Education in the time of covid-19 : how institutions and students are coping
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Education in the time of Covid-19: How institutions and students are coping
By Sarah Farooqui | New Delhi | Last Updated at May 01 2020 18:07 IST
Topics Coronavirus | e-learning | Lockdown
Online education is conducted in two ways — either through recorded classes or via live online classes conducted as webinars
Covid-19 has forced universities across India, and the world indeed, to suspend physical classrooms and shift to online classes. In India, while this transition has been smooth for most private universities, the public ones are still adapting. There have also been debates on the nature of classes, and the future of examination and evaluation — whether they could be conducted online or not.
While faculty grapples with new ways of managing this sudden transition to online education, students are left clinging on to their mobile phones and computer screens. If the lockdowns were to continue for some time, how would higher education be affected? What are some of the deeper issues that require introspection? And what does this mean for the students going forward?
soon as the Covid-19 crisis broke out in India, the larger universities like Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) announced the suspension of classes until March 31. While others waited to see what would happen next, they started exploring online classes.
Private ones like Ashoka University shifted to the online mode by mid-March and remained largely unaffected by the nationwide lockdown enforced on March 24. “Our faculty members are giving lectures online (on Google Meet, Zoom, etc). So, the academic activities are much less affected,” says L S Shashidhar, professor and dean of research at Ashoka University.
The IITs also shifted to conducting online classes, and sharing study materials and audio files with students over the internet. Timothy Gonsalves, director of IIT Mandi, says: “The faculty members are available online during interactive sessions for students to clear their doubts. Depending on the nature of the course and students’ internet access, teachers are supplementing Moodle (an open-source learning-management system) with assorted social media and online platforms.”
The universities and teachers Business Standard reached out to agreed that their transition to online teaching had not been very difficult. However, if the lockdown continued over a longer period, some investment in infrastructure and additional training for teachers and students would be required, they said.
Transition to digital
Online education is conducted in two ways. The first is through the use of recorded classes, which, when opened out to public, are referred to as Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs). The second one is via live online classes conducted as webinars, or zoom sessions. Universities require high-speed internet and education delivery platforms or learning management systems, besides stable IT infrastructure and faculty members who are comfortable teaching online. Students also need high-speed internet and computers/mobiles to attend these sessions or watch pre-recorded classes.
There are many platforms created to enable online education in India. These are supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), and the department of technical education. There also are initiatives like e-PG Pathshala (e-content), SWAYAM (online courses for teachers), and NEAT (enhancing employability). Other online platforms aim to increase connectivity with institutions, and accessibility to content. These are utilised for course materials and classes, and running of online modules. They include the National Project on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), National Knowledge Network, (NKN), and National Academic Depository (NAD), among others.
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