“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
The ongoing Covid pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on school-going populations; the stages of the raging virus-induced lockdowns and disruptions have rent asunder the traditional methods, processes, and systems of schooling, learning, and education. Online classes have emerged as the only alternative that preserves the primary aspects of education systems; however, this abbreviated model exhibits severe limitations that degrade the learning experiences of children the world over. Current events indicate a reduction in the severity of the pandemic, and hence, governments are preparing to re-open schools and other educational institutions in a bid to restore normalcy. Therefore, the need to manage school processes post-pandemic assumes importance in this scenario and could signal fundamental changes in the structures and processes of school education. Changes could entail a paradigm shift, one that must be ideated upon and blueprinted in visual constructs such as flowcharts.
- Courting Innovation
Educators could implement innovation as part of attempts to manage school processes post-pandemic era. A certain line of new thinking could emerge in exercises, wherein individual students work on special projects to gain extra credits. It would help to develop various aspects of such innovation inside flowcharts – this stance merits close examination and therefore, the benefits of innovation can be explored within visual spaces, thus impressing upon school administrators the necessity of implementing techniques in school processes. Certain segments of illustrated diagram could assess the nature of outcomes that flow from innovation, and spotlight the subsidiary techniques that remain key to such initiatives. In addition, it would serve well to envisage multiple stages of special projects in a bid to accelerate the skillsets of students and learners.
- Integrating Best Health Practices
Health specialists prescribed social distancing as a necessary (albeit cultivated) aspect of human behavior in public spaces during the Covid pandemic. The initiative to manage school processes post-pandemic must resonate with that prescription; hence, teachers and educators, and administrators must work to integrate such norms within school environments even as the world returns to normalcy. Readers may view this as an evolving aspect of modern education, and hence we could etch the rationale for social distancing within flow-based diagrams. The illustration remains instrumental in transmitting vital information to school-going populations, thereby sensitizing them to the necessity of social distancing as we emerge from the pandemic. Additional measures of restrictive behavior, such as using face masks could be appended to the diagrams as part of efforts to manage school processes post-pandemic.
- Schools and The Great Outdoors
“Learning outside the classroom always has a lasting impact on education, as it allows students to increase their horizons outside four walls.” Readers may consider the implications of this observation in various contexts; subsequently, the campaign to manage school processes post-pandemic could include chaperoned trips for students to outdoor locations, nature reserves, wildlife parks, and other such locations. Readers may view these excursions as significant reinstatement of traditional learning systems, embellished with new locations of value addition – such as music lessons and non-formal education programming. The use of connected diagrams enables school teachers and policy planners to integrate such mechanisms deeper into the matrix of modern education. In addition, it would help to envisage scenarios wherein, learning that flows from such activity widens the exposure of learners to various aspects of nature, and reinforces the value of education at various levels.
- The Matter of Digital
The contemporary idea of digital citizenship can be defined “as the digital use of technology and the Internet both effectively and appropriately.” This idea can be integrated into paradigms of school education in pursuit of the program to manage school processes post-pandemic. Ideation in this domain can find diverse representation within flowcharts, allowing senior teachers to map the various aspects of guiding students in the best practices of digital citizenship. The methods and techniques that underlie this idea – when outlined inside flowcharts – can also find detailed structures within the spaces of diagrams. Thus, students could author their individual experiences in digital citizenship, thereby reinforcing and supplementing diagrams and illustrations. Readers may view this as a composite stance, one that supports the design of new school processes in the service of modern education.
- Complex Ideation: Need of the Hour
Observers in the domain of modern education note that schools as a whole must “consider ways so that the right to education might be broadened to encompass fluidity, capillarity, and the changing contexts of contemporary societies.” It would help to ideate extensively to integrate this nuanced recommendation to design new methods that manage school processes post-pandemic. For instance, school administrators may work to enroll larger sets of young citizens as part of efforts to pursue their mandate. They may seek support from lawmakers and government organizations, from parents and guardians of school-going children, and civil society – therein broadening their participation in the civilization project. Additionally, such stances can be harnessed to manage school processes post-pandemic through experimentation in classrooms; the moving parts of these techniques can be designed and subsequently refreshed within the spaces of flowcharts.
- The Long-Term Perspective
Investing in high-quality public education and public schools remains critical because “these help power economies and social stability, not to mention testing innovative pedagogical models in independent schools.” Therefore, teachers can help manage school processes post-pandemic by fashioning diverse modes of (formal and informal) instruction within the precincts of schools and institutions. For instance, educators may organize special classes for the average learner as part of the method to boost the quality of learning; such a stance can embellish formal education with additional layers of value, and prepare students and learners for participation in society myriad mechanisms. Special classes can also generate acceleration toward higher grades in examinations, thus creating a higher return on investment (ROI) for schools and other institutions of learning.
- Enter: Gamification
The gamification of education is a recent idea; this technique helps enhance a student’s “engagement with games as it helps to improve particular skills and optimistic learning.” We could envision the scope and moving parts of this new method within flowcharts as part of the project to manage school processes post-pandemic. Observers have stated on the record that gamification could emerge as a force multiplier in modern education; hence, teachers and educators must build basic and advanced gamification into classroom learning systems. Additionally, gamification could assist learners to examine afresh various concepts in different academic disciplines. The methods to promote gamification could be devised in flowcharts, and the completed diagrams could enable larger numbers of students to participate in productive learning activities.
- To Conclude
Ruminations on these explorations can assist readers to experiment with – and revisit – the basic premise of modern education. School management could invest in creating multiple editions of flow-based diagrams to manage school processes post-pandemic to articulate and optimize the quality of outcomes. The considered use of flowcharts, and allied constructs, may potentially empower improved – and qualitatively higher – versions of school processes and systems to take shape in modern times. This could, in turn, reset the mechanisms that animate modern education, and elevate its position in the firmament of civilizational pursuits and activities. Further, connected illustrations could enable high-level revisions of current processes and enable the comprehensive development of school-based learning methods and systems.
