Online Classes: A New Beginning Due to Continuous Spread of Covid-19 – How Students See them?

 Sudhir Kumar Upadhyay¹, Prashant Shukla^2*

¹Dainik Bhaskar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India.

²Department of Biotechnology, Brainware University, WB, India.

Abstract:

The Covid-19 pandemic which currently is in the third calendar year started in late 2019 and by early 2020 spread all over the world. By the end of April 2020 most of the countries have closed the schools and universities following severe lockdowns. Schools and Universities took on themselves to continue imparting the education to save one year of the student’s educational life. This was done through using various online platforms. The impact of imparting education through digital platforms have been the focus of this article. The data was collected from students from schools to university doctoral level scholars about their views on online classes. The promising outcome has been that students though have faced difficulties on various fronts on using online classes, from connectivity problem to data speed have accepted the digital platforms as a mode of teaching and learning.

 Keywords: Online classes, Covid-19 impact, digital platforms, education, lockdown, students

 Introduction:

The pandemic caused due to virus found in Wuhan, China spread all over the world in few months. The fast spread and no cure caused every national government to take strict measures to control the spread of the pandemic. One of the measures the governments took was to close the schools, colleges, and universities. As per Kapasia et al. (2020) around 600 million school going learners were affected by the lockdown. In India, the figure stood at 320 million school going students of which around 34 million belonged to tertiary level (Kapasia et al., 2020). Covid-19 has affected all levels of education system (Nicola et al., 2020).

The large-scale disruption of economic and social activities due to Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented but world has seen the disruption of classes before. Large scale studies already have been conducted on the impact of school closures on students’ learning and found a measurable loss in the acquisition of basic skills, particularly for the most disadvantaged children (Quinn et al., 2016; Cattaneo et al., 2017). Similar impact of learning capacities of students in long term is expected due to long term school closures especially in children of social disadvantaged groups.

Government of India along with the state governments had initiated series of nation-wide lockdowns starting from March 25, 2020. This was followed by the series of unlock periods where the country and its activities were open slowly in phase wise manner. Still the schools and colleges are mostly closed and wherever the state governments have allowed the schools of be opened there has been spate of covid-19 infection among students and then the schools have been closed. Similar things have also been reported with colleges around the country.

The schools and universities have been opened after the lockdown period, but governments have not allowed students to take face to face classes. The schools and universities have been working in online mode and education is being imparted to students of all age groups through digital means. There have been reports in various newspapers, of students and teachers getting infected with Covid-19 after the opening of schools and colleges after the lockdown which were promptly closed. There has been anxiety and stress among students of all grades about the future course of action about the classes.

It has been thought that traditional teacher student interaction in classrooms will never become endangered means of imparting education but the after- math of COVID-19 crisis, online education has caused a pedagogical shift from traditional method to the modern approach of teaching-learning from classroom to Zoom, from personal to virtual and from seminars to webinars (Mishra et al., 2020). Earlier, e-learning, distance education and correspondence courses were popularly considered as the part of non-formal education, which were utilized by those students who did not had time for traditional education but as of now, it seems that it will gradually replace the formal education system if the circumstances continue over the time.

The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns which followed to contain it, have affected the mental health of people. It has left people suffering from stress and anxiety (Cao et al., 2020; Islam et al., 2020). Students are also under stress and it has been found that psychological issues often keep students back from adapting to online education. Not all students have equal access to, and expertise on, technologies offering digital platforms for online learning. Covid-19 has exposed this digital divide as never before (Jæger & Blaabæk, 2020). The situation is similar all around the world as parents, students and teachers had to rapidly react to new teaching and learning scenarios without prior planning or even government guidelines (Bonal and Gonzalez).

The present study was conducted to understand how the students are viewing the online education system in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. It tries to bring forward the different issues which the students feel about digital platforms being used to impart education. The digital platforms being used by different schools to impart education are being used without many discussions with the stakeholders neither the students nor teachers. It has been taken for granted that students will be able to learn through online classes as easily as they used to do in classroom settings without any change in behaviour of students. Likewise, it has been assumed that teachers are technology friendly and will be able to take classes and students will be able to understand what is being taught without imparting sufficient training to the teachers. This lack of preparation have resulted in some issues which are faced by the students in general and this article is trying to bring them to fore.

 Methodology

The respondents were given questionnaire in the form of a Google form. The schools and colleges were contacted for the study and permission was taken along with the phone numbers of the students from the institutes. The students were informed about the survey and the forms were sent to the individual phone numbers of the students which were used by the schools/colleges for conducting online classes.

 Population and sample

The students from different schools and colleges in Raipur city were selected as the target population for the study. The sample was selected based on age of the students. The respondents below the age of 14 years were not considered for the study. The students of age of 14 years up to the PhD scholars formed the core target group for the study.

A survey of 540 students including high school students to postgraduate students was conducted using Google form. The students were given questionnaire which included their views on suitability of online classes, regarding their views on Online Classes, whether they faced any discomfort during classes etc. The results were compiled and analysed.

Results

The results have been tabulated in the table no. 1. The maximum respondents answered for their age and minimum number of respondents were for change in daily routine due to online classes the respondents have been taking.

Of 545 respondents of the survey 58.9% were of English medium while 41.1% belonged to Hindi medium. Of the respondents (540) 54.8% were from high school and higher secondary classes. 37.6% were from graduate classes while rest were postgraduate and PhD students. Of 542 respondents 55.9% were of age group 14-18 years of age while 36.3% belonged to 19-22 years of age. Rest of the students were up to 30 years of age. Of 538 respondents who replied to the question about change in daily routine due to online classes 76.2% said yes while rest said no. Only 24.3% liked online classes while 75.7% did not like the online mode of education (539 respondents).

Most of the students surveyed have accepted that the digital media has found new recognition in education system. Even though less than majority said that online platforms can become an alternative to classroom studies their number is higher than naysayers as nearly one-third have no opening on this. The start of online classes has also resulted in change in routines in more than 3/4^th of the respondents.

Majority of the respondents have reported either physical or mental uneasiness or both during online classes. Very few respondents (12%) found the classes boring while majority of them complained that they were unable to understand many things taught. While smallest minority of the group said that they were not able to ask questions.

 Discussion

The aim of the study was to understand how the students are viewing the online classes taking place due to forced lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. The use of digital platform in seeking the views of the respondents have made our work easier. The respondents of all the age groups surveyed have overwhelmingly supported the use of digital platforms in imparting education in this time of Covid-19 pandemic.

Bonal and Gonzalez in their study have found that number of learning opportunities were less in social disadvantaged groups than others in terms of time and learning experience. In such a context the rise and spread of Covid-19 has extended the divide among the social groups significantly and its implications in education system will be felt in coming years also. This problem associated with Western countries may not be show its affect in India as the cost of smart phones and data is less compared to other countries which has helped the children of social disadvantaged groups to participate in the new teaching and learning platforms. They have found it difficult to manage but have been able to continue their studies due to cheap data rates (Kapasia et al., 2020). Li (2022) have described the effect of online classes on students and most of them were of the belief that post-pandemic era had made suitable ground for mixed classes with offline face-to-face classes being combined with online classes.

The respondents were of mixed opinion when it came to choosing online education and classroom teaching. Only 32% of the students said that online platforms were not better than classroom teachings but respondents giving positive reply to the question were also just 37% as around 30% had not made up their minds on the digital media learning platforms. The reasons to such a mindset are many, technologies are new to many respondents as some of them belong to far off places while some have invested in these technologies only because of the pressure from educational institutes as they were out of their budget. The lack of penetration of service providers and speed of data has been found lacking in many places and because of this reason also the respondents are not comfortable of such technologies. The equipment used has its own problem and teachers who are taking classes were also not familiar with the technologies. All these have added to the distrust of respondents for the technology driven education, but it is hoped that as the stakeholders will get familiar with the technologies the distrust will be removed and it will be a better platform for teaching. On similar note even though the respondents did not find online education as better than classroom teaching nearly 3/4^th of them has agreed that the digital media has found new recognition in education system. This is a positive feedback from the respondents as only 7.7% of the respondents have said that this is not a recognition of digital media.

Through this study it was found that respondents suffered either physical and/or mental uneasiness during the online classes. Initial newness of the platform could be cited as a reason for feeling of uneasiness during the online classes but in case of physical discomfort many respondents have complained about headaches during the online classes. Continuous focusing on the monitor for long time is one of the causes of headaches (personal correspondence).

Respondents have also complained about not being able to understand what is being taught in the online classes. Around 60% of them have said that some time or the other they have faced this problem during the online classes. This can be attributed to the teachers not comfortable with technologies along with unreliable data speed. These two reasons have contributed more to the problem of students not being able to understand as these are the same teachers which were teaching the students a year back and never faced such problems in classroom mode of education. With connectivity problems students are not able to hear what the teacher is saying which also has caused increase in this problem. Some respondents have said that they have been not able to ask questions, and this again can be attributed to connectivity problem along with shyness on speaking on mike. Some of them have found the online teaching as boring. The reason of such an answer could be the students who are more outgoing and when they are forced to take classes from their homes, they find it boring as they are not able to meet their friends. The reason could be what have been reported by Rehman et al. (2020), as students engage and interact with each other physically in a social setting. During lockdown, with the closure of universities and colleges, such physical and social interaction has been restricted causing stress. For learning, students and researchers have to utilise online platforms that they may not be used to or competent with. In addition, online learning may be disruptive due to technological issues and thereby, jeopardizing their future careers. The lack of peer support at homes can also be the reason some of the students are not able to ask questions. This reason coupled with problems associated with connectivity can cause a negative mind-set in the minds of student regarding online classes. Students seek two-way interaction and in online teaching this factor has been found lacking and therefore some are finding it boring (Dhawan, 2020). The lack of two-way interaction can also be the reason for some students not being able to ask the questions. They may feel shy on camera or may not be able to muster enough courage to ask questions which they would have in presence of their peers in classroom settings. Sarkar et al. (2021) came to the conclusion that students were uncomfortable using online classes as it lacked friendly interactions with fellow classmates as well as difficulty in understanding the topics being explained. In the study conducted by Grover et al., (2021) on the reception of online classes by the student communities, they found that the students did not like the online classes due to the reason of lack of social interactions. Sarkar et al., (2022) also found that urban students were coping up better while taking online classes than the students of rural backgrounds.

Daily routine of almost 3/4^th respondents have changed due to online classes. They do not have to get ready and head for the schools/colleges to attend the classes which has increased the time they sleep. This disruption in routine has also let to late sleep time which cause more problems in adolescents. The disruption of routine also causes changes in eating patterns which can also lead to difficulties during the growing age. The effect of change in routine causes development problems in adolescents have been reported by Jain Gupta and Khare (2020).

Overall, the students are happy with the fact that they can continue with their classes. The important factor of not wasting a year has made every stakeholder happy with the use of technology. The cheap data rates have helped students of socially disadvantaged groups to continue their education online. Availability of low-end smartphones have also helped in enabling the social disadvantaged groups in continuing their education without putting too much burden on their guardians.

The study has highlighted the fact that online classes and use of digital technologies have become a serious contender for future classroom environment. The connectivity to distant places is an issue which must be resolved if we want digital platforms to become hugely significant in teaching and learning landscapes. Training of teachers in imparting online classes should also be made part of teacher training programmes as it will make teachers confident in using digital platforms and will benefit the students. Teachers must find ways to keep students engaged in their online classes like they used to do in classroom settings.

The highlight of the current study has been that students have given their support to the online learning. The technology penetration itself is new therefore the initial reluctance will wear off and the online platforms will be accepted as classroom teachings. With the reaming issues resolved online platforms can become a norm, at least for the subjects which do not require elaborate laboratory setups.

Table No. 1. Answers of the questionnaire given to the respondents.

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