Online Coaching – The New Normal? Let’s Find Out!

The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting our lives in every way that can be thought of. The impact is huge in the field of education and coaching. While a major chunk of national and regional recruitment and screening examinations for higher studies have been postponed indefinitely, a state of chaos and confusion is seen among the students. They are not able to attend regular coaching or school classes due to the lockdown.

This situation is greatly alleviated by online coachings. Most of the physical classroom coaching centres offer online replacements for supporting students in their exam preparations while some online coaching courses have been available since long.

E-learning as a concept has been growing even more during the COVID-19 crisis all over the world. It minimizes the risk of social exposure which is required as per the present scenario.

We believe that this concept will not be limited to the pandemic duration only and is here to stay for long. Why? Let’s find out!

1) Flexibility:

This is one factor the students need in today’s times. Students have the freedom to plan their own timetable as per their availability. In a traditional setting, the student has almost zero control over the sequence and pace of study. With online learning lectures, a student can pace up for the tropics that he finds to be easier and can give more time to the complex topics.

The exams or assessments in such settings are generally not timed and can be taken as per convenience and availability. Also, the tutors are generally available all the time for answering doubts. There are various platforms that offer homework help to students at all times. All a student needs to do is post their queries and the answer could be received in less than 30 minutes. Some online coachings also offer one-on-one doubt solving sessions as per the student’s availability.

2) Lower Costs:

Cost is definitely a deciding factor. Online education generally costs less than traditional classroom-based classes for both the student as well as the coaching business owner. The cost of commuting to the coaching centre is reduced. The cost on the coaching’s end like multiple classrooms, seating arrangements are also reduced.

Some online-mode coaching platforms offer full-fledged courses for various exams in India at an extremely nominal fee, as low as 299 INR per month. A lot of features on online coaching platforms are available free of cost for the students. Most of the resources are made available digitally, thus saving the cost of printing. Isn’t it a win-win for all?

3) Accessibility:

The online coaching portals are available online 24×7 over the websites. These are also available in the form of user-friendly mobile application versions. A student can take up a class while they are travelling, at home or in their hostel room. The students also get access to expert tutoring across the world.

They can get trained or skilled with the guidance of the world’s best teachers from the finest universities in the world. The geographical distance is no more a hindrance in learning. This is more likely to benefit the students who wish to postgraduate courses with a particularly rare specialization. In fact, 22 percent of graduate students in the United States exclusively study online, compared to 11 percent of undergraduates.

4) Networking and Exposure:

Online education platforms empower students to compete and learn with students all over the world. They serve as a medium to promote collaboration among students to solve each other’s doubts, initiate a wide range of discussions and learn from each other. These platforms also help the students to gauge their skills as compared to their counterparts in different parts of the world, thus promoting healthy competition.

5) Information Updates:

The online coaching modules also help to keep the students motivated and aware. They circulate important information and study materials through emails, push messages and texts.

Online coaching platforms, such as Testbook, realising the importance of information updates for its aspirants, offers a dedicated blog section for notifications, important study materials and other exams related information. A student can get all the relevant information at one place, thus saving his/her time in browsing for information on different websites.

6) Assessment:

The assessments in online coaching modules are not burdened on the student. Often they are not deadline bound and can be taken multiple times. They are often adaptive in nature and go as per the learning curve of a student in terms of difficulty. The assessments and their results are evaluated with the help of artificial intelligence algorithms and the difficulty level of the next exam can also be controlled as per the results.

The results on the other hand also give proper feedback to teachers about the performance of a student. Programming assignments involved in some technical courses like Java or Machine learning are also automatically evaluated through automated submission and evaluation systems. Assessments involving subjective matter can be evaluated in terms of grammar and punctuation and its usage using automated tools as well.

7) Content Creativity:

Creating content for a digital platform has achieved new heights. As one has wide access to huge knowledge repositories, presenting it in a user friendly way with the help of graphics & animations has changed the traditional learning process through textbooks. It is scientifically proven that the impact of Audio-Visual lessons remains for a longer time in the memory. Learning a new concept with graphical presentations and animations are much easier to understand for beginners. The Proliferation of IT tools and gadgets will change the course of e-learning in the coming future.

Online coaching is here to stay. While the pandemic might have stressed upon its importance, we all knew it was coming. Though robust connectivity will be a little challenging in the success of Online Coaching. Appropriate measures must be taken to look after this sudden surge in the traffic. With so much to offer for so less, the online coaching culture is definitely on the verge of being the new normal.