7 Ways New Normal Has Changed Education

Flow of time into technologization is the new normal, especially with a global pandemic hitting the borders of the earth. Gone are the days when people used to carry their satchels and lunch boxes in a rush towards a 7.30 am bus stop. When queues of young faces would brighten up the mornings riding their buses. The canteen gatherings at colleges and offices, can no longer be seen. The labs and project rooms in universities lie vacant and desolate. The things that have more users now are laptops, mobile phones, smart gadgets and high-speed internet. Since Covid-19 has locked everyone within the premises, education, work and research have shifted patterns. Work and study from home, over the online platform, have been normalized into the system. People connect with each other virtually for the professional purposes and education is especially worth mentioning here. Online learning, virtual examinations through created portals, virtual classrooms using software and applications have become so common in the field of education because the large young population cannot gather in one place during a pandemic. In fact, this is being considered the future of education hence several literatures are being published on the digitization of education. Texts through news media, statistical reports and research on current education system have erupted during this situation of emergency. And the research world is not an exception. But the good thing is when you publish your thesis on digital learning today, you can still find a lot of relevant academia on the same, because everyone is excited as well as anxious about this new normal.

Here are 7 ‘new normals’ that have changed education world-

1. From Physical to Virtual Space– With the lockdown going on throughout the world, the learning space became disembodied, from synchronous to asynchronous. Virtual not actual learning environment, has actually impacted both student learning and the organization of schools, which are no longer buildings but websites. Such change is not only coterminous with the pandemic, as the Education 2030 Agenda (UNESCO 2015b) testified; preceding that was the Delors Report (Delors 1996), which recoded education as lifelong learning that included learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together, also supported the idea, that future learning can actually be on the web world.
2. Globalization of Education– Since, learning no longer requires a designated geographical area, since curriculum can be accessed using the internet, it has actually improved the scope of knowledge-sharing. Transnational organizations have supported the Global Citizenship Education proposal by UNESCO which looks forward to a 21^st century learning environment that interconnects people worldwide and aims to reduce human rights violation, poverty, inequality etc. This approach emphasizes the inclusion of people who are often subject to discrimination – women and girls, indigenous people, persons with disabilities, migrants, the elderly and people living in countries affected by conflict. It requires an open and flexible approach to learning that is both lifelong and life-wide: an approach that provides the opportunity for all to realize their potential for a sustainable future and a life of dignity, says UNESCO; when more people irrespective of their economic well-being and background, can be educated and work with respect.
3. Free Education Platforms– Online learning platforms like Edx, Udemy, Coursera and learning applications like Duolingo are flourishing very competently, as they promote the non-commercialization of education, claiming learning to be free. However, knowledge will always be produced to sell, hence, under the garb of ‘free’ education, these platforms make money by providing certifications at a cost, professional examinations with a fee, and content beyond a certain time, with a charge. But people are engaged with these platforms because the curriculum is very contemporary and updated, with experts in each field, delivering lectures and discussions. Undoubtedly organizing the entire platform seamlessly requires investment of time, money and dedication from each of the participating institutions on these platforms. The best part is, that the courses can be accessed from any part of the world with the help of internet. Hence, learning is taking a new shape.
4. Use of Virtual Networking– With the onset of Covid-19, the one industry which grew is online networking software like Zoom, Skype etc. In fact, companies like Google who already had a basic infrastructure for conducting video conferences with peer groups etc., re-developed their systems to give large scale support for virtual communication. People use these systems to text, chat, telecommunicate or video call each other. These have become so seamless that even organizations like schools and colleges are using these software and applications for communication. Teachers are giving home works via WhatsApp; professors are directing students and researchers to publish your thesis, via GoogleMeets; even tutoring sessions of colleges are taking place through zoom.
5. Online Classrooms– Online classrooms have been designed using software like ‘Blackboard’. There are portals like Google Classroom that has place to upload assignments, instructions and submission deadlines. Students also use these platforms to track their homework, submit responses or tasks. Curriculum contents are put on archive for all-time access by schools, colleges and universities. This wasn’t new for already functioning online universities, however, after the pandemic, this has become the new normal for education. More research is being conducted on how to develop these kinds of infrastructure at a cheaper cost.
6. Growth of Technical Skills in Younger Generation- when virtual platforms encouraged education, and school children had enough free time, they engaged in technology via different media. Some children were encouraged by school to record their dance video, art or any kind of activity and submit as co-curricular. The P.T. classes that once happened on fields, under the sun, in open air, now happen through zoom calls or YouTube video. The younger generation is now encouraged to be enough tech savvy to send emails regularly, record and edit their own videos, make media appearances and play with mobile applications, because almost everything that they do as part of their professional curriculum is based on these skills.
7. A New Language– As we observe the growth of technical knowledge in young children, we also find them taking interest in computer coding. Children of age 9 and 11 learn coding these days from different media. There are websites and platforms like WhiteHatJr. Who encourage the involvement of kids in technological growth; they teach coding and data analysis since childhood, and parents are more than happy to pay for that. Children no longer have to grow up, give some entrance tests and then learn; they can easily access this knowledge sitting at home, on their computers as these lessons are widely available on the web. There are references on this topic when you publish your thesis. A new language is thus imposed on education and the curriculum. Such enforced installation of performative language and Big Data lead to effective and profitable operations in a vast market concerned with competence in operational skills (Lyotard 1984). This “new normal” curriculum is said to be more horizontal and less hierarchical and radically polycentric with problem-solving produced through social networks, NGOs, transnational organizations, and think tanks (Pestre 2013; Williamson 2013, 2017).

The new normal in the world is ‘work from home’; the new normal in the academic world is ‘learn from home’, which is going to end nowhere soon. In fact, experts and policy makers observe this as the future of education and learning, the reason why more relevant literature is emerging on this topic, the transformation of learning tools, skills and methods are also changing education research.

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