Swine Flu – An Unexpected Friend to the e-Learning Industry

Swine Flu – An Unexpected Friend to the e-Learning Industry

Despite the somewhat controversial idea that an epidemic can be good for something, it is not difficult to see that the consequences of the recent swine flu may have been very good for certain sectors, particularly during such economically unstable times. The media and the pharmaceutical industry have no doubt been able to reap something from HINI, and not to mention new communication methods and social networks such as Twitter, who have found themselves at the forefront of breaking news (and are said to have been ‘infected also’, see neteffect.foreignpolicy.com).
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nPerhaps now it isn’t so hard to believe that the e-Learning industry and those specialising in online degree courses. may have seen some extra interest recently also. But why? And will schools ever really close again?
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nThe idea for this really started when swine flu hit the U.S. leading to schools across the country deciding to close their gates to pupils. As was reported at Education Week: “Experts say school officials should not just breathe a sigh of relief. They should now review their emergency plans and look, in particular, at how prepared they are for using technology to provide instruction and keep lines of communication open.” Additionally, Massie Ritsch of the Department of Education stated: “Just because the campus is closed doesn’t mean learning has to come to a halt,” and back-up plans were quickly enforced to ensure students were kept busy with homework.
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nOf course (and no doubt to the annoyance of “the kids”) it were the schools and teachers who were most in touch with up-to-date methods of communicating who impressed and succeeded at this time, and this was second nature to those which already have well-established e-Learning and distance education facilities – whilst the more traditional “with walls” institutions were seen to struggle.
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nThe reasons for the success of the schools that offer blended learning at this time are quite obvious. The teachers and tutors are more well-versed in modern communication methods and how to transfer content and texts online via e-mail and microblogging services (such as the aforementioned Twitter). Additionally, these schools will most likely already have a certain amount of content online and digitised (via wikis and intranets) which will have made work and course content even easier for those working from home. Consequently, with the call for traditional schools to address their ability to teach during such emergencies, and the hard evidence that youngsters can learn just as well from home – I doubt that schools will ever need to close again.
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Posted Date: 2009-05-25 09:10:35