COVID-19 has put the entire world in a state of emergency beyond imagination. No one goes out or come in; people can’t even interact with one another as usual, or engage in their daily activities. As the experts suggest that the only remedy for this viral and killer disease now is to maintain social distancing and stay indoors. Though, we all know that no matter how harsh the situation is, some smart people will aim to take advantage of this period to act right.
Fortunately for schools, almost all the school activities can be done right from the comfort of your home. This means that all the existing school activities can be transferred onto an online platform pretty effortlessly. There’s no need to worry! Just stay home and keep teaching your students and monitor all other school activities without breaching government laws. This will not only allow you to conduct your business but will also give you edge among your competitors and give a relief to the parents.
Since early March, hundreds of thousands of schools went remote. They went from working in school environment to working remotely from home. This had made many parents withdrawn their children from schools who still rely on physical school structure to school that can move with time and conduct teaching remotely in the face of global pandemic.
HOW SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN REACHING OUT TO CHILDREN DURING THIS LOCKDOWN
Radio Broadcast: A number of schools have been using radio broadcast for educational purposes lately through dramas, lessons, tutoring, and other educational broadcasts to reach their students. But how many hours would they buy on radio to teach all their classes in a day?
Television: Despite high production costs, many schools are trying to reach their children using TV. But the question is, can it be as effective as it ought to be? Taking into consideration the number of classes in each school.
Social Media: some schools now utilize social media to organize discussions, push out information, share video, etc. They organized WhatsApp and Telegram groups for each class and share digital content and resources through this popular medium. This medium too has its limitations.
What is the right platform for school to conduct effective learning?
There’s no “right” e-education choice right now for schools than to build a custom e-learning system. The world has changed and there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it than to make the best of it. So building a custom educational platform is definitely the best way to go now for schools. Remote learning is the order of the day and if your school is not moving with changes in the world you will be left behind.
WHY USE CUSTOM ELEARNING SOLUTIONS IN YOUR SCHOOL?
While there are many off-the-shelf offerings for all sorts of pre-built courses schools can use, they, very seldom, align with a specific’s schools goals and core values. To have a truly effective eLearning solution in your school, it must include custom courses, specific to your school’s needs.
Let’s look at some of the reasons why investing in custom eLearning solutions is a wise move for the success of your school learning program.
1. Nobody Knows Your Employees’ and Students’ Needs Better Than You
Your institution has the knowledge it needs to do what it does. Clearly, your school has some advantages over other schools. There is certain core value that makes your school different from others. Building your own eLearning platform will create a product your school alone can use. While some of the concepts might be generic, each school has its own approaches to applying them. Making eLearning your own defines your school and keeps the messages consistent.
2. You Build It, You Own It, and It’s yours forever.
While some off-the-shelf vendors charge per user, most of them charge academic term, subscription-based fees. This basically means you pay royalties to use their system for ever. When you look at the amount been paid to use other peoples’ platform to teach in your own school, compare to the amount to own your own eLearning system forever. You will understand that it worth every penny. Though, developing custom eLearning system for your school may require a large upfront investment at first, but the products will belong to your school and will be essentially free to use forever, regardless of the number of users and the length of time the platform are accessed.
3. Easy Update
As we all know technology changes, knowledge is gained, and corporate practices and requirements change. This makes updates to your learning management system inevitable, and less costly, as you own the platform and can focus the updates to reflect the new changes in your school, instead of having to replace the entire system.
4. Create Engaging Courses
An engaging course is the first step towards your eLearning goals. Your customs LMS will come with a robust course template that can help you Increased Learner Engagement and Knowledge Retention. This will allow your students to learn something truly relevant to their needs as if they are with you in the classroom; their involvement and commitment are measurably higher.
This will enable you implement varieties of strategies to boost students’ engagement and retention, such as crafting internal characters, using familiar scenarios for serious games, awarding badges for achievements and many more.
PLANNING TO OWN YOUR LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS)?
There’s no better time to start planning of taking your school environment online than now. Every school is choosing the best medium or a mix of media to make learning opportunities available to their students as quickly as possible. Your school should not be left behind. This COVID-19 lockdown is an eye opener to many schools owner that the world has gone digital and so should every business.
Need a Digital Partner In Building your School an eLearning System?
Building an eLearning system is, oftentimes, the most challenging aspect of many schools. However, there is a digital company who knows the exact needs of your school and ready to work with you to make the dream of turning your school into a digital one reality. At Autosyst Consulting, we will help turn your school into a digital one and make you an envy among your competitors. You can contact us here
FINAL Thought
The emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic has thought every business owner a lesson that there will always be a shifts in human behavior—People are now working from home in my organization, something that many part of the world never experienced. Schools all over the country must begin long-term planning and building of E-learning systems in preparation for the next, inevitable, emergency. If there is one lesson learnt from COVID-19, it is that eLearning system must be an essential component of the overall education system in any giving society.
I highly recommend that schools should step out and take up challenges of joining the bandwagon and take their school activities to the next level.
With a crisis like COVID-19, smart school owners put their school and their heart on display by building a digital learning environment. And make sure that his or her students have the best of online education in the comfort of their own home.
Stay home, stay safe!
