How To Avoid The Pitfalls of eLearning

Online learning has opened our eyes to different methods by which learning can be done. We have explored live classes, pre recorded classes, and even online discussion groups and it is gradually being adopted into the Nigerian education system. A lot of people are impressed with what e-learning can achieve such as flexible teaching times, personalized learning, and cost-effectiveness. However, for several people, there are concerns. Parents are concerned about screen time, participation, and the efficiency of the entire system, and this article is to allay those fears and proffer adequate solutions.

Here are a few of the challenges and how we can tackle them:

1. Increased Screen Time: According to the Mayo Clinic Health System, too much screen time can lead to irregular sleep, obesity, and even poor academic performance. Understandably, these health risks propagate the already existing fear in parents. Here are a few methods to regulate screen time:

• Make sure that your child’s screen time is very engaging. This ensures that there’s little to no mindlessness when children are watching TV, playing games, or taking a class.
• During regular activities, eliminate background TV noises: The recent Cocomelon trend has proven that children are very responsive to sounds. It is now important to remove noises from the environment so they don’t get distracted.
• Do not encourage eating in front of a screen: This has proven to prolong eating time and therefore, increasing screen time.
• Keep TVs and phones out of the room: This ensures that when it’s time for bed, children wouldn’t get distracted by screens.
• Plan what your child watches and for how long: You may decide to allow only educational content for 2–4 hours and one hour of leisure content but make sure it is effectively planned.
• Watch with your child: This helps to regulate what your child watches and even helps you bring lessons and values from programs.

2. Lack of Concentration: For many students, having classes on their devices makes them easily distracted and this can dilute the efficacy of their online learning. To combat this, guardians should create a daily routine for the child to get used to;

• Change of environment: The child should have a separate space for online learning which simulates a traditional classroom (so add a table and chair, a board, close to natural light) this just helps the child know that it’s time for serious work. Avoid bedroom studying, it’s easy for the student to sleep off.
• Get someone to refocus: Even in traditional classrooms, children often get distracted but the difference is they have a teacher who is there to refocus them. So during their online sessions as well, parents have to refocus their kids when they see them getting distracted. This all helps the child to adapt to the new method of learning.

3. Technical Difficulty: In this part of the world, technical difficulties are almost inevitable. It’s either the device dies due to lack of power supply, or your internet provider has glitches.

These can be overcome by;

• Having a dedicated device for online school and ensuring it’s always charged. If there’s a dedicated device, the battery may not quickly run down because it’s used for only one purpose.
• Pre downloading classes: This can help to circumvent problems with the network. This should minimize the technical difficulties.

4. Lack of Social Interaction: Lack of social interaction has a great influence on students’ satisfaction. They feel that social connection is a barrier in online classes and that it has a great psychological effect on students as well as teachers.

You can minimize this challenge by :

• Ensuring all your kids students take their online classes at the same time (If you have multiple children)
• Encouraging teachers to take feedback regularly during the classes.
• Facilitate breakout sessions or discussion groups where students can interact with each other during the class.

At Klasconnect, we help institutions through online school while minimizing its challenges. Contact us at: www.klasconnect.com to request a free demo of our learning management platform.