Online Education After COVID-19

Narrowed Topic

The role of online education after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research Question

What are the consequences of the pandemic in the sphere of online education in diverse countries all over the world?

Tentative Claim/Thesis (Situated in a Valid Debate)

The pandemic of COVID-19 has significantly influenced the educational sphere in many countries as most schools and universities had to switch to an online format; that is why it became more convenient to use telecommunications for studying.

Rationale and Research Plan – Background, Overview, Approach, Research Plan, and Possible Complications (at least two full paragraphs)

Online education is claimed to be a new way to study at schools and in the universities. However, there are several significant difficulties that might affect the results of this type of learning. For example, not all pupils have a computer at home; not all families can afford the Internet and access to all platforms for their children. At the same time, it is crucial to mention that the experience of the learning process during the pandemic of COVID-19 showed that online platforms are an efficient tool for getting new knowledge without wasting time on going to school or talking with friends during the break.

It can be observed that online education has its own benefits and disadvantages. On the one hand, the courses are available from any part of the world. On the other hand, children get less communication and activities. I plan to interview students and pupils about their experience of online education and compare the results with the thesis in academic articles.

Then I suppose to make conclusions about the perception of this situation both by the professionals of this field and its participants. The most critical possible complication is the subjectivity of the students and the lack of scientific works caused by the recency of the described events.

Initial Source Collection Table: Supporting and Opposing

Supporting Viewpoint Source Your Position (1): Children perform better because of having classes in an online format. It helps them concentrate and makes the lessons more interesting and useful for them. What is more, they can study from any comfortable place that leads to more successful results. Online education is perceived more as a hobby than a studying process that makes it easier and more pleasant for students.	Opposing Viewpoint Source: Possible Opposing Viewpoints (1): Teacher cannot monitor the results of their students if they are not present in class. It is a reason why online education is a challenging process for the pupils. They are not ready for the tempo of studying using Internet platforms.
Source Quoted with Signal Phrase and Citation (1): Gonzalez et al. (2020) claim that “COVID-19 confinement changed students’ learning strategies to a more continuous habit, improving their efficiency” (p. 1)	Source Quoted with Signal Phrase and Citation (1): Taking into consideration the problems with the concentration of the students during online classes, Bao (2020) highlights the idea that “the quantity, difficulty, and length of teaching content should match with the academic readiness” (p.115).
Your Position (2): Pandemic showed that universities and schools already have all the necessary tools and equipment to organize high-qualified education in an online format. Despite the fact that this type of studying was always considered supplementary, it is supposed to be the future of education that would be free and available for children from diverse regions and countries.	Possible Opposing Viewpoints (2): Technical problems cannot be avoided in the sphere of online education. It is impossible to predict the power cuts or problems with the Internet. What is more, it is possible to assume that not all children have the possibility to use a computer at home. In this case, the basic rule that the educational system should be free and affordable for all students is violated that may lead to severe negative consequences.
Source Quoted with Signal Phrase and Citation (2): Strielkowski (2020) puts forwards the idea that “it turned out that academia and higher education already had all the tools necessary for the online lectures, teleconferencing, or digital open books exams.”	Source Quoted with Signal Phrase and Citation (2): Chen and his colleagues (2020) claim that the student’s academic achievements are directly related to their access to the Internet as “platform availability has the greatest influence on user satisfaction” (p. 200).

References

Bao, W. (2020). COVID‐19 and online teaching in higher education: A case study of Peking University. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(2), 113–115.

Chen, T., Peng, L., Yin, X., Rong, J., Yang, J., & Cong, G. (2020). Analysis of user satisfaction with online education platforms in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare, 8(3), p. 200– 226. Web.

Gonzalez, T., de la Rubia, M. A., Hincz, K. P., Comas-Lopez, M., Subirats, L., Fort, S., & Sacha, G. M. (2020). Influence of COVID-19 confinement in students performance in higher education. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2(7), 1–25. Web.

Strielkowski, W. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and the digital revolution in academia and higher education. Preprints, 1(17), 1–6. Web.