Online Education during COVID19
COVID19 – the presently much dreaded word came into the world news somewhere around end of December 2019. At that time people worldwide least knew how this novel virus is going to change the lives of millions. But with passage of time the virus spread like wildfire. Though its origin was in Wuhan district in China, the virus spread far and wide – from the United States of America, Southern America, all parts of Europe, Australia to Asian countries including India. The first COVID case in India was reported around end of January 2020 but then from mid March the virus started to affect a sizeable number of the Indian population. Consequently, Indian Government promptly closed down all institutions and places where large congregation of people used to happen. The educational Institutes throughout the country were in shut down mode. A complete lock down of the country started from end of March 2020. It soon became apparent that opening up of educational institutes will be very difficult and hence new modes of learning especially the online methods need to be adopted. Slowly digital platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams etc. became popular through which the teacher student interactions happened online. But the biggest challenge was to make the internet facility available to the students so that they can access the online classes. In cases where the students could not access the internet and participate in these online classes, the recordings of the classes were being played out so that those students can listen and learn.
All higher Educational Institutes started to invent new mechanisms in order to continue the teaching learning process. The evolution of the online classes started and soon the teachers and the students became familiar and got accustomed to using the online platforms. Many of these platforms like Google classrooms are free for all but they do have limitations. Consequently, many of the Higher Educational Institutes opted for dedicated learning management systems through which the interactions of teacher – students became easier. Its been now almost six months that such online education started and looking at the current COVID19 situation in India it seems that this mode of education will continue for at least another six months or more. The major drawback of the online education is its limited outreach. As of date only those students who have the luxury of accessing the internet get majorly benefitted. Not only that, the hardware requirement such as smart phones, tablets or laptops and computers are costly and may not be affordable for a particular section of the Indian population. To overcome this, the Indian Government decided to distribute the hardware wherever it is possible. Another issue with the online education system is that long continuous classes are harmful for the overall health of the students. After every class there needs to be some time gaps so that the students can relax their strained eyes caused by looking into the digital screens of the hardware used by them. Also, any physical activity which may be essential for the students cannot be done online. The practical laboratory classes and the enriching experience from those classes cannot be imparted online. The evaluation process normally used for students by conducting proctored examination suffered. In online mode the pattern of questions being asked in the examination and their evaluation method changed drastically. The multi choice questions became more popular during the evaluation process. The students are being asked to carry out assignments staying at home and then uploading those assignments in the digital platforms. The mobile scanning apps became popular as they are being widely used by students to scan their assignments and other required documents for the uploading process.
The teachers invented new methodology and technique to teach the students. To tackle time management issues the Government Educational bodies slashed down the academic syllabus by almost 30%. Topics which were not very important were deleted and the essential basic fundamentals have been included in the revised syllabus. This eased a lot of pressure from the students as well as the teachers. Gradually the online education is becoming more acceptable for a larger section of the population. Also online resources involving recorded lectures as well as experiments are getting generated. In this difficult time, the online education establishes that irrespective of the nature of any challenge however mighty it may be, life and education will continue.
The human urge to know cannot get defeated in the presence of the COVID19 pandemic. The students cannot be deprived of their knowledge during this difficult times and ultimately all of us will emerge as winners against this battle, however long it may be
This Blog was posted by PROFESSOR SUDARSHAN GHOSH/ DEPT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING / IIT DELHI