Are Online Classes the New Normal?

The year of 2012 was dubbed “The Year of the MOOC” by The New York Times with hundreds of thousands of students enrolling in massive open online courses (MOOCs) being provided by some of the world’s best educational institutions on platforms such as Coursera, Udacity, Udemy, and edX.

In 2020, unlike the aforementioned volunteer institutions, educators have to hastily move into the world of online masterclasses. This has allowed institutions and teachers all over the world to put their own spin on the way they conduct their classes. Some choose independent platforms, some choose MOOC platforms, while some rely on platforms such as Slack, Zoom, and WhatsApp as ways to engage and teach their students amidst the lockdown. The lean setup required allows individual creators to conduct their own video tutorials and all-out masterclasses through platforms like Youtube, Instagram Live and even TikTok! It’s also noticeable that creators are collaborating with domain specialists across the world to educate their audience.

Being at home allows the students to further utilise their time by taking up additional coursework, leading to an interesting journey of self discovery. For instance, there is no reason students stuck within their homes during the crisis can’t perform a few of the kitchen experiments with HarvardX’s “Science and Cooking” MOOC.

Educators also have the opportunity to tap into the extensive resources for both content and inspiration. Platforms such as Coursera and edX have made a majority of their content which is generally behind a paywall free for people who are stuck at home amidst the lockdown.

After the announcement of the free content, Coursera received over 10 million course enrolments in a 30-day period, an increase of 644 percent year over year!

Let’s not forget that online courses reduce the pollution created by students who travel to their campuses, while also (almost) zeroing out the resources that are used by massive institutions across the globe. This data would obviously need balancing with the increase in household resource consumptions, however, it is safe to say that a move to an online medium of education is a positive one.

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Change is inevitable. Progress is a choice.

⁠Normal wasn’t working. This is our second chance to adapt to a new normal that’s better for the planet!⁠