With millions of children around the world learning at home due to COVID-19, online learning has become a very current topic in education in 2020. At Lingokids, we were curious to know parents’ thoughts on education after experiencing online learning during coronavirus.
That’s why we conducted a recent survey of 4,500 parents from six different countries, the USA, Spain, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, and Thailand. All these parents have children between the ages of 2 and 11. And what we learned from their responses is truly amazing!
The Impact of Covid-19 on Education
More than 80% of the parents surveyed in the USA said that their opinions on what makes good education has changed through COVID-19, especially when it comes to e-learning. Their children have spent more time using electronic devices than before during quarantine.
Online Learning During The Lockdown: Educational Apps As A Learning Supplement
Parents now feel that educational apps supplement their kids’ education and teach them new skills. Most of the parents we surveyed now place more value on how online learning can merge with in-place education to help students.
Parents also expressed that it is very important to them that learning apps are personalized and allow their kids to learn independently. The grand majority of parents across all six countries (78%) recognize that their children are in fact able to learn independently while using a learning app (50% of parents in the USA).
Increase In Screen Time
During the lockdown, the majority of parents in the USA saw their children’s screen time increase, the main reasons being for schoolwork (31.67%), and educational apps (23.17%). Naturally, this rise in screen time has introduced new challenges and concerns among parents.
New Expectations For Learning Apps
One concern is parents are worried that their children could struggle to learn in the real world. To this end, parents want content that is engaging, whether it be their child engaging with other kids or independently with the learning app. In addition to engaging content, parents also value soft skills. In fact, 47% of parents in the USA feel that soft skills are just as important as hard skills and 37% think they are even more important than traditional subjects, like English or math.
Moving forward, learning apps will be expected to prioritize soft skills and personalized independent learning to meet these new needs and expectations. And it’s important that they do, as it seems digital learning in childhood education is here to stay.
The “New Normal:” Digital Learning in Childhood Education
COVID-19 has sped up the merging of ed-tech with traditional methods, a shift in education that was already on the rise before this global crisis. So, while screen time and the use of educational apps did increase during quarantine, coronavirus has triggered a change in the way parents think about education.
Experts agree that educational apps are here to stay as part of the “new normal.” Suzanne Barchers, Education Advisory Board Chair for Lingokids, and Former Editor in Chief and VP of Leapfrog Enterprises says:
“My opinion as to their utilization has changed. I think people have become more aware of the flexibility of such instruction.”
Educators are also on board with digital learning, with 90% of all early childhood educators interviewed saying that schools didn’t provide them the necessary resources and information on distance learning during the lockdown. These educators say they value implementing educational apps in the classroom setting now more than ever before. One English educator concludes, “There has been a change and change is here to stay.”
We at Lingokids are excited for what’s to come in ed-tech and feel up to meet the changing needs and expectations of our Lingofamilies around the world.
To read the full report, click here to download our “Education Study.”
