The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has brought about major changes in the education sector, with remote learning emerging as a necessity for students and teachers alike. The lockdown restrictions imposed by governments worldwide resulted in a significant shift towards digital platforms for delivering lectures, presenting assignments, and conducting exams. This shift in the traditional learning format has paved the way for the creation of cyber schools, offering students the flexibility to complete courses online, transfer credits, and engage with educators who design a customized curriculum to suit their unique learning styles.
For teachers and professors looking to enhance their productivity and explore more diverse career avenues, cyber schools offer several benefits. Let’s explore the advantages of remote schooling that are influencing professional career shifts:
1. Higher Work Productivity Rates: Studies have shown that educators and students are at least 4.8% more productive when working remotely. Cyber schools’ unique scheduling and design aspects allow teachers to have shorter workdays without having to commute, enabling them to utilize the extra hours to prepare for work, practice mindfulness, or engage in other activities that promote work-life balance. Teachers also appreciate the freedom to design their own curriculum, as it enables them to create engaging lessons to keep students motivated and productive.
2. Healthier Dietary Opportunities: Teachers can adopt healthier diets when working from home by meal prepping and frequently cooking. Research has shown that individuals consume fewer carbohydrates, fats, and sugars at home than eating out, resulting in well-balanced diets that reduce the risk of developing health conditions and support mental health.
3. Elimination of Commute Stress: Long commutes to work can increase stress levels in the body, mind, and personal relationships, leading to headaches, elevated blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes. Cyber schools eliminate this stress by providing teachers with the opportunity to work from home, reducing their exposure to health hazards, and enabling them to manage their stress levels more effectively.
4. Accessibility for Disabled Teachers: Cyber schools offer accessibility to individuals with disabilities who may have difficulties commuting, teaching or moving throughout school buildings. High school students, for example, spend between 80% and 90% of their school days online, making teaching for cyber high schools the least physically demanding. Additionally, cyber schools have few physical demands, increasing their compatibility with physical disabilities.
5. Personalized Student Curriculum: Cyber schooling is more personalized than traditional class-wide lecturing. Teachers can design different curriculum options catering to each student’s learning styles, including visual, kinesthetic, auditory, and writing. To cater to kinesthetic learners, educators may create material packages that contain hands-on experiences like blocks, building kits, and chemistry sets, among others.
Despite the advantages, there are certain challenges and obstacles associated with teaching at cyber schools. These include time management and distractions at home, difficulty in creating an effective curriculum without regular face-to-face communication, and difficulty in monitoring students’ behavior from afar, among others.
For educators considering transitioning to cyber schools, it’s essential to invest in time management and productivity tracking software, improve their digital teaching abilities with the latest technology, and make the necessary adjustments to their lifestyle to ensure a smooth transition.