The Inspiration
The increased prevalance of online education, increases the need for quality online educational apps.
A new method of teaching
Online learning has become increasingly popular over the past few years, and the pandemic only furthered this trend.
With the pandemic, teachers and students were forced to adopt a blended or fully distant educational model.
This introduced many to a new method of teaching and the strengths that came along with it.
The article "The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how." discusses the increased popularity of online learning further.
Teachers and students alike are jumping on board
The online school I worked at last year had a major influx of students that signed up, not for an keen interest in online learning, but because they did not want to go to a crowded school.
In the end, many students reported that they preferred the online method, and will stick with it after the pandemic.
Teachers, professors and universities have also seen the many benefits. Many universities have decided to keep their classes online. The article "The Pandemic Pushed Universities Online. The Change Was Long Overdue." discusses this trend further.
The current obstacles
The increased prevalence of distant education has highlighted current obstacles that need to be overcome.
There are strengths with online education but research has also found many gaps that need to be addressed as we navigate a relatively new method of formal education. There are a variety of issues streaming across all disciplines.
In the science classroom in particular, some of the gaps include:
a focus on theory, over practice
hands-on labs and creative projects difficult to conduct
lack of collaboration.
The reason these gaps are of particularly important is discussed further in The Gaps.