Effect of Coronavirus on the Adult Learning Landscape

John Dale, an experienced project manager from Florida, aspiring to gain PMP credentials, had to cancel his PMP training Bootcamp scheduled for the 11th of this month as a precaution against the infamous COVID-19. This was not an isolated incident; over 290 million learners of all age groups across the world have been affected by the COVID-19 or the Coronavirus. Learners across the globe are forfeiting training opportunities as they are hesitant to go to public venues and to meet new people.

While the number of confirmed cases in China and South Korea are among the top of the list, the spread of COVID-19 to European countries and North America has raised the concerns of health experts. While organizations are looking for a more stable answer to avoid the further spreading of the COVID-19, the education industry has been quick to take preventive measures. Schools are closed in numerous countries, university students are being called back from study abroad programs, mass training sessions are being postponed across various organizations

All of this brings us to an important question: “Is it fine to put learning into quarantine with the Coronavirus?”

The obvious answer is “NO.” While young learners may have time, the same cannot be said for adult learners. It is important to note that COVID-16 is bound to have an impact on the global economy. Countries are closing their borders; manufacturing facilities are being put on hold, and the daily work across multiple organizations is getting affected. A direct result of this is a drop in the global economy. For example, annual GDP may drop by up to 2.4%. Such a spike can manifest into recession, which will increase the trouble for working professionals. Very soon, it is going to be crucial for working professionals to stay relevant to the market and fight possible lay-offs. While several of you would be confident in this respect, almost everyone would identify that continual learning and improvement is necessary to stay relevant.

Online Learning: The Way Out

To battle the learning crisis, education organizations are quickly leaning towards the online medium of learning. It is a direct answer to the problem. With online learning, learners can take up lessons from the safety of their homes and prevent exposure to COVID-19.

The education market has long started to develop online learning modules, and they are now being used across the globe to deliver lessons. While online learning has been working on the fringes of curriculums, one might consider this situation to be the required push to incorporate online modules into mainstream education completely. Online learning provides several benefits for the young as well as adult learners.

1. Safer option

With the capacity to conduct lessons from the safety of the house, learners will not have to go to schools, universities, and risk exposure to COVID-19.

2. Abundance of facilitators

Although the education industry has majorly been utilizing online modules for support learning, there is an abundance of facilitators in the domain. There are applications through which one can create and deliver lessons, or take assessments, or even communicate with teacher/trainer in real-time.

3. Easy to setup

While the preparation of learning models can take time, learners can easily take them up through various digital mediums.