04 Jun The ATS STEM project risk assessment during COVID-19
Equality during Pandemic: What about access to digital learning tools? How this affect educational research?
COVID-19 pandemic caused huge changes in the world of education. The ATS STEM project (https://www.atsstem.eu/), which was affected by these changes like many others, had to be re-planned in accordance with the new processes. We share a few general results from the surveys conducted within the scope of risk management with the participation of all EU partners.
How accessible are digital tools?
In Figure 1, we observe that there are serious problems to access educational technology, especially for the students and teachers in rural areas. This problem poses a serious obstacle for all students to receive an equal education. Moreover, the teachers have doubts about assessment and grading according to our survey. It is important that administrators and researchers work together to propose a list of suitable digital tools and prepare necessary substructure. So that the traditional teaching process does not come to a full stop in the case of online teaching.
What is the meaning of delay?
In Figure 2, you can see that project partners experience serious delays in their educational research. This could have been avoided if the aforementioned plans had been made earlier. Because the teachers have spent most of their time on digital adaptation. It would be a good idea to work on this for the future. Who knows, the meaning of delay in our “new normal” of life might alsochange!
Outlook
The pandemic has shown us how unprepared we are for mass digital and distant education. In the future, we have to allocate more resources and time to achieve equality and productivity in emergency conditions. This also lays a burden on all of us to get used to self-learning.