Online Education: Some Sustainability Thoughts

It was quite the lifestyle shift for students, transitioning to online classes.

This relatable meme perfectly describes how the transition from offline to online class felt. We started off online classes with an ambivalent approach much like the faces in the meme, but now it's time for some serious thought. What has the impact of online classes been, on the broader environment of the community, the companies and the natural world that we live interdependent lives with?

In accordance with the Planet People and Profit framework described in https://www.thebetteryouu.com/post/what-exactly-is-sustainability , I've compiled a list, full of plus and minus points, which shows how your attendance of an online class is way more impactful than you realise.

Planet

Positive : Online classes eliminated the need for travelling to educational institutions altogether. Our literal journey to education, marked by navigating the city in public or private transport, transformed to a journey marked by navigating the phone and laptop to find the link to join the class. The perks? A lower carbon footprint, as transport takes up lesser, almost negligible non-renewable energy, due to low usage.

Negative : the negative impact of online classes can be summarised in three words : more screen time. Online classes have led to more active usage of devices like laptops and phones, which has led to greater energy demands (like charging them often). Given that most of India gets electricity from non - renewable sources like coal-fired power plants , this implies a greater carbon footprint.

People

Positive :  The offline class to online class switch made it imperative for teachers to learn how to conduct online classes and how to change the usual pedagogies so as to retain the effectiveness of their teaching online. This upskilling has been beneficial for both teachers and students. While teachers can consider online classes an alternative career option apart from offline classes post-COVID, students can get online classes as a new pedagogical option to learn the topics of their choice.

Negative : online classes have in some ways reduced the concept of classmates, to just people who attend the same video lectures everyday. In other words, if your classmates are just faces on a screen, there is not enough scope for building human connection the way we did during offline classes. Physical presence together impacted the equations of classmates. Now all we know about classmates is through video meetings and minimal class interactions. We are interacting in a way we are not programmed as humans to interact, and this is something we are trying to figure out as to how to do effectively.

Profit

Positive : companies offering video meeting services are booming during the pandemic. You can only imagine from their perspective how it feels, shooting up in usage overnight : from hundreds of occasional video calls everyday, to thousands of students relying on these media for their education. Even EdTech startups are booming in India, making daily headlines with a rise in subscription levels, huge investments, mergers and more.

Negative : many educational institutions have been unfortunately left with a big fixed asset that has gone unused during the months of the lockdown - their campuses. The campuses were built with the expectation that year-on-year academic and non-academic activities carried out inside them, would earn huge returns and recoup the investment made into them. This process seems to have gone on hold right now, until the educational institutions open up for face-to-face teaching.

Currently we do know that educational institutions are opening up little by little. We also do know that online classes have had an indelible impact on students, teachers and the education industry, which has spilled on to other industries as well. Analysing the pros and cons of online education, in a sustainability context, can help decision-makers in both the private sector and public sector, to take the right steps to educate students in a way that is profitable, fosters unity in the community, and is good for the planet.