What eLearning Approaches Are the Best?

The COVID-19 pandemic affected everything it touched, including governments, healthcare, jobs, and education. The world will never return to the way it was before this global crisis. Ironically, the virus sped up some positive changes in the way populations approach everyday living. For instance, remote work promises to remain a significant part of many industries. Research shows that 16% of companies worldwide use all remote workers. In the U.S., 62% of workers aged 22–65 work remotely at least part of the time.

Education has undergone a similar philosophical and practical change. During the pandemic, nearly 93% of families with school-age children reported they were using some form of distance learning. While this method offers post-crisis benefits, it also demonstrates some real flaws.

Zoom Technology Gets Mixed Grades

According to Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe, Zoom tech worked well for telemedicine and remote work. In fact, many workers are refusing to return full-time to the office after experiencing the effectiveness of remote tech. And patients learned to embrace remote medical services for routine consults.

Remote schooling did not fare nearly as well. Millions of schoolchildren fell behind because they lost the benefits of in-person learning.

Technology was not the only problem, of course. Many teachers had to plan and implement an abrupt switch to distance learning, causing many issues as a result. Teachers had no experience with the method, and students were also unprepared for the change.  An advanced eLearning platform could have mitigated this problem.

Quality eLearning Software Examples

SoftChalk, a quality content authoring program, offers excellent case studies of advanced e-learning options. These include:

• net (BSN), a not-for-profit organization that helps virtual and blended schools develop K12 curricula while training staff to use new learning technologies for online teaching. BSN also provides ongoing professional development and networking.
• Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada, is the fifth largest school district in the country. In 2011, CCSD set a goal of having 100,000 high school and middle school students in an online or blended learning environment by 2015. They met their goal — and exceeded it.
• Georgia Virtual School (GaVS). All of the content developed for their virtual school programs, which serve thousands of students across Georgia with accredited online learning programs, is also made available (free of charge) for use by any public school in Georgia.
• Hampton City Schools (HCS) in Virginia implemented the 21st Century Skills Framework developed through the combined efforts of the U.S. Department of Education, the National Education Association, and several major technology corporations.
• Orange Unified School District is in California’s Orange LIVE! (Learning through Interactive Virtual Education) initiative. Orange Unified offers an extensive and continuous professional development program as well as mentoring from teachers who have taught in the online program before.
• Prince William County Schools (PWCS)are in Virginia’s Virtual High School (VHS) program. In June 2013, VHS@PWCS was presented with a Digital Content and Curriculum Achievement Award at the International Society for Technology in Education conference.

Each case study is different because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach that every education system will find effective. There are half a dozen building blocks that are used again and again in many of these examples:

• An easy-to-use content authoring platform designed by educators.
• Open Educational Resources (OER) to improve affordability.
• Tools to provide Learning Management System (LMS) integration.
• User guides, training videos, webinars, and short courses.
• Sample lessons and sample interactives to inspire teachers.
• Customer support and tailored professional services.

The Either-or Fallacy of eLearning vs. Classroom Learning

Educators and school administrators who used Zoom during the pandemic should realize they have more than two choices going forward. The reality is not eLearning versus classroom learning. Instead, there are at least four options:

• Returning to classroom learning.
• Using Zoom (which failed miserably).
• Using the best eLearning platforms.
• Using a hybrid approach to teaching.

The last option perhaps holds the most promise by combining face-to-face instruction with advanced eLearning software. Surveys found student satisfaction rates of approximately 82% with the hybrid approach. Additionally, 59% of students reported being more motivated when learning with hybrid models.

Final Thoughts

Educators are finding and learning to use the best eLearning platforms available to develop, deliver, and administer compelling online curricula to supplement their classroom-based lessons. Zoom learning and other online efforts during the pandemic were disappointing, especially for students who needed more hands-on interaction with their teachers. But many students and teachers do not want to return solely to in-person instruction. A hybrid approach offers the best of both worlds for everyone involved in education.

School administrators should provide their teams with the best content authoring tools options as well as the necessary training to learn how to properly conduct an online class. If another crisis sent the nation into lockdown again, school systems would be much more prepared for the transition.

The SoftChalk Advantage

SoftChalk allows you to develop more effective instructional materials that incorporate best practices and make hybrid learning practical and effective. You can produce content that meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1  Level A and Level AA.

Want to test SoftChalk on your own? Start your 14-day trial today!