Impacts of COVID-19 on Education

The closure and change of learning techniques has had extensive impacts on the students, teachers, instructors, and learning institutions. The impacts of COVID-19 on education has been mostly negative, though with some positive aspects. The current discussion focusses on the impacts of COVID-19 on the education sectors with more emphasis on nursing education.

Negative Impacts of Covid-19 on Education

Closure of Learning Institutions

Nursing education requires theoretical and practical or bedside aspects to provide learners with the necessary skills for practice. As reported by the World Health Organization, the disease is lethal to all people, regardless of gender, race, or age. Therefore, schools and other learning institutions have made the tough decision of suspending their operations indefinitely. In some countries, the closure was ordered by their respective government (Fogg et al., 2020). The suspension of leaning means that students cannot acquire the skills and knowledge required to complete their courses on time.

For those who have managed to use non-physical learning methods, there have been obstacles and challenges. The different learning domains, including the knowledge, skills, and attitude, have been significantly affected by the schools attempting non-physical learning. By September 2020, most schools, including universities, had been closed in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia (Fogg et al., 2020). In the united states and Canada, however, most institutions only closed partially.

Disruption of Learners’ Learning Outcomes

In some colleges in the United Kingdom, examinations were canceled or moved to online platforms. Cancellations of examinations have subjected the learners to anxiety and prolongation time or restudying the same concepts while preparing for online exams (O’Flynn-Magee et al., 2020). This disruption has extensively affected students’ learning outcomes, especially in science-based courses that require physical learning and practice. The disruption has interfered with the continuity and momentum already gained by learners, and now they have to readjust to cope with online learning and its associated limitations.

Travel Limitations

To acquire clinical skills of nursing and other health-related courses, learners in many parts of the world have been commuting from their residences to the learning facilities. Various governments have formulated new rules and regulations designed to minimize the spread of this disease. Regulations and rules such as partial or full lockdowns either countrywide or in urban areas limited students’ travel to their learning institutions before the closure of schools and universities. This, alongside directives discouraging gatherings such as those in physical classroom settings, meant that students had to halt their learning.

Need for Digital Literacy

As mentioned earlier, most institutions have adapted virtual learning strategies to provide learners with knowledge and skills. However, the main virtual method that has been leveraged by most institutions is the internet-based learning that involves using computers and websites whose navigation requires training. For students to successfully navigate these platforms, they need to first acquire digital literacy skills. The use of examination applications in learning has also required prior orientation to the students (O’Flynn-Magee et al., 2020). Arguably, the pandemic has forced learning institutions to explore alternative options to learning, most of which are time-consuming. Many institutions that had not integrated e-learning into their systems have had to spend more time orientating their users, including instructors and students, on this new learning methodology.

Unequal Access to Education

Various institutions have adopted online learning technologies which can be an expensive method of learning for students. The use of e-learning to cover up for the time lost during the lockdown has brought challenges to the students who cannot afford to acquire the necessary gadgets and know-how required for internet-based learning. With unequal access to internet-based learning, it is likely that online education has resulted in unequal access to learning resources (Baticulon et al., 2020). Internet-based learning involves the sharing of files and learning materials via online platforms. Some of these materials are copyrighted by the intellectual property laws that prohibit their unauthorized sharing. Thus, for students who are unable to acquire the requisite learning materials to avoid infringing on copyright laws, the new model of learning has been anything but smooth.

Compromised Academic integrity