The deadly virus COVID-19 basically ruined every person’s plans for 2020. With the lockdown, kids are bored, parents are stressed and time is passing by slowly. Students were forced to learn at home, businesses moved their offices to their homes, prom was celebrated in people’s living rooms and graduation ceremonies were held on Zoom. Basically, the lockdown is a time off from work while enjoying online learning, art, music and books.
Online Learning Projecting Us To New Possibilities
COVID-19 has changed education forever. It has resulted in schools shutting down and leaving, globally, over 1.2 billion children out of the classrooms. With the rise of e-learning, teaching has now been moved to digital platforms. World Economic Forum’s research suggests that online learning is taking less time and has been shown to increase retention of information. You know what this means? The changes might be here to stay! There has been a significant urge of usage in technology. Whether it is through language apps, virtual tutoring, zoom meetings or online learning software, the overall market for online education projected to reach 350 billion dollars by 2025.
Don’t worry adults can have a little taste of online learning too! Nearly 500 free online courses were offered by Ivy League Universities online. Harvard, Princeton along with others wanted people to have a taste of their curriculum from your own home. Have you ever wondered what it was like to take a course from Yale? Now you can easily find out and brag about it in front of your friends!
Art And Culture Revisited
The arts help people to cope in dark times. The pandemic prevents people from experiencing the art and culture in physical spaces. Art lovers were disappointed to see museums around the world shutting down because of COVID-19. But, great contributions are coming along the way. For example, American children’s book illustrator and artist Carson Ellis started a quarantine art club on Instagram with daily assignments for people stuck at home.
It appears that quarantine has created one positive side-effect: a free visit to the most famous art galleries and museums from home. Google Arts & Culture, a digital platform that connects users to art, has over 1200 museums and galleries online. You can virtually travel to “The British Museum” in London then jump to the “National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art” in Seoul, South Korea with a few clicks. Who needs to wait in line for hours and pay for a ticket, when you can access your favorite museum from your couch!
Several artists are painting or exploring with colors at home and posting the final results online. Art dealer Kamel Mennour states “Today, we have found ourselves in a world where we can connect and move forward digitally. This period will redesign the way the art world works.” Audiences are now getting more comfortable with consuming culture online. He continues to say “We see room for both the physical and the virtual.”
Listen To Music From The Comfort Of Your Couch
Were you planning on attending a concert this summer? Were you excited to watch your favorite artist live? The virus forced festivals to be cancelled and concert tours to be scheduled. The music industry has been hit hard. According to World Economic Forum, a six month shutdown is estimated to cost the industry more than 10 billion dollars in sponsorships.
The streaming platform Spotify is giving memberships to artist channels that allow early or exclusive access to content, virtual gatherings and paid-commenting features through mobile apps. This can also be applied to artists globally as Spotify gathers data from Facebook, Instagram or Google advertising campaign. This can allow better targeting and increase return on investement in marketing for artist teams.
Recording artists have used live streaming as a method to connect with fans on a daily basis. According to Forbes, From mid-to-late March, there was a reported 70% increase in Instagram Live video streaming in the United Stated, compared to February. Some artists have also released music videos which were filmed in their own home. But, looking ahead, the challenge can become the new normal, so how far these artists are willing to go?
E-Reading is Here!
Books are a great fit for quarantine. If you were planning on reading a book but did not have the time, now is your chance to change that! Since bookstores were forced to shut down, you can still manage to find your favorite stories online. Several bookshop owners are continuing their work from home. The American Booksellers Association said it has been aiding publishers to support independent stores by offering discounts, free shipping to customers.
According to SEMrush, books and literature is the category that has the highest increase in traffic. A 16% increase implies millions of new site visitors.
Also, several authors awarded their fans by transforming their written words on paper to audiobooks. For example, you can listen to Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne narrating Harry Potter audiobooks as part of the project: Harry Potter at Home. In addition, Apple turned boredom into fun by providing the iOS user access to e-books and audiobooks in their app for free!
Lockdown can be difficult for anyone. It is extremely important to maintain a positive attitude and keep yourself busy. Musicians, artists and authors are making sure that no man is left behind. Many studies have predicted the fate of online learning, art, music and books thanks to technological advancement. But, was COVID-19 a sample test to see how things will work out?
