2022 E-Insights Report
Education
One area of the economy that has seen significant upheaval due to the pandemic is the education sector. The pandemic forced millions of students out of school and into online classes. The sudden shift from in-class education to online education has put millions of students, especially those belonging to underprivileged sections of society at a disadvantage as a result of their budgets. Many lack the digital infrastructure to access online classes 鈥� some don鈥檛 have reliable Internet access or families do not have the equipment allowing more than one student to be online at a time. Many rely on free school lunch programs for nutritious meals. Also, such students lose much-needed attention and care from their teachers.
In this section, researchers assess how the pandemic has affected the education sector of our economy, especially the higher education domain, which plays crucial role in developing the talent resource in the economy. They analyzed the performance of the Tampa Bay MSA in terms of multiple education-related indicators such as graduation rates, degree production per 10,000 residents, etc. They also analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the academic performance of the students from the Tampa Bay area. Researchers also analyzed the racial gap along the lines of educational attainment. They studied the racial gap in terms of availability of digital infrastructure, which turned out to be crucial for continued learning during the pandemic.
Researchers used Google Trends indicators to assess how the students in the regions are using the internet for academic help. They looked for search trends for the related indicators such as 鈥淓nglish help,鈥� 鈥渙nline tutor,鈥� 鈥渕ath homework help online,鈥� 鈥渉omework help website,鈥� and 鈥渆xam help.鈥� As students were confined to their homes during the pandemic, they had to reply on online tools for academic help and skill improvement. To track the search activity related to the skill improvement searches, researchers chose the search terms 鈥渙nline degree programs,鈥� 鈥淯demy,鈥� 鈥渙nline courses,鈥� 鈥渙nline education,鈥� and 鈥渙nline MBA.鈥�