With the arrival of COVID-19, the drastic change in educational, social and relational practices has been unstoppable. Education, like many other areas of our lives, has had to adapt to this situation, opting for virtual learning in most cases and socialising whilst staying at home. This situation presents several challenges: we lack the necessary technology; the role of ICTs in facilitating education; and how to make good use of them without going to extremes.
What happens with online learning if, in poor or rural areas, not all families have a computer or internet access?
As UNICEF highlights, 346 million children worldwide do not have access to the internet; this means that 29 per cent of the global total do not have the opportunity to move their education online. In Colombia, the number of young people unable to attend face-to-face classes due to the coronavirus stands at around 11 million, and according to the Laboratory of Education Economics (LEE) at the Pontifical Xavierian University, 96 per cent of the country’s municipalities lack the tools to deliver online lessons.
Although many governors, mayors and government leaders are allocating resources to alleviate this situation, as in the case of:
- Chile’s Ministry of Education and Junaeb, which provided 122,000 computers with internet access to students under the age of 18.
- In Colombia, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MinTIC), through the ‘Computadores para Educar’ programme, distributed 83,345 computers with internet access.
- The Government of El Salvador is providing laptops and educational materials to 240 children in quarantine centres.
Although these measures may alleviate the situation for many students, the vast majority will still lack access to education during the lockdown, further widening the social divide between the poor and the rich. A recent study by UNICEF and CECC-SICA reveals that school failure affects more than 3.5 million children and adolescents in Central America, and that this figure will rise as a result of the lockdown and school closures.
In light of this situation, there are two key priorities:
- To provide students with the tools to enable them to access education as a fundamental right, as set out in Article 26.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- To return to the classroom despite the pandemic. “Contrary to what we know about the flu, where children are the main transmitters, it seems that with the coronavirus they shed fewer viruses,” according to Professor Odile Launay, a specialist in infectious diseases at Cochin Hospital in Paris. Consequently, countries such as France, Germany, Norway and Denmark have already given the go-ahead for a return to school!
How can we make the best use of technology for learning?
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) contribute to teaching by offering opportunities for interaction and creating new approaches to both individual and group work. Teachers must use them to develop pupils’ digital skills, but now, more than ever, they have become the sole means of education.
This is not easy, particularly for those who were used to face-to-face teaching in the classroom, to handing in assignments and sitting exams in person, or for those who valued student participation in the classroom highly. However, all these activities also have their place online.
To achieve the best possible skills in educational technology, we certainly recommend specialising through a master’s degree in this field, such as the Master’s in ICT Applied to Education , which will prepare you for this new challenge.
However, for those who simply wish to gain some basic information, we have listed the digital tools available for each type of activity that was previously carried out in the classroom in person. These tools can be found both on the teaching platforms provided by educational institutions and freely available online.
There are currently three types of teaching platforms, categorised by price:
Commercial: platforms where you pay for a licence to use them. The subscriber pays according to the duration, requirements and budget of the educational programme. Below are several examples:
- Almagesto: offers a variety of resources that help to enhance classroom facilitation, thereby improving control over the teaching and learning process. Some of its benefits include the fact that it is customisable, can be integrated with various social media platforms, features a video library and facilitates direct communication with tutors. Furthermore, it offers different subscription options depending on users’ needs.
- Blackboard: is one of the longest-established platforms in the sector; its experience in the field justifies its status as one of the best. It offers different options tailored to its target audiences: for universities, primary education, corporate training, amongst others. Virtual groups can be created to encourage interaction. It also features programmes for the visually impaired.
- Saba : is a platform that enables the management of all training processes carried out within an organisation. Learning progress can be monitored to support learners. It facilitates the creation of classes via video conferencing.
- Neo LMS : It is conceived and designed for all types of users, as well as for various educational sectors, as it is used by everyone from primary school pupils to university students. One of its distinctive features is that you can create curricula; it is customisable and requires no installation.
Free software: or open-source software, designed to be used freely, as the name suggests; free, that is to say, at no cost:
- Moodle : the Moodle platform is used to create online learning spaces and to manage, distribute and monitor all distance learning activities within an educational institution or organisation. It brings together administrators, students and teachers on a single, comprehensive platform.
- ATutor : complies with international standards. Teachers can compile and distribute educational material to organise online lessons.
- Chamilo : this enables teachers to build courses that can be used as a support tool for both face-to-face and purely online classes. Teachers can choose from various teaching methodologies. It is available in over 50 languages. This initiative is run by a not-for-profit association to ensure that all knowledge can be shared.
- Claroline : amongst its key features, it is worth noting that it is quick and easy to learn and adapts to different types of students. It has been translated into more than 35 languages and has no user limit.
- Sakai : this platform forms part of the Sakai Foundation, to which more than 100 universities belong. It is easy to set up and offers innovative features for quick and efficient use.
Pay-as-you-go cloud-based: subscribers pay according to their use of the platform, although its main purpose is considered to be supporting face-to-face teaching:
- Ecaths : this is used to quickly create an online workspace for your class or course. It allows you to easily manage content through surveys, forums, texts and other features. You can also create a space for virtual interaction with students.
- Edmodo: is a technological, social and educational platform that enables communication between pupils and teachers in a private environment via microblogging, designed specifically for use in upper secondary education.
- Schoology : is a learning management system for schools covering primary and secondary education, higher education institutions and businesses, which enables users to create, manage and share content and resources.
- Udemy: is aimed at working adults and uses content from online creators to sell courses and generate revenue.
Other free tools depending on the activity you wish to carry out:
Creating exams:
- Google Forms: a survey management application. It offers all the collaboration and sharing features found in Docs, Sheets and Slides.
- Questbase: a cross-platform application that helps you create and manage assessments, assignments and exams.
- Socrative: an application created by an MIT lecturer designed to support classroom teaching. It can therefore be used for feedback and assessments via quizzes, amongst other things.
- Gnowledge: a web-based platform for creating and sharing tests, exams and educational exercises.
Lectures:
- Hangouts: allows video calls with up to 15 people via the web and 10 people from a smartphone. Conversations are archived in the cloud, enabling them to be synchronised across different devices. During conversations, users can send emojis and share photographs, images or presentations, amongst other things.
- Zoom: is software for video calls and virtual meetings, accessible from desktop computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets.
- Google Classroom: is an educational web service developed by Google. It forms part of the G Suite for Education package, which includes Google Docs, Gmail and Google Calendar.
- Skype: is ideal for smaller groups of up to 20 people. It is free, unless you wish to purchase credit to make calls to landlines and mobiles.
- Skype for Business: allows you to add up to 250 people to online meetings, provides enterprise-grade security, enables you to manage student accounts and integrates with Office applications.
Tutorials:
- WhatsApp: is a messaging app for smartphones, where you can send and receive messages via the internet, as well as images, documents, locations, contacts, videos and audio recordings; you can also make voice and video calls between one or more people.
- Calls: A telephone call is a communication between two people, although it may involve several people.
Class participation:
- Forums: There are countless forums on specific topics online where students and teachers can participate free of charge, thereby learning to interact with experts and discover other viewpoints.
- Group chat: for example, creating discussion groups using the tools mentioned above, such as WhatsApp or Skype, can help encourage members to participate.
How can we avoid being overly connected to digital technologies?
At present, the way we interact with the world on a day-to-day basis – socially, educationally, professionally and even for entertainment – is virtual, with most activities involving sitting in front of a screen. This can lead to a certain degree of overload, fatigue and even stress.
Although we can use technology for educational purposes, it is not necessary for all our work to involve sitting in front of a screen. We therefore suggest some activities to relax certain parts of our body without having to stop studying:
- Reading: many academic tasks involve reading a case study or academic material beforehand. In this case, anyone with a printer or access to a local print shop near their home can print out these documents and read them at their leisure, giving their eyes a rest from the screen’s glare.
- Many conversations involve only audio. Let’s make the most of this time to get up from our chairs, take our eyes off our devices and focus on the conversation whilst simply walking and gazing at the horizon; this way, we’ll combat a sedentary lifestyle a little and give our eyes a rest.
- Opt for voice messages whenever possible and appropriate. That way, we won’t be straining our eyes.
- Audiobooks and audio articles. Most programmes offer this option. If we’re feeling tired or have the chance to go for a walk, but need to do our homework for the next day, we don’t necessarily have to sacrifice our walking time. By using this option, our devices will read out everything we need to know for the next lesson.
- Make the most of webinars or lectures to stand up and focus on your mind rather than your body. We can listen to and watch the presentation, but to avoid getting tired from staying in the same position for too long, we can take the opportunity to stand up, walk around the room or even do some stretches, as long as we don’t lose our concentration.
In conclusion, during this period of lockdown, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education has increased; they are becoming more relevant every day, as without them we would have no access to education. Likewise, we must keep up to date with new platforms. But without a doubt, we must look after ourselves and try to use them appropriately so as not to become overwhelmed or suffer injuries resulting from overuse.
Author: María Arnaiz Alonso*
* Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management, Diploma in Business Studies, Master’s degree in Business Management in Innovation and Internationalisation, Certificate in Internationalisation, and Master’s degree in International Development Cooperation Project Management. PhD candidate in Economic Integration. Professional experience at Findeter, the Colombian Development Bank, as lead for the socio-economic component of the IDB’s (Inter-American Development Bank) sustainable cities programme and in the territorial competitiveness division. Director of Higher Education at EDEX, an international educational coaching and consultancy firm, overseeing 16 offices across 11 countries in Latin America.
