Learning in a Post-COVID Digital World

    The post-COVID era has turned many things upside down! There has been an overhaul of teaching and learning practices, lifestyles, addiction to mobile phones, and so on. It has touched almost all aspects of human involvement. The OTT platform received huge hype during and after COVID. Students who once borrowed mobile phones from their parents now own independent handsets. They are handcuffed, blind, and deaf simultaneously!

    Delivering online classes was a sheer waste of time and effort. It was their physical presence that revealed their real potential and the amount of knowledge they gained through online lectures. This is the case with youngsters. It is really pathetic to learn that today's youth are facing great challenges in escaping from these time teasers. The good old days posed comparatively negligible risks to the youth unlike the present time. Let's analyze similar instances with adults. Are adults able to escape from such time teasers? Are we able to stay away from social media? Or are we too handcuffed to these electronic gadgets?

    The number of online courses and FDPs has increased. Since documentation demands numerous certificates, are we very sure about investing 100% of our time in these online FDPs? The number of certificates for participation occupies a lion's share of the file unlike in past years. The question we need to raise is how deeply one can engage in online classes, especially those lasting more than an hour?

    The challenge lies on both ends, the listener and the speaker. While attending a session on NEP, a very enthusiastic resource person was doing her best to make her delivery lively and interactive. The funny part is that the participants were teachers. The resource person tried to grab the attention of all the participants, around 100 on the roll. She called out their names on the screens and sought their inputs. She even requested us to turn on our screens. Except for a few, everyone turned a deaf ear to her plea!

    If this is the case with faculty learners, we can imagine the response from younger learners. Online courses are a boon to those denied physical classroom experiences. The Four-Year UG Programme also advocates online courses that supplement students in scoring credits. If such cases exist on one side, there are certain groups of enthusiasts, like read-along book lovers, who effectively use the platform.

    One of my acquaintances, a PG student who is a voracious reader and ardent supporter of being with books, added me to a WhatsApp group. It's one of the groups that I scarcely miss! They have a 'Daily Prompt' program in which young readers in the group discuss books they have read. They set targets and complete reading books. Discussions and articles have stated that the reading habit among youngsters is diminishing in the present world. This group will inspire you to think otherwise!

    Yesterday, I thought of joining their discussion on Gmeet. When Jonson, Dryden, and Pope belonged to coffee clubs of their times, the young philosophers and writers of the present world are also part of virtual clubs where they enjoy the coffee of reading and sharing. Such platforms remind and reassure us that the habit of reading has not died out. Saritha. K Head, Dept. of English, Al Shifa College of Arts and Science College, Kizhattoor, Perinthalmanna