Reshaping education in the pandemic

The education sector is one of many industries that will be permanently changed by the lengthy COVID-19 pandemic. Coursera responded to the sudden need to change education systems by providing a flexible and inclusive online learning environment that was widely accepted by people around the world.

In the Philippines, Coursera welcomed more than 100,000 new learners in the first quarter of 2021 alone, bringing the platform’s total Filipino learners to more than 1.1 million, with 62 percent accessing classes on their mobile phones.

In this exclusive interview, Raghav Gupta, Managing Director of Coursera India and Asia-Pacific, gives further insights into emerging trends in education and how the industry will continue to transform itself in the foreseeable future.

What challenges did the education industry face last year worldwide and in the Philippines?

According to the United Nations, the pandemic has caused a significant disruption to education systems in history. The sudden campus closings have led universities to use online learning to mitigate the impact on students.

However, despite the advent of online education, challenges remain – limited and unstable internet connections, low device penetration, and high data costs were more severe in the Philippines. World Bank data suggests that at least 60 percent of households in the country have limited internet access and mobile internet speeds are less than half the global average.

Coursera for Campus enabled educational institutions worldwide and in the Philippines to ensure academic continuity with quality learning. It helped universities mitigate the effects of disruption. In our opinion, the global online learning experiment triggered by the pandemic will pave the way for a resilient and sustainable learning ecosystem.

In your opinion, how can an inclusive online learning environment be built in the current situation?

Universal connectivity and device access can help build an inclusive educational model. The government and the private sector can join forces to power up the digital infrastructure. Mobile is a powerful tool to bridge the digital divide. In fact, 61 percent of our learners in the Philippines used mobile devices to access Coursera last year. The platform enables learners to download courses, synchronize progress and quizzes, take notes with highlights and synchronize calendars – optimized for low data consumption.

Another driver could be empowering faculties to adapt to evolving pedagogy and coursework. We share teaching resources to help instructors curate engaging classroom experiences. Based on data from nearly 200 million course registrations, we have also published the report “Driver Quality in Online Learning”, which provides insights into what defines a high-quality online learning experience. Department of Education HEROES 2021 – Philippines is another initiative helping teachers understand the new teaching models and focus on quality teaching.

What is Coursera for Campus and how can it help educational institutions here in the Philippines?

Coursera for Campus is designed to meet the needs of higher education institutions around the world, helping universities and colleges deliver work-related, multidisciplinary learning, create online programs, and scale for credit to their students and faculties. It is intended as an immediate and long-term solution that will allow universities to switch online quickly and provide a high quality learning experience without significant investment. Universities have access to more than 4,200 courses via the platform, which they can seamlessly integrate into their curricula. Coursera for Campus was launched in October 2019 and has enrolled over 2.7 million learners worldwide since February 2021.

Raghav Gupta, General Manager for India and Asia Pacific

Last October, we announced long-term, free versions of Coursera for campus and enhanced features to address four core university needs: providing academic integrity for online learning with credit, improving student employability, creating private courses, and improving accessibility to students with limited connectivity and bandwidth. Key features include automated plagiarism detection with Turnitin, online oversight with ProctorU, and the faculty benefit of creating custom assignments on a large scale. Coursera for Campus now offers advanced academic integrity features that enable universities to deliver online credit learning on a large scale.

What will the education system look like after the pandemic?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) notes that the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of higher education. We have entered a new era of education where online learning will play a more prominent role in supporting campus programs to deliver critical learning and skills. In addition to building digital skills, universities can start producing digital content for their existing and new curricula. Students and professionals use online learning platforms to continuously develop new skills. There may be greater acceptance and choice for hands-on learning, competency-based credentials, and alternative routes to degrees. These can be micro-credentials that are clearly linked to careers, such as the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, which does not require a degree and prepares learners for an entry-level role in IT support in three to six months.

What were the most popular short courses around the world and in the Philippines?

The World’s Most Popular Courses of 2020 underscore learners’ drive to gain control over their mental health, better understand COVID-19, develop work-related skills, and pursue personal passions.

The Science of Wellbeing – Yale University

Machine Learning – Stanford University

COVID-19 Contact Tracking – Johns Hopkins University

Programming for Everyone (Getting Started with Python) – University of Michigan

Learning How To Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Navigate Difficult Subjects – University of California San Diego, McMaster University

Students in the Philippines also study a wide variety of subjects. The most popular courses on Coursera in the country are:

COVID-19 Contact Tracking – Johns Hopkins University

The Science of Wellbeing – Yale University

First step Korean – Yonsei University

Business Excel Skills: Fundamentals – Macquarie University

Write professional emails in English – Georgia Institute of Technology

Most Popular Guided Projects in the Philippines – All from Coursera Project Network

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For example, what type of workforce / skills are companies looking for in the next five years that require additional learning?

As technology advances rapidly, employers value professionals with new age skills and a strong learning mindset. Skilled workers equipped with balanced and multidisciplinary skills will be in demand in the work environment affected by COVID. The WEF’s Future of Jobs report suggests that the demand for programmers, data science, AI / ML experts, and app developers is increasing. By 2025, there will be strong demand for competence groups such as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving and self-management skills such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility.

The report also said the double interruption in automation and the pandemic will displace an estimated 85 million jobs by 2025. Of those who are to remain in their roles, 50 percent have to be retrained. Increasing automation can also create 97 million new jobs, but increasing skill gaps present challenges. To succeed in this rapidly changing knowledge economy and with remote working as the new norm, we encourage professionals to embrace lifelong learning, adopt a growth mindset and to build the crucial skills.

What makes Coursera different from other online educational institutions?

Coursera is uniquely positioned as a global learning platform that opens up new ways for leading universities, corporations, governments and learners to reach each other and create value. The platform gives universities access to more than 82 million learners. Educators can expand the reach of their programs with minimal investment. It gives universities the opportunity to focus on their core business, continuously improving courses, improving pedagogy, developing new content and delivering effective learning.

On Coursera, individual courses are the gateway to online degrees. Open courses and projects provide learners with an entry point to begin their learning journey and work on valuable testimonials. We have developed a platform that gives learners greater choice and flexibility to acquire industry-specific skills and hands-on learning at their own pace. INQ

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