Misguided cheering erupted from classrooms a few years ago when school was dismissed at the onset of the pandemic for a two-week break from in-person classes.

Little did anyone imagine how much the situation would escalate, how we wouldn’t return to school that year, how we wouldn’t be able to see anyone’s faces for almost two years, and how our education system would never be the same.

It’s generally understood that technology plays a vital role during virtual classes, and after assisting in education during the pandemic, it still continues to provide a crucial role for classes.

Schools quickly adopted technology such as Learning Management Systems, with Spring-Ford being no exception with its adoption of Canvas. The program proved successful, and, even when schools reopened normally, it was used because of the organized way resources could be used by teachers.

Because of Canvas and other Edtech tools, schools do not have to take days off due to weather issues because now teaching could be conducted online.

Pre-COVID, many parents would anxiously await a call from the school informing them about two hour delays or days off of school because of weather-related incidents. Many times, schools would wait until the last minute before they start to inform families, creating quite the hassle, especially for working parents. Now that schools have access to tools like Canvas, they can announce a virtual day earlier so that students and parents do not have to await news in the morning because schools do not want to have to cancel days.

In order for students to be able to log online on a virtual day, they must have the technology to do so. One of the biggest differences in schooling since COVID ended is the distribution of laptops and other technological devices.

Before the pandemic, schools had laptops and other types of technology that could be accessed when necessary in classrooms, however, now nearly 90 percent of schools are using a 1:1 technology-to-student model in middle and high school. This is a huge shift from the 65 percent of schools that had this ratio pre-pandemic.

Many parents and students found benefits for themselves in a virtual environment with some students being able to learn better, allowing schools to now provide a cyber option for education, where teachers will post assignments and students can still learn while not physically being in school.

Overall, these changes from COVID improved education, so even though it was hard to adapt to in the beginning, students will benefit greatly from them in the future.