Online education carries the stigma of being inexpensive, mass-market and ineffective. ‘Proper education must be on campus’ is the popular refrain. This has to do with online platforms being created to never really substitute or compete with on-campus education, but only as facilitators for students who wanted to learn something additional at no extra cost. However, COVID-19 has changed everything, overnight, writes Nitish Jain (President, SP Jain School of Global Management) in Entrepreneur India, a leading business publication.
In the article published on July 9, 2020, Mr Jain highlights how online education that is only supplemental is no longer satisfactory. “Students want superior delivery even for mainstream degrees. As a result, many universities are now aiming to create online learning systems that would deliver not just equal, but even superior learning outcomes.”
Drawing an analogy between technology and online education, he shares, “Technology has changed our way of life and made everything better. Online education could also achieve a similar feat if the goal is not to be mass-market but high end. Educational institutions and EdTech providers need to develop technology that is custom designed for classroom use; replicating a live classroom down to the last detail. Such premium online technology can ensure that a professor is able to reach all of his/her students, making every student feel like they are in the front row of the classroom. No backbenchers!”
