be entered to log in to that room.”
Moreover, Mr. Mathew also recommends having a secure online storage system like Zoho WorkDrive.
“It can actually allow you to store information in one place, manage information for the whole school, if you're a school administrator, organize videos by sections, by subject, by day or month, and share it with parents or students.
“And this has to be backed by proper authentication. The best is to have two-factor authentication.”
And when it comes to communicating with parents and potential new students regarding enrollment, Mr. Mathew advises schools to have a good website, which can answer frequently asked questions.
“When you land on a school website, can you as an office admin of the school clarify admission queries?
“Well, you can with Zoho Sites and Zoho SalesIQ, an intelligent chat bot that you could put on your website and it could be responding automatically or a human can actually reply to parents' queries on the website.”
Distance learning tips for educators and schools | Source: Pexels
How to make the new set up work
There are some apprehensions about remote learning, including how to ensure children remain attentive and productive during classes. Mr. Mathew offered a few suggestions to address this concern.
“Now, in the new normal of teaching online, teachers have to tell stories, show maybe three-dimensional objects, and give more visually appealing content to keep children attentive.
“The second option I would say is, technology gives you a lot of opportunities to make things engaging, so, as an example, you could have online quizzes, which everybody has to answer; like a poll.
“And lastly, I would say to make it engaging. Well, give other children also some responsibilities to manage their class online.
“Like, for example, in case a child gets knocked out of the classroom, the online meeting room, one child could be responsible to let other children in.
Mr. Mathew also gave his recommendations on how to facilitate online exams and how to avoid possible cheating by students.
“That's a problem that could come sooner or later, but I feel schools would probably move towards a project-based approach to evaluation instead of old mark-based approach.
“So you know, like spanning three to five chapters of a book, maybe the whole book, based on how much is being taught, they have to apply what they have learned, and evaluation itself can move towards such an approach, given the current scenario.
“And especially a lot of colleges are moving towards that model, so that children are not under stress to score marks, but children should be spending more time in learning.
“Moreover, I believe software can use a mix of video plus restrictive screen-sharing session to reduce the possibility of external help during test. I've seen some usages like this.
“Additionally, what teachers could do is they could ask a lot of questions, which are multiple-based questions, maybe 60 questions in 60 minutes.
“Well, that would also check the speed the students can answer. And if you're thinking of cheating, you're not going to finish your exam either.”
How Zoho addresses security and privacy concerns | Source: Pexels
On security and privacy concerns
Parents and educational institutions have had misgivings about security and privacy concerns that may be inevitable in online classes or in the remote learning set up as a whole.
And Mr. Mathew confirms that these concerns are valid.
“For example, no one other than the school teacher and the students previously in the physical world know the fact that they know each other.
“But in the online world, all of a sudden, all these tech companies know that students and these teachers know each other.
“And this is actually durable information for advertisers to manipulate. And that is why choosing the right vendor that gives importance to security and privacy is absolutely important.
“At Zoho, we actually don't have a single cookie or tracker, which is a third-party cookie, and we are absolutely clear about how we are compliant worldwide about privacy and security.”
Transitioning to distance learning | Source: Pexels
Adapting to the 'new normal' in education
So, if you're an educator, student, parent, or educational institution, keep in mind that you are not alone in exploring this new set up in learning.
It may initially seem daunting, but with the help of proper tools and expert advice, transitioning into this new way of learning will be much easier and can even be a great learning experience in itself.
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