With the intrusion of COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020, students and educators have taken to online classes as an alternative study measure to maintain academic and career balance.
According to a recent research by the NELOC Media Academy, results show that the increase in demand for online education rose by about 173% in the last few months, particularly due to the pandemic.
However, by its projections, this number may not decrease anytime soon. This is largely due to the fact that individuals (students, teachers and parents alike), institutions and the larger society is practically coming to terms and accepting the new digital reality.
At the same time, the study also records that there has been a high number of online school dropouts as many students abandon their courses for many reasons. The survey revealed reasons ranging from the incompetence of lecturers in handling online teaching tools, inconvenient online learning platforms, huge internet data costs, network breaks, device storage or compatibility and student's emotional disposition among others.
The NELOC Media Academy Report was launched as an in-house growth publication to record the progress of the academy as well as monitor desired changes in the culture of learning media related courses. The Academy is an offshoot of the parent company NELOC Media, a digital marketing company.
Speaking to the press for NELOC Media Academy, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nelson Vincent Ayomitunde emphasized that considering the future of learning, a student who drops out from an online course has lost value in no small measure. According to him, "it is not enough to put up online courses and sell these courses. A learner who signs up and later drops out isn't getting what they paid for. And while that's not entirely your responsibility as a teacher, it will still affect their experience of the course."
Mr Nelson also encouraged the lecturers at the academy to gain mastery of digital tools to create a course their learners will appreciate.