Online learning will be a new norm for teachers and students, even when the pandemic is over.
EDUCATION has undergone an abrupt change
from physical classroom to online platforms at scale.
In meeting the urgent demand for online
learning, the development of digital collaboration and communication tools have
accelerated.
According to Alibaba Cloud Intelligence
Malaysia general manager Jordy Cao, Alibaba Group has initiated an "Online
Classroom" programme for free via DingTalk — a communication and
collaboration platform.
The programme has benefited six million
teachers from 140,000 schools across China, who are conducting online classes
for 130 million students.
"DingTalk can deliver low-latency,
high-definition video conferencing involving more than 300 people
simultaneously at no cost. It also allows free group live broadcast to up to
45,000 audiences at the same time," said Cao.
He added that DingTalk has also been
recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (Unesco) as an effective digital learning solution as schools face
closures over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Online learning is a great supplement to
conventional teaching methods, Cao said.
"It allows students to arrange time
flexibly, reduces the cost for textbooks and lowers the threshold for accessing
educational resources.
"Schools, universities and students
are encouraged to be more open-minded and make better use of digitised tools
and resources to make the transformation to online learning easier and more
efficient," he said.
Recently, Xiamen University Malaysia signed
a Memorandum of Understanding with Alibaba Cloud to enhance education and cloud
computing skills of its staff and students.
Cao said the collaboration between
universities and enterprises will benefit both sides and empower future
generations.
"Such tie-up allows students and staff
of the university to get unparalleled access to resources put together by
Alibaba Cloud. Besides, our team plays an advisory role to ensure that the
course content remains updated, relevant and focused on the future needs of the
industry, so students can better plan their careers in a competitive job
market.
"To date, 12 Malaysian universities
have joined the community, and over 800 students have benefited from the online
training to pursue a professional certification to better prepare them for
their future in the digital era.
"Online learning will be a new norm
for teachers and students, even when the pandemic is over.
"Meanwhile, developers of online
learning tools will strive to improve user experience, thereby increasing their
popularity further," he said.
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