The field of education is rapidly getting revamped. The richest man in the world for a long time and the chairman of the tech giant Microsoft, Mr. Bill Gates, agrees. “So far technology has hardly changed formal education at all. But a lot of people, including me, think this is the next place where the Internet will surprise people in how it can improve things – especially in combination with face-to-face learning,” said Mr. Gates at a time when online education is going to be one among the nine innovations to receive funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next several years, according to the second annual letter by the Microsoft chairman outlining his vision for tackling the most pressing challenges facing the United States and the world. The importance of education cannot be overstated. It is important for character development, economic development, and whatnot. Countries across the globe are trying to optimize their technology to ensure that quality education is accessible to all.
With so much focus suddenly on online teaching across the world, let us take a look at the kind of progress leading countries in the field of online teaching are making.
India
India, before the pandemic too, was a potential player in raising the level of online learning opportunities throughout Asia. Over the past few decades, India has developed top-notch Universities and Colleges that are offering Asia’s best online teaching programs.
However, during the pandemic, with millions of students out of the classroom, an opportunity arose which led to the realization of the huge dormant potential of online teaching in a country whose student base is more than the entire population of many big countries. During the pandemic, India witnessed the development of a myriad of online teaching apps that made online teaching very simple and efficient. There is still a huge opportunity for online teaching apps in India and it is only going to proliferate with passing time. Thus, in a developing country like India that has been through tough times recently, we get to see the true luxury, ease, and a high cost/benefit ratio that online teaching and learning can provide at a very economical price compared to education in concrete campuses.
The United States
The US is famous for its quality education system and even in online education as well, this country is an undisputed leader. Many prestigious universities like Boston University, University of Florida, Arizona State University, Pennsylvania State University, and many others offer online learning programs. US open educational programs like those offered at MIT are very influential in nature. In a survey, it was found out that roughly 6 million students have enrolled in at least one online course and one-third of them are in higher education. Enrollments in online learning courses are actually outnumbering those of higher education as a whole. And this trend is fast catching up in other developing nations as they too have realized the benefits of providing online course programs.
South Korea
Online teaching opportunities in South Korea are remarkable and leading the pack. The nation’s sublime as well as growing high-tech industry and strong high-speed internet access have led to the success of online teaching apps in this country. It has nearly 17 online teaching colleges and all of them boost the state-of-the-art facilities and software.
United Kingdom
Online education has had a growth spurt in the UK since 2011. The government’s active involvement through investment in this field has led to superfast growth. Online education has proved to be a cost-efficient alternative to very costly classroom courses and has led to an increase in the number of students willing to pursue higher studies with help of online teaching apps.
Thus, the importance these highly developed and educated nations are placing on the development of online teaching infrastructure in their country is paving the way for other countries to follow in their footsteps. Especially in a country like India, with a large socio-economic divide, online teaching needs to be encouraged even further to educate our youth and bring socio-economic equity to the country.
