In response to COVID-19, lockdowns across the world have interrupted conventional schooling, with millions of language schools forced to move to online teaching. Sat in front of desktop screens, language teachers and students now adhere to social distancing regulations, while maintaining lessons. This experience, ladies and gentlemen, is not “online learning” — this is remote learning. And yes, there is a difference.
To be specific, 2020 has seen ‘online learning’ and ‘remote learning’ as two of the most popular terms when referring to education – yet they have often either been confused between each other, equally exchanged, or have had their meanings completely interchanged.
Let’s get this confusion cleared out.
Remote Learning refers to facilitating course curricula in times of face-to-face class interruptions, be it by choice or an emergency (think scheduled absenteeism, snowy days or a global pandemic). Remote learning attempts to recreate the classroom environment as the student logs in to the virtual classroom at scheduled times to view lectures or participate in group learning activities. Such synchronous lessons are usually held via digital video-conference tools, like Zoom.
Online learning, on the other hand, occurs when a curriculum has been developed with intention for full online delivery in mind. Designed and fully developed for a virtual audience before the course itself begins, it incorporates various teaching and educational strategies. It also functions through technologies that allow students to meaningfully interact with course content, teachers and fellows. More-so, it allows for more schedule flexibility with students.
The confusion among the expressions sits between the common elements they share; from the need of technological devices in order to realise the learning experience, to the level of flexibility they both offer. Both terms have more recently been accompanied by an equal sense of urgency as well.
Remote learning fundamentally requires a computer or smartphone, alongside a video conferencing tool (Zoom, Google Meets, Microsoft Team, to mention a few).
In this “state-of-emergency” the world is currently in, remote learning has become the new norm. If that’s your life today, we’re sure (based on our market research*) that you’ve grumbled more than once at the lack of interaction between teachers and students, let alone difficulty in stimulating student interest (and reducing enrolment dropouts).
That frustration you’re feeling is not due to Zoom, by the way, but instead due to the need for a pure online-learning experience. With online-learning, adjusting and reorganizing educational content to new digital forms is key. It doesn’t mean merely transferring traditional habits within the classroom onto the platform, but instead implies evolution in timing, as well as differentiation of activities.
Executing online-learning and manipulating its functions is meant to be simple and efficient, but only when utilizing the right platform. Benefit from flexibility; reach a much wider audience, enrol new students thanks to the power of the internet. Online-learning holds an unbeatable advantage in the new hybridized market of language-learning.
With Edugo.AI, aim to maximize your teaching and learning experience online, and help your school grow in the new digital market.
Edugo.AI platform not only allows your language school to perform live-video lessons and create language courses through a Learning Management System, but also uses adaptive technology specialized to language learning; enabling language schools to conduct marketing campaigns, whilst seamlessly acquiring students online.
Institutes can now make use of a fully personalized platform; equipped with marketing-oriented LMS, data and stat analytics. Alongside, the platform, online advertising makes acquiring new students online, boosting sales and online growth. Process payments, host live classes, house your course material, and manage the entirety of your student and teacher base from one easy location with the fully-customizable Edugo.AI platform today!
