I like to look at what we are experiencing now as a moment of learning. I believe that’s our goal as professionals. 

Darwin taught us long ago that the most adaptable is the one that survives. Great time to remember that, isn’t it?

But what about the education market, so traditional, resistant to change, and always skeptical about distance learning?

In my career in Education, here at Rock Content, I’ve seen distance learning discussed extensively in numerous events, webinars, email exchanges, or casual meetings.

Now, it is no longer a great concept but a necessity. The institution that has not yet included this form of education, will have to, whether it wants to or not.

We’ve all been online for a while. The difference is that, due to the Corona crisis, distance learning is our only option to learn or teach, at least for now — so I hope. Especially if you choose the appropriate form of distance learning.

The transition to distance learning

I honestly believe that you, a professional in the field of Education, have some projects in-store or some material from the last event you attended with suggestions of technologies, consultants, and companies specializing in distance education. 

Look for help to avoid mistakes.

It’s time to act quickly. Even your competitor can be a good option at this time. 

Anyway, search with agility, don’t be left behind.

Adjusting to a virtual environment can feel clumsy at first. There’s often that weird silence before anyone says something at the start of a video call—people still shuffling papers, staring off screen, or checking if they’re on mute. Most of us weren’t prepped for this level of improvisation. But after a month or two, you start to see routines build up. Teachers swap lecture slides for shared screens, group chats fill with inside jokes, and, all in all, there’s this sense that the rules are being rewritten in real time, whether you’re ready or not.

It’s funny—nobody really asked for this digital upheaval, but here we are, forced to find new footing on the fly. Those little anxieties about “doing it wrong” eventually get drowned out by the sheer volume of screens and logins and, let’s be honest, the urgency to keep things moving anyway. Sometimes, you catch a glimpse of creativity that probably wouldn’t have shown up in a traditional classroom: students sending memes as study aids, teachers finding ways to gauge engagement by odd signals, like how fast responses pop up in a chat. You end up relying on new signals—emoji reactions and awkward silences speak as loudly now as raised hands ever did. It’s a whole ecosystem you just couldn’t have mapped out back when we thought remote meant lazy or somehow less real.

Of course, not everything gets transferred perfectly from one world to the other. There’s a certain texture you lose when faces and voices are flattened through a webcam. But some people, honestly, come out of their shells in surprising ways. Behind the safety of a keyboard, the quieter students sometimes step forward, and collaborations pop up between folks who barely nodded to each other in the hallway before. It’s a little bittersweet, seeing old barriers collapse just as new ones—technical hiccups, access issues—take their place. Still, that sense of progress, even if it’s patchy and unpredictable, is something to hold onto right now.

It’s not just about new software or clever apps. There’s a big cultural shift running underneath. Suddenly, the tech-savvy kid in the back of the room is the go-to help desk, and traditional hierarchies flatten a bit because nobody’s really an “expert” at all of this. If anything, there’s a silent camaraderie in everyone fumbling together—sharing screenshots of technical mishaps, commiserating when someone’s Wi-Fi acts up again, and, gradually, figuring out how to bring the heart of education through a screen. It’s messier than any how-to guide promised, but there’s something unexpectedly human about that.

Students in a classroom course don’t see benefits in distance learning, so what now?

My younger brother is studying to be a doctor and has interrupted his routine for a few weeks, but now he is back to his studies. It’s very nice to hear him spontaneously say that he’s started to understand distance education better.

After starting his own experience with distance learning, he understood my dynamism when I was in our parents’ home office before the Coronavirus pandemic, meeting with clients, colleagues.

The unknown is always something that slightly frightens us. Simultaneously, it can surprise us and generate a lot of value in delivering a new possibility of solving problems, teaching, and learning.

Use and abuse the novelty; it also always draws attention and generates curiosity. It can be an incredible opportunity to surprise others by delivering a technological and enriching experience for both the teacher and the student. 

Learn from them and actively listen to them. Be present, communicate in excess — these are actually some of Rock’s values.

Difficulties in distance learning

The problems will always be present. They simply appear in different forms. Therefore, keep focusing on your students and the institution’s mission. 

Education changes people, and we also need to transform ourselves to understand the new demands in the complicated scenario we live in.

Leave your communication channels more open and accessible than ever before. Create other channels as well. It’s not because we are far away that we can’t help or solve problems.

The best solutions come from good conversations. Classroom debates, whether physical or online, have never stopped being good practice. Education professionals already know how to adapt to each class, so do it optimally for the context.

To keep the faculty and students close to each other in distance learning, my first suggestion is not to get rid of the rituals that the parties already have, but to migrate them to video conferences.

Distance is a challenge. 

Therefore, I recommend that you increase the frequency of such meetings and encourage communication between teachers and coordinators in a virtual way beyond the already existing rituals.

The impact on the communication market

This is not the first crisis we’ve experienced, and it certainly won’t be the last. The first week of April was critical: many deadlines for bills were exceeded.

However, expectations were of a return 50% lower than the same period last year, and the drop I saw, in conversations with professionals in the area, was around 10%.

The changes also need to be thought about for the second semester. In Brazil, there are already talks about postponing university admission tests.

There is a lot of creativity in the segment, and it should continue, but always keeping in mind that we are online, and there won’t be many face-to-face options anytime soon.

I would like to believe that every institution already understands this, but there are still basic issues that we need to address.

It’s vital to promote your online lead generation because, more than ever, it can be your main asset. Get organized, understand your opportunities, optimize your website — there is no other option. These actions can be decisive for your near future.

Applications, solutions in the cloud: there is a world of possibilities in digital transformation. 

I’m sure that in the long run, if you devote yourself to learning once and for all what it means to improve your institution’s student experience, you’ll never turn your back on what’s new.

If you want to talk more about it or need any help on the subject, feel free to reach out!

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