By Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra (National Awardee), Principal, NPS International School, Guwahati
For sure, the word Phy-Gital causes some raised eyebrows and defines the equipped notion of surprise, an elicit shock, surprise, or offense, typically through unconventional actions or words. The phrase typically suggests negative attention or judgment, but my dear friends, serves a reality today.
As a head of a school, I find monitoring challenging with ease of comfort for the teachers to be engaged and module to the learning scenario. The spectrum lies to our understanding which monitors as a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. The paging is structured and defined with the attribute of delivering the classes with the ease and comfort of their takers.
We are sure to debate in times to come. The Phygital Leadership even for the heads of schools and educators appear as a mix of digital and physical times reflect the ease of smart work culture. The data suggests, that even before COVID-19, there was already a high growth and adoption in education technology, with global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach$350 Billion by 2025. The category of delivering learning modelled via the language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools and online learning platforms, there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19. Take for example the ZOOM and its popularity. The updates are so very common and are looked after as a quality benchmark with other such platforms.
Some research shows that on average, students actually retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. Also to reflect, as a matter of fact, to get the full benefit of online learning, there needs to be a concerted effort to provide this structure and go beyond replicating a physical class/lecture through video capabilities, instead, using a range of collaboration tools and engagement methods that promote “inclusion, personalization and intelligence”, according to Dowson Tong, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group.
For sure as education providers, our prime job is to help everyone in providing quality education for all even in these exceptional times. The fact lies that teachers tend to do double and even thrice the job to deliver. As we all scramble to cope with the rapidly-changing COVID-19 situation, many of us are suddenly taking on roles as full-time caregivers and stand-in teachers also with the march for the run to deliver. The live streaming which the parents demanded once upon a time reflect the rise of new demands and desires. What is required is the priority towards delivering the lessons to give each student personalized feedback and practice, preparing them to get the most out of classroom instruction.
The new normal continues with our interface Based on technology via Mobile, Learning Management System (LMS), Virtual Class among other. The Mobile Segment has certainly come out as a leading the market and will continue so during the forecast period due to a steadily decline in the device and internet cost. PHYGITAL is there to stay!!
