By Nachiket Bhatia
Traditional coaching techniques have the drawback of prescribing students to practise closed skills and demonstrate them in competition. Such techniques limit the creativity and intellectual abilities of a learner. With fierce competition becoming commonplace, students are becoming overworked and are thus losing interest in learning. The effective strategies of online coaching, like interactive and engaging learning, can efficiently retain this losing interest. The anticipated growth of the global e-learning market at a CAGR of 9.9% between 2022-2027, along with effective educational benefits, will aid the growth of digital coaching in the near future.
Comparable benefits against traditional instruction
New learning and teaching techniques are being constantly developed with quick technological advancement, enabling the effective remote collaboration of instructors and learners. And, without a doubt, technology is revolutionising the coaching industry as well. Some benefits provided by digital coaching include-
Purpose
Back then, the sole purpose of the antiquated education system had been to make students practice rote learning without focusing on real-world applications. But because of the changing environment, this structure is no longer viable. However, digital coaching promotes instruction that includes real-world learning and critical thinking and ensures that taught concepts are applicable in real life. Digital setups make students active receptors.
Equity
With enormous technological improvements, learners can choose what to study for a small fraction of the cost and in the comfort of their homes. It is propelled by the remarkable penetration of the internet, which makes quality digital coaching accessible in rural or remote areas as well. Digital is more scalable than traditional coaching.
Schedule flexibility
Traditional setups are not flexible, whereas digital setups that aid self-paced learning allow schedule flexibility. Self-paced learning promotes memory performance and knowledge retention. Data-driven insights to offer a tailored experience accessible from any location, which can enable a professional learning pathway
Instructional pace
In a traditional setup, learners need to match the pace of the facilitator. However, in a digital setup, learners can learn at their own pace and refer back to the lessons as and when they like, leading to reduced learning time than required in a traditional setup. Digital setup promotes continuous learning.
Resource availability
In contrast to a traditional arrangement where concepts are only explained once, practising and learning are considerably easier with digital coaching because the instructor’s videos can be viewed repeatedly. The AI-enabled insights also allow learners to identify their weak points and shared spaces for brainstorming. Whereas, it is not possible in traditional coaching. Course upgradation is also comparatively faster in digital coaching.
Instruction delivery
Digital setup is more creative and student-centric, which employs audio-visual techniques and uses advanced technologies to facilitate effective learning. It also enables transparent feedback from students, whereas traditional setups lack that.
Cost
The cost of traditional coaching is more than digital, along with additional costs like commuting costs, classroom maintenance costs, material printing costs, etc. While digital coaching is more cost-effective as it offers learning opportunities in the comfort of your home and provides e-learning material.
Psychological challenges
Interaction is easier for anxious learners in digital coaching unlike in traditional coaching, where learners fear asking questions due to anxiety related to the learning environment. Even anonymity and privacy are possible in digital coaching, which relaxes the anxiety and stress of learners. Similarly, other challenges like favouritism and distractions, which are possible in traditional setups, have very little scope in digital coaching.
Conclusion
Coaching is perceived as an investment by both parents and learners therefore, its effectiveness is crucial to yielding better results for students. Digital coaching has demonstrated the best outcomes in terms of improved knowledge retention, shorter learning times, and enhanced productivity. Thus, even though digital coaching won’t be sans difficulties, coaching institutes will have to modernise to embrace technological tools and add innovative pedagogical strategies into their business strategies to fulfil the expectations of today’s tech-savvy students.
The author of the article is Nachiket Bhatia, CEO, DBMCI and e-Gurukul.
