Online mode of education poses threat to students’ physical, mental health
Educators are struggling to teach themselves software such as Google Classroom, Zoom, Apple Clips, Quizlet, and iMovie
Shahid Amin
The covid-19 has shattered our daily routine, business, financial market and even the education system of the globe. This pandemic has severely affected the Indian academic fraternity. Academic fraternity is under an inexorable mental strain, which raises incidence and occurrence of tension, troubling and depression, owing to scrupulous steps of exclusion and closing in universities and schools.
The threat of infection is primarily high. The concern of family and friends is also intensifying the rising stress rate. In addition, due to the lockdown dilemma and to the maintenance of social distance, the authorities have instructed the teaching fraternity to take their classes online without understanding the basic requirements.
It is very difficult to prepare and deliver quality lectures to the students during this pandemic and the situation gets worse when the teaching is online as most teachers have not been trained to use web resources for teaching effectively.
All educational institutions have been shut down since the end of March as an immediate measure to stem the spread of Covid-19. It is still hard to predict when schools, colleges, and universities are reopening. Now schools around the country have moved quickly to online learning as they respond to social distancing steps to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Educators are struggling to teach themselves software such as Google Classroom, Zoom, Apple Clips, Quizlet, and iMovie to create engaging content to help students remain engaged at home, follow along and continue to return to their virtual classrooms. However, all the extra effort isn’t just about revamping their lessons for the digital age.
Despite the many tools available to teachers, many of their students can’t connect due to lack of computers, stable internet connections, or home support to keep them focused on schoolwork. Yet even though students are able to sign in, they still fail in a number of ways to keep up with their current learning environment, something teachers find that no amount of technology will help them overcome.
Online learning is incredibly convenient to overcome from irreversible loss of education but a few drawbacks come with this benefit. If all communications take place online, interacting with academic colleagues, engaging with the professor, and keeping a personal social life can become a struggle.
Recent studies have shown that individuals who spend an excessive amount of time on electronic devices experience focusing difficulties and addiction to the internet that is formally recognized as a mental illness that can seriously affect our lives. It can lead to social isolation, leading to reduced academic achievement and even mental illnesses like depression, boredom, sullenness and anxiety
Above all, some of the students are not enthusiastic about online education because the teachers have limited command over the online teaching of students. Furthermore, teachers living in the rural areas are more dissatisfied and discouraged because they are unable to complete their assignments due to unavailability or weak internet access.
The teachers and students (especially the Science Faculty) are not able to use the facilities of their laboratories because of the online education of colleges. In addition, most teachers are unable to access online news, as they only have institutional web access. Many international students now in various time zones had to adjust their sleep cycle to participate in classes.
Changing regular sleep patterns affects the circadian or internal organic clock of the body. Students with visual, hearing or specific learning disabilities are also struggling in online classes due to the lack of appropriate tools and guidance.
Smartphone addiction, also called colloquially “nomophobia” (fear of going without a cell phone), is sometimes caused by an Internet overuse epidemic or a condition of Internet addiction. It’s never the phone or tablet itself, after all that creates the addiction, but rather the sports, applications and online worlds to which it connects us. The continuous stream of messages and information from a smartphone will overload the brain and make it difficult for more than a few minutes to concentrate attention on any one thing without feeling compelled to move on to something else.
Teaching online is a strong forum but not for everyone. It does have some requirements, such as a decent internet access and an interface, but not every student can afford them. Lack of accreditation and low quality is another problem. In addition, these gadgets’ blue screen can affect students’ eyes if one continues to look at the screen for a long period of time.
Another drawback is that a teacher can’t monitor the students’ body language and ensure that they focus. Teachers can provide immediate face-to – face feedback to the students in the traditional classrooms.
Students experiencing problems in the curriculum can solve these problems quickly and directly either during the lecture or during the hours of the dedicated office. Personalized feedback has a positive impact on students as it makes learning processes easier, richer, and more meaningful, while increasing students’ motivation levels.
On the other hand, online learning still tends to struggle with student feedback. Students who complete regular evaluations get dissatisfied with the lack of personalized feedback In an online learning environment, traditional methods of providing student feedback do not always work, and as a result , online education providers are forced to look for alternative methods to provide feedback.
Feedback from students in an online environment is still a fairly unresearched subject field, and it may take some time for any particular approaches to become completely research-based and proven successful.
As a result, because of the lack of human communication, many of the students and teachers who inevitably spend much of their time online can experience social isolation. Social isolation and lack of communication can often lead to several problems of mental health, such as increased stress and negative thinking.
We can infer these days that online education is a must. But if it offers a student an opportunity to learn, it distracts them too. When the instructional lessons are over, other items start surfing. Therefore, the learning effect is uncertain and not always optimal. Education is not restricted to the syllabus only; discipline, etiquette, morals and interactions with other students and teachers are also included.
Via online training, certain characteristics are difficult to inject. Indeed, I am of the opinion that the school education system should not be very inclined towards online classrooms. Instead, one should devote some time to teaching moral values and discipline in every school.
In addition, students do not have access to online resources as their ability to recall and retain knowledge is declining. There is also a cost aspect of providing online classes on a regular basis, because students have to bear the costs of internet services. There is no communication yet from governments as to whether it will reimburse students or provide free or subsidized data packages.
In the current situation, many students , particularly those whose families have lost their income as a result of a job loss due to lockdown, will not be able to afford this. As majority of student population belongs to middle class and poor families so problem of limited resources and weak connectivity are quite observable therefore government must has to come up with a strategy to prevent a big learning gap between rich and poor.
