Finding a balance

To adjust to the new landscape of digital classrooms, faculty in the College of Natural Resources and Environment and all across campus have had to find new ways to keep their students engaged and on task while being adaptive to the challenges of moving classes online.

Ive worked to engage with students, but Ive also tried not to stress them out, explained Assistant ProfessorJ.P. Gannon, who teaches environmental informatics in theDepartment of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation. My approach has been to work on the challenges in a direct way, trying to get my students to talk with me.

To facilitate that conversation, Gannon conducted multiple surveys to gauge how the adjustments to video lectures and labs have gone for his students and where he could make improvements. When youre up in front of the class, you can adjust on the fly if you get the sense that something isnt connecting, he noted. You cant get that same sense lecturing online, so its important to have ways to get feedback that you can use to make adjustments.

Gannon also used class surveys to lighten things up for students, creating avenues for students to brainstorm ideas for staying busy in this uncertain moment.

I did a survey asking students what they were doing to take their mind off things, and asked if I could share their answers with classmates so wed have a list of ideas. I made a slideshow with some of the strategies the students mentioned, from exercising and dancing, to playing Animal Crossing, or building forts. I even put in slides of what Ive been doing, whether its riding my bike or playing with my dogs. I think they appreciated knowing were all in this together.

From hands-on to learning at a distance

Much of the learning that takes place in the college is hands-on and outdoors, and professors are striving to make sure that students can still access some of the resources that are on campus or nearby.

Our forest resources field experience course entails field labs taught by several faculty members, said Associate Professor Eric Wiseman, who teaches urban forestry. The lab that I teach each year is our first opportunity to expose students to the professions of urban forestry and arboriculture. In the past Ive arranged to bring four or five arborists and urban foresters to the Hahn Horticulture Garden and set up field stations where they teach and demonstrate techniques of the professions.

To give current sophomores a chance to learn about the professions, Wiseman conducted a virtual urban forestry day, inviting arborists and urban foresters with a variety of backgrounds to participate in a Zoom class and round-robin discussion about the field and how students can prepare for careers in forestry.

We had a municipal forester, a commercial arborist, a consulting arborist, and a utility forester participate in the session, Wiseman said. They talked to the students about some of the things they do in their sectors of the field, and it was an opportunity for our students to ask questions of professionals.

For his wildlife fire ecology lab, Assistant ProfessorAdam Coatestook his students to the field virtually. I visited outdoor field locations in Fishburn Forest and the Jefferson National Forest where the students would have observed potential fire effects and prepared videos of what those labs would have entailed, he said.

Social science research in a changing world

In addition to being more innovative in the virtual classroom, researchers in the college are also adapting to the changing circumstances. For social scientists especially, who rely on face-to-face interviews with individuals or groups, the coronavirus pandemic has forced radical rethinking about how to safely conduct research.

To help them adjust, Assistant ProfessorAshley Dayer,of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, has been hosting virtual seminars through theSociety for Conservation Biologys Social Science Working Group to develop new solutions for the specific challenges that social scientists are facing.

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VA Tech Faculty Use Innovation / Engagement to Adapt to New Online Education Space - The Roanoke Star

Solar panels will be set up in unelectrified tribal settlements in the eastern suburbs of the district for ensuring seamless access to online education for students there.

The District Education Department is trying to solicit sponsorship for setting up as much panels as possible.

Currently, volunteers trained under the Samagra Shiksha Kerala in association with the Scheduled Tribes Development Department are reaching out to students in tribal settlements after getting laptops charged from the nearest centres with power connectivity, which is an arduous task.

The idea is to set up solar panels in public spaces like anganwadis near to the settlements, said Honey G. Alexander, Deputy Director of Education, Ernakulam.

This is one of the many initiatives being adopted by the department to ensure universal accessibility to online education.

Having claimed to have covered the student community as a group, the authorities are now focusing on enhancing individual accessibility to online education.

As per an initial estimate, about 7,000 students out of the 2.62 lakh students in the district didnt have access to online classes either owing to lack of smart phones or television sets.

We covered all of them by this week through multiple modes, including 89 community study centres, by arranging television sets in easily accessible public spaces like libraries and anganwadis. We are now planning to increase the number of such centres depending on the availability of television sets, said Ms. Alexander.

Around 300 students who were found to be outside the ambit of such centres were being personally visited by teachers with downloaded lessons once in two or three days.

Another 500 students were given laptops belonging to schools while some others with data connectivity issues were given lessons in pen drives.

We are expecting donation of around 200 television sets shortly, in which case we plan to distribute them to the most needy among the 250-odd students who are now dependent on their neighbours for access to television, said Ms. Alexander.

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Thank you to all the educators who heroically pivoted to online learning.

ParentsCAN would like to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of the Napa Valley Unified School District to provide online education for their students through this pandemic. While we recognize that results have been mixed, we also know that many educational systems around the country refused to try and simply did not offer any specialized services to students.

The Special Education Department at NVUSD completed 700 Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings with families via virtual meetings by June 5. In March, NVUSD reached out to ParentsCAN to help parents cope with the changes to the special education system wrought by the pandemic.

NVUSD has been referring families to ParentsCAN who needed additional help navigating virtual meetings for their children with special needs. Our bilingual advocates worked with parents to log onto the technology, get comfortable using it and finally to use Docu-sign technology to complete the process. This service is especially critical for Spanish-speaking families as all the online IEP materials are in English only.

At ParentsCAN we believe that in partnership with our local school districts we can and must build individual learning experiences for all students. Our local educators have done an exceptional job of trying out a variety of different activities that align to each childs own unique interests and strengths. Packets for some children, virtual therapy sessions and Zoom classes for others. Some of these activities engaged children in new and exciting ways, some did not, a lot was learned on both sides of the screen.

Excerpt from:
Not as easy as it seems | Letters to the Editor - Napa Valley Register

This report focuses on the global Online Education status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Online Education development in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Central & South America.

Access the PDF sample of the report @https://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/4571318

The key players covered in this study K12 Inc Pearson White Hat Managemen Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. K Bettermarks Scoyo Languagenut Beness Holding, Inc New Oriental Education & Technology XUEDA AMBO XRS CDEL Ifdoo YINGDING YY Inc

Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Elementary Education(Grades 1-5) Junior High Education(Grades 6-8) Senior High Education(Grades 9-12)

Make an enquiry of this report @https://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/4571318

Market segment by Application, split into Teacher Student Parents

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers North America Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South America

The study objectives of this report are: To analyze global Online Education status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. To present the Online Education development in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Central & South America. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, market and key regions.

Browse the complete report @https://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-online-education-market-size-status-and-forecast-2020-2026

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Online Education are as follows: History Year: 2015-2019 Base Year: 2019 Estimated Year: 2020 Forecast Year 2020 to 2026 For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2019 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Report Overview

1.1 Study Scope

1.2 Key Market Segments

1.3 Players Covered: Ranking by Online Education Revenue

1.4 Market Analysis by Type

1.4.1 Global Online Education Market Size Growth Rate by Type: 2020 VS 2026

1.4.2 Elementary Education(Grades 1-5)

1.4.3 Junior High Education(Grades 6-8)

1.4.4 Senior High Education(Grades 9-12)

1.5 Market by Application

1.5.1 Global Online Education Market Share by Application: 2020 VS 2026

1.5.2 Teacher

1.5.3 Student

1.5.4 Parents

1.6 Study Objectives

1.7 Years Considered

Chapter Two: Global Growth Trends by Regions

2.1 Online Education Market Perspective (2015-2026)

2.2 Online Education Growth Trends by Regions

2.2.1 Online Education Market Size by Regions: 2015 VS 2020 VS 2026

2.2.2 Online Education Historic Market Share by Regions (2015-2020)

2.2.3 Online Education Forecasted Market Size by Regions (2021-2026)

2.3 Industry Trends and Growth Strategy

2.3.1 Market Top Trends

2.3.2 Market Drivers

2.3.3 Market Challenges

2.3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis

2.3.5 Online Education Market Growth Strategy

2.3.6 Primary Interviews with Key Online Education Players (Opinion Leaders)

Chapter Three: Competition Landscape by Key Players

3.1 Global Top Online Education Players by Market Size <

Continued.

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Online Education Market 2020: Industry, Size, Share, Demands, Growth, Opportunities, Trends Analysis And Forecast Till 2026 - 3rd Watch News

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, universities have been operating in emergency mode. Because online education had not been a priority in the past, the pandemic forced universities to find a quick fix. Et voil the Zoom lecture was born.

But effective online education is more than a few videos and chats. Universities are now discovering that those quick fixes will not be enough in the long term. With only a few months before the beginning of the new academic year, universities need to come up with more effective solutions.

However, quality online education requires some substantive upfront investments, both in infrastructure and, more importantly, in pedagogical expertise for building engaging learning experiences. Add to that the time it takes for teachers and instructional designers to work together on course design and the thought of being able to teach fully online at high quality standards this autumn quickly becomes wishful thinking for many (if not most) universities.

Looking at the situation in Europe, some universities have been slowly building their online learning capacity in recent years, but this has by no means been mainstreamed. On the contrary, the differences among universities in different countries and even within the same country are substantial, and attitudes towards online learning vary greatly.

In such an unbalanced landscape and with the current time constraints, one obvious solution would be inter-university collaboration. By pooling existing resources, both in terms of infrastructure and pedagogical support, universities can ensure their students access to quality online learning.

This does not have to mean a unified curriculum, so the diversity of the academic offer is not endangered in any way. The main idea is to join forces on the aspects of instruction that are too resource- and time-intensive to be tackled independently at the moment, particularly the expertise and support for designing and delivering online courses.

It sounds like a no-brainer but, unfortunately, this is not the way universities operate. Collaboration is not really in their DNA, and the academic landscape has become more and more competitive in the past decades. Each university is keen to preserve its identity and would rather stress its individual character than see the similarities and potential cooperation with other institutions.

In Europe, the variety of national education systems also erects unnecessary barriers to cooperative endeavours. When collaboration happens, it mainly concerns research rather than education. This is also partly due to the fact that teaching is still seen as an individual activity. While informal exchanges on teaching take place, they are seldom formalised as inter-institutional programmes.

Yet away from the spotlight, innovative e-learning initiatives have been developed around Europe for the past two decades. Some of them can provide inspiration for universities to choose a different, more effective path in the current situation. For instance, the Virtual University of Bavaria (VHB) is a network of 31 universities that provides its members with funding and pedagogical support for developing online courses.

There are a few key aspects that make this initiative sustainable. First, collaboration is the default option: in order to get funding and support, each course proposal has to come from a team of at least two professors from different universities. Second, quality assurance plays an important role: the network provides numerous professional development opportunities on technology-enhanced learning, and the courses are evaluated by a team of external experts. Last but not least, online learning is an integral part of the institutional strategy for all participating universities, carried through with the funding support of VHB.

The result, after two decades of operation, is a mature network that has developed a culture of online learning, a growing portfolio of courses accessible to students from all participating universities and a centralised support system covering all practical aspects of the course design process. For the post-Covid reality, this configuration would bring about obvious advantages by consolidating the existing pockets of expertise into an efficient and sustainable system.

While such models work well at regional and national level, there is also potential for cooperation across borders, at the European level. There are several EU-funded initiatives, such as the European Universities Initiative, that bring together universities from across the continent. European universities traditionally have many bilateral cooperation agreements, so the infrastructure exists, but, at the moment, it is used either for research or student mobility. The next step should be to scale up and consolidate these cooperation models by adding a strong focus on online education; a good starting point could be to develop joint introductory courses for different disciplines.

Such collaboration is not a quick fix: networks like this take time to cultivate. But it could be a short cut. It could offer a way to build a culture of cooperation and openness to online learning that will increase both the quality and the accessibility of the learning experience in the post-Covid world.

Alexandra Mihai is a researcher in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and an associate researcher at the Institute for European StudiesatVrije Universiteit Brussel. This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on her blog.

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European universities should cooperate on online teaching - Times Higher Education (THE)

BEIJING, June 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Color Star Technology Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq CM: HHT) (the "Company", "we" or "HHT"), a company engaged in the business of providing education services, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Color China Entertainment Limited, entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Shenzhen Bole Information Technology Co., Ltd. ("Shenzhen Bole") to provide advanced technologies for Color World, the Company's online education platform under development.

Shenzhen Bole is believed to be one of the leading augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality (AR/VR/MR) multi-scene content operation service provider in China and owns a large content library in the field of AR large-screen interactive subdivision. Shenzhen Bole created "X-Mirror (Gravitational Lens)," an innovative multiplayer AR interactive all-in-one machine, by integrating facial recognition, bone recognition and other cutting-edge technologies and leveraging rich AR interactive contents. Shenzhen Bole's clients include Agricultural Bank of China, NBA Playzone, Costa Cruises, Hershey's, as well as other large enterprises.

Since the outbreak of the global epidemic, traditional offline industries have faced great challenges while services utilizing online delivery has developed rapidly. We shifted our focus quickly and utilized our strengths to develop new areas of service. We are in the process of launching our Color World platform on which we plan to establish a full range alliance in entertainment education sector. The Company plans on deploying proprietary research and development with support from professional software development teams, aiming to break through the traditional education model and offer truly education services in an innovative way.

We anticipate the "artists + online education" model to be offered on Color World's platform to cover all fields of entertainment, including music, music production, vocal, songwriting, film acting, scriptwriting, sound engineering, and lighting engineering.

Management expects Color China's strong industry resources combined with its offline and online business models will attract hundreds of millions of registered users and provide them with a truly unique learning experience. While the initial planned launch date of the Color World platform was missed due to the functional modifications and expansions following the acquisition of Color China and the longer than expected impact of COVID-19, the Color World platform has completed its initial development phase and will become open for registration globally in the second half of 2020.

The most distinctive feature of the Color World platform will be the presence of numerous top artists from the world. To foster efficient learning results, Color World platform will provide students the flexibility to choose from various levels, numerous lessons in different languages, and many renowned artists teachers. Leveraging the unique experience of Color China's management team, the Company is looking into establishing strategic partnerships with many international record labels, agencies and artists. The Company also is exploring expanding its partnership network with many more international entertainment and sports companies and alliances to collaborate in nourishing our pioneered online education and entertainment ecosystem, adding new dynamics to the global entertainment economy.

Our partnership with Shenzhen Bole adds AR and Artificial Intelligence technologies to the Color World platform, enabling better interactions and learning experiences for our students. More specifically, Shenzhen Bole will implement AR technology into our video lessons, allowing for multi-lingual live interactions between students and their chosen artists virtually on the platform.

"We believe that the introduction of AR technology into our Color World platform will be a breakthrough for us and for the online education industry," Sean Liu, CEO of Color Star Technology commented, "AR technology will provide vivid live experiences and further encourage virtual interactions. We look forward to joining other top tier education companies in providing truly innovative and valuable education to students."

About Shenzhen Bole Information Technology

Shenzhen Bole is believed to be one of the leading augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality (AR/VR/MR) multi-scene content operation service provider in China and owns a large content library in the field of AR large-screen interactive subdivision. Shenzhen Bole created "X-Mirror (Gravitational Lens)," an innovative multiplayer AR interactive all-in-one machine, by integrating facial recognition, bone recognition and other cutting-edge technologies and leveraging rich AR interactive contents. Shenzhen Bole's clients include Agricultural Bank of China, NBA Playzone, Costa Cruises, Hershey's, as well as other large enterprises.

About Color Star Technology Co., Ltd.

Color Star Technology, is a holding company whose primary business is offering both online and offline innovative education services. Its business operations are conducted through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Color China Entertainment Ltd., CACM Group NY, Inc., Sunway Kids International Education Group Ltd. ("Sunway Kids"), Brave Millennium Limited, Chengdu Hengshanghui Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. and its variable interest entity, Chengdu Hengshanghui Education Consulting Co., Ltd. Sunway Kids engages in the early childhood education service business, providing a well-structured system to day cares and preschools inChina, including AI and robotic technologies, intellectual campus administration software as a service (SaaS) system and personalized education planning. The Company also anticipates providing anafter-school tutoring program inNew Yorkvia its joint venture entity Baytao LLC, and providing online music education via a platform branded "Color World".

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made herein are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "plan", "outlook", and "project" and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Such forward-looking statements include the business plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of the parties following the completion of the acquisition, and HHT's estimated and future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, industry environment and potential growth opportunities. These forward-looking statements reflect the current analysis of existing information and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. As a result, caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements. Due to known and unknown risks, our actual results may differ materially from our expectations or projections. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: there is uncertainty about the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the impact it will have on HHT's operations, the demand for the HHT's products and services, global supply chains and economic activity in general. These and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in the other public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") by HHT.

Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact our expectations and projections will be found in our periodic filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year endedJune 30, 2019. HHT's SEC filings are available publicly on the SEC's website atwww.sec.gov. HHT disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Color Star Technology Co., Ltd.Contact: Investor Relations

Cassie Zhang [emailprotected] 929-317-2699

SOURCE Color Star Technology Co., Ltd.

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Color Star Technology Announces Strategic Partnership with Bole Information Technology to Further Empower the "Color World" Platform -...

In the fall, we wont be meeting our peers or our lecturers in person, due to the current circumstances regarding COVID-19. But, thanks to the wonders of the Internet and one little thing called online learning we still have access to higher education, advice from tutors and study materials.

In case you havent heard, most of the Communication Science students will continue studying from the comfort of their home for the following semester. What started as undesired precognition, matured into a full-fledged regulation: second- and third-year students will not come to campus in the fall semester and only the new first-year students will have two hours of teaching on campus per week.

You may wonder what was the reason for this segregation. For one thing, our university cannot, under the current safety regulation, accommodate classes for all of its students. And the reason first-year students were given the opportunity is to have the most normal university experience possible at the moment.

Not only will this drastically impact the students experience, but it might also lead to lower GPAs. Why is that? Because online learning requires more motivation and discipline than regular classes, which can be hard on students these days when bad things keep on happening.

Still, we must understand why these measures were taken and we must come to terms with the fact that we wont be able to change them. Nothing left for us to do, but to get acquainted with the advantages and downfalls of online education.

Possible Obstacles Next Semester

First, lets have a look at the not so good aspects of online education.

The social aspect of education has the most to suffer from this switch to online learning. There is less contact between students and lecturers, and between students. That leaves little room for out-of-class discussions and therefore, no organic continuation of the lessons in the external world. Zoom might be able to correct that, but the lack of face-to-face communication could still lead to isolation in students and lecturers as well.

The future window to the academic world the computer.

As many of us have already noticed, it is much harder to form study groups and do group projects. Computer-mediated communication has the flaw of not transmitting non-verbal communication as easily as face to face communication and this can lead to miscommunications and slower progress in group projects.

Imagine this: you are on Zoom with your teammates working on a project. Everyone is in a different time zone and maybe one teammate is distracted by social media, one just came from work and has a hard time focusing and another doesnt participate in the conversation. It doesnt sound peachy right?

Keeping everyone involved and active takes more time and effort in computer-mediated communication in general.

I know that this is the absolute worst-case scenario, but weve all been in a group project where barely anything gets done. Think of that, but 10 times worse. Thats the world of online group projects.

These things are not meant to have you scream in anger at your future window to the academic world the computer. The downfalls listed above should inspire students to seek out ways to defeat them, not to enrage them. And dont forget about the bright side of this.

Online Learnings Saving Grace

However, there is a silver lining to all of these. Online education has convenience on its side. No more commuting, a much larger variety of study materials at your disposal and the geographical reach it has are just some of the benefits of online learning.

You would have no classes to rush to, no crowded public transport and you can look over the lectures at any time of the day or night. This is extra special because there is a high chance that the lectures will be available online sooner and for longer than they were before.

For many Communication Science students, online learning also means they dont need to be in the Netherlands, pay rent and pay for plane tickets for the holidays.All you need is a moderately stable internet connection and perhaps a webcam to follow provided online classes. Less hassle with the financial aspect of academic education.

How to Stay Productive With Online Learning

On an individual level, there are some things that you should avoid to keep on track with your online courses.

Firstly, invest a bit more time into prepping for your classes. Take time to read the materials ahead of time and set a timeslot specifically for doing your assignments.

Secondly, avoid procrastination by shutting off any reasons for distractions. When you get a project or an assignment, you should break it down into easily accomplishable tasks and set realistic deadlines for all of them.

Thirdly, try to find the best way to study and retain information. Maybe you learn easier when you take very detailed notes of the lectures that you are watching or maybe you can understand a topic better if you see a Youtube video about it. You are the only one responsible for finding your own path.

Lastly, there is significant evidence that indicates that students who are not overperforming in face-to-face classes may fall even more behind in online classes. So, its high time to put our big boy/girl pants on and crack down the books. Hustler culture is back in trend.

If you read the news from UvA and were disappointed with the plans for the next semester, know that you are not alone. We can get through this. Even though these are times where reality seems so detached from our personal lives and days incessantly pass us by, education should not be something else on our to-do list. Education should be the anchor point to reality, the one absolute that will have notable consequences in the near future.

Cover: Nick Morrison

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The Pros And Cons Of Studying Online - Mediummagazine

The closing down of classrooms due to the Covid-19 pandemic has given new impetus to online education and instruction. As universities, colleges and other higher educational institutions were forced to close campuses down, instruction had to move to the digital mode. This emergency shift has opened up an opportunity. Indian educational institutions and companies should seize this opportunity, global as well as national. The economic contraction resulting from the pandemic will squeeze the fiscal room to step up public investment in education. This provides education entrepreneurs and institutions an opportunity to bridge the education deficit by creating content.

Monetising the opportunity creates a revenue stream for educational institutions to improve their infrastructure and their brick-and-mortar and virtual offerings. Online education can supplement, not substitute, classroom education, and, in the process, transform the traditional offering. Online coaching will flourish but, that apart, going digital would help traditional educational institutions and educators to significantly augment their efficacy as well as teaching resources, whose nature would evolve as access to cloud computing increases, say, to make use of virtual or augmented reality for rich educational content.

This push to create quality content, to digitise classroom teaching, should be leveraged for the global market as well. This can be a critical tool to improve educational outcomes in countries of the developing south, particularly countries where the medium of education is English. India has an edge in science, engineering and mathematics, and the digital content that has been developed can help Indian educational institutions and companies access the overseas market for supplementary education.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Economic Times.

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Seize the online education opportunity - Economic Times

(QCOSTARICA) Some 50,000 applicants for the Bono Proteger (unemployment aid) will have free access to the international virtual education platform Coursera, a paid web service with nearly 5,000 training programs, from Stanford University.

The Minister of Labor, Giannina Dinarte, explained on the Monday the free online education platform available to 50,000 Costa Ricans who have lost their job due to COVID-19, to learn a new language or skills in order to generate greater employability and greater employment opportunities

There, beneficiaries will be able to learn languages, develop job skills, or acquire complementary knowledge such as data analysis and also obtain certifications.

This was explained by the Executive Director of Coursera, Jeff Maggioncalda. See video here (in English with subtitles).

- paying the bills -

Citizens will have access to courses from the best universities in the world as well as programs, such as the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, which quickly prepares people without technical knowledge for jobs in information technology, said Maggioncalda

The announcement was made on Monday afternoon by President Carlos Alvarado, who stated that this is one of the tools to combat the impact of COVID-19 in the country.

It is one of the strategies we have in order to generate greater employability and greater employment opportunities for those people who became unemployed as a result of the COVID-19, said the president.

The free access was made possible by an agreement from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) and the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (Cinde) with Coursera.

The plan will be in charge of the Ministry of Labor, who administers the Protect voucher with the help of the Mixed Institute of Social Aid (IMAS).

- paying the bills -

As explained by the Minister of Labor, Geannina Dinarte, the selection of people who became unemployed or with suspended contracts and who have completed secondary school will be prioritized.

We will communicate to the people who are on the platform of the 50,000 spaces available and we call on those affected to take this opportunity that will give them valuable tools for their reintegration into the workplace, said Dinarte.

The MTSS reports there are some 266,000 people registered for the Bono Proteger, people are unemployed or with suspended contracts. In total, there are 950,000 applications for financial aid.

They are people who have stopped receiving income and it is essential to put at their disposal alternatives that allow them to have a prompt reintegration. the Minister pointed out.

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50.000 Unemployed in Costa Rica will have access to free online education platform - Q Costa Rica News

Donna Brazile, Opinion columnist Published 1:00 a.m. MT June 11, 2020

When historians look back at 2020, they might see some important lessons about how problems become really big problems when left to fester.

First, COVID-19 shut down the American economy and killed over 112,000 Americans disproportionately African American because we failed to establish the proper public health response early to address it.

Then, intense national protests erupted in every major city because of our persistent inability to address systemic racism, which manifested itself this time in the brutal police killing of George Floyd.

Problems dont go away if we try to sweep them under the rug.They just get worse.

Another crisis now looms.Since tens of millions of Americans began sheltering in place in March, the nations schools have switched toremote learning. Manyteachers, students and parentswere unpreparedfordistance learning, which could become a permanent fixture of education. And once again, communities of color will bethe most severely affected.

The majority of teachers, many of whom came of age before smartphones and social media, admit theyre not ready for this transition from in-person to online education. Huge numbers of children are being left out and left behind. Nationally, fewer than half the nations public school students have been participating in online classes; some studies report that 75%of students lack sufficient digital proficiency necessary for remote learning. In Philadelphia,after two-and-a-half months of remote learning, only 61%were taking part in classes on an average day, although pre-pandemic attendance was above 90%.

A number of sociological problems are being ignored as the nation tries to fumble its way into distance education. Single parents are striving to support their families on poverty wages while encouraging their childrens education. Too many parents and children are struggling to attain basic literacy and numeracy as well as digital literacy. And many curricula dont address African Americans, Hispanics and other communities of color, as well as digitally native young people from every background.

For their part, while students report great interest in the digital world and spend lots of screen-time on entertainment, information, and social media, huge numbers still report online education as wholly uninteresting.

Online learning in San Francisco in March 2020.(Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP)

As recent events underscore, racial and economic injustices underlie educational equalities, especially during this digital transition. Almost 40%of African American and Hispanic households dont have computers at home for their children to participate in online classes, do research on the internet and complete and submit their homework.

While broadband is available in 95%of homes, only 73%of households subscribe.An Obama administration study in 2015 found that most non-subscribers to residential broadband dont see its relevance.How have our education and civic communities responded to that?By sweeping it under the rug.

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Many broadband providers are doing their part with $10-a-month service,but the nation needs to do more to achieve universal access and adoption, especially at this moment of turmoil and transition.

In rural areas where so many communities are suffering social isolation and economic dislocation, about 22%of the residents dont have wireline, and past efforts at extending broadband failed because of waste and political patronage.

As terrifying as these times are, America has been there before. In 1967, amidst urban upheavals, President Johnson created the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King a year later, America should have heeded the reports prophetic conclusion that the nation was moving toward two societies, separate and unequal. But Congress hit the snooze button instead.

Now we need a similar commission on education and equality and how we can transition education to a digital future that doesnt reinforce the savage inequalities of our past and present. No leader, no institution and no single solution can eliminate educational inequalities in the digital era. But together educators, policymakers, parents and business, civic and religious leaders can and must make a difference.

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For starters, we should adopt recommendations from the American Federation of Teachers Plan to Safely Reopen American Schools and Communities, which calls for increased investment to close the digital divide. As the report explains, high speed broadband, reliable mobile service, modern technology and hardware are no longer optional they are now core infrastructure needs of businesses, schools and homes.

Seeing what has happened these past few months to our schools and in our streets, we dare not falter or fail.

Donna Brazile, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is a Fox News contributor,an at-large automatic delegate to the 2020 Democratic convention, former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee and author of "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that PutDonald Trump in the White House." Follow her on Twitter:@donnabrazile

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Don't let online education turn into the next crisis that hits people of color hardest - AZCentral.com