Educational institutions in India are currently based on traditional methods of learning (face to face lectures in a classroom). Although many academic units have also started blended learning i.e. use of many audio-visual aids in learning, still a lot of them are stuck with bold procedures. The sudden outbreak of a deadly disease called COVID19 caused by a Corona Virus shook the entire world and the WHO (World Health Organization) has declared it as a pandemic. This situation challenged the education systems to across the world and forced all educators and educational systems to shift to an online mode of teaching overnight to find solutions to the problems caused by lockdown over millions of students all over the world. Many academic institutions, educators and teaching community that were earlier reluctant to change their traditional approach had no option but to shift entirely to online modes of learning. The deadly infectious disease known as COVID19 has deeply affected the global economy. The COVID19 outbreak forced many schools and colleges to remain closed for the last two years and it is uncertain to get back to normal teaching anytime soon. As social distancing is very important at this stage, this will have negative effects on learning opportunities. These circumstances make us realize that scenario planning is an urgent need of the hour for academic institutions. This is a situation that demands humanity and unity. There is an urgent need to protect and save our students, faculty, academic staff, communities, societies and the nation as a whole.
The term “ONLINE EDUCATION”, is one of the most widely used terms after the COVID19 Pandemic. It is that type of education that take place over the internet in virtual mode using various online learning tools. The COVID19 pandemic has triggered new ways of teaching-learning because it has disturbed the traditional mode of learning. All around the world, educational institutions are looking towards online learning platforms to continue with the process of educating students. Online learning is now applicable not just to learn academics but it extends to learning extracurricular activities for students as well. During the years of 2020 and 2021, the demand for online education has risen significantly due to the situations created by COVID19 pandemic and it will continue doing so in near future also.
Despite of its importance in imparting education to our students during COVID19 pandemic, online Teaching also has its own set of positives and negatives. Understanding and decoding these positives and negatives will help all institutions in creating strategies for more efficiently delivering the lessons and ensuring an uninterrupted learning for students during this lockdown and also in future.
Various advantages and disadvantages of online education which have been emerged in the recent years are discussed one by one as follows:
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE EDUCATION:
Despite having various disadvantages (negatives), online education has numerous advantages also which are explained below:
- AFFORDABILITY: Online education if persued on regular basis and all over the country both in rural and urban areas will reduce financial costs as online education is far more affordable as compared to physical and traditional classroom learning. Thus is because online learning eliminates the cost point of students’ transportation and meals and most importantly saves times of travelling to distant places during their studies. Another importance of online education is that all the courses and study materials are available online, thus creating a paperless learning environment which is more affordable and also more beneficial for the environment.
For example the Bengaluru based Indian Multinational Educational Technology Company, BYJU’S is offering online education to student community worldwide from India’s best Teachers on affordable and reasonable rates and provides all the learning materials free of cost which allows students all over the world to access the learning materials at a time of their own comfort. Thus online education offers students the accessibility of time and place in education as it allows students to attend classes from any other locations of their own choice. It also allows schools to reach out to a more extensive network of students, instead of being restricted by geographical boundaries. Additionally, online lectures can be recorded, archived and shared for future references. This allows students to access the video lectures and study materials at a time of their comfort.
- EFFICIENCY: Online learning offers teachers an efficient way to deliver lessons to their students. Using various learning tools such as interactive videos, PDFs, podcasts, a teacher can prepare and plan a lesson for students more effectively and efficiently beyond traditional textbooks. Using online teaching tools teachers are able to become more efficient educators. Online learning will equip our students with ability to use modern learning techniques such as joining online classes virtually, taking part in various online examinations and quiz competitions.
But all these facilities are still a distant dream in the eyes of innocent and poor students of rural India where lakhs of students in rural areas have been destroying their future since 2020 without any such kind of modern technological learning facilities.
- IMPROVED STUDENT ATTENDANCE: Online education has gained popularity in cities and areas where internet facility is available and students are getting benefits of these facilities very easily from the comforts of their homes and due to which improvement in student attendance is seen in internet connected areas as online classes can be taken from any place of their choice and there are fewer or no chance of students missing out their lessons. Moreover, it is seen that students are taking more interest in online classes than in traditional classes. So, the increase in attendance is more likely to happen.
- SUITS A VARIETY OF LEARNING STYLES: Every student has a different learning style and a different learning journey. Some students are visual learners while some students prefer to learn through audios. Similarly some students are active in classrooms and other students are solo learners. They get distracted and disturbed in classrooms due to large groups of students and noise created in classrooms. Some students are shy in nature and they prefer to read and learn in solitude. For such students, online education proved to be more effective than other learning platforms. Online learning systems with its range of options and resources can be personalized in many ways. It is the best way to create a perfect learning environment suited to the needs of each and every student.
- IT COSTS LESS: It is not secret that online classes cost less as compared to real in person classes. Believe it or not schools and colleges cost a lot of money. In schools and colleges, we have to pay a lot for classes, practical, dorm rooms, cafeteria meals, activity fee etc. Due to all these, the education becomes more expensive for which students and their parents have to take out loans. It is seen that many students are compelled to leave the school and colleges without completing their education.
- IMPROVE SELF-DISCIPLINE: Succeeding in online classes requires self-discipline. We do not have a teacher to guide ourselves while doing an assignment. We actually have to login and participate in the discussions to get participation credit. Being lazy or undisciplined will cause us to quickly fall behind. By taking online classes, we develop stronger self-discipline, which often translates to other areas of our life such as fitness, work ethic and even relationships.
- LOCATION: If a student wants to study in a reputed institution in other foreign country, his study can be really challenging for the student. But with online education, location does not matter. If one lives in India and want to take class in America, he can! All one need is a laptop or a computer or a tablet or simply an android mobile phone and an internet connection. This location independence is a massive often underrated benefit of online education.
- COMFORT OF HOME: There is absolutely no dress code with online classes. If one wants to do his/her work in night suit or track suit or any other dress of his/her choices, he/she can. If one wants to lie on his/her bed while watching a lecture, he/she can. If one wants to listen classical music while chatting with his/her class mates on the forum, he/she can do that too.
Some other advantages of online classes are: online classes are easily transferable in case of credits, in online education there is a huge variety of options and it is always easier to focus in classes while attending an online class.
In online education, one can keep his/her job while persuing education. Through online education, one can improve his/her technical skills. A recent survey found that most important skills that employees are lacking are computer and technical skills due to which teachers in remote areas are still unable to operate even a simple computer. If online education is the urgent need/demand of the current scenario, then first step should be taken to make all the teachers in government schools particularly in rural areas technologically literate. Due to lack in computer and other allied skills in rural school teachers, online education is still a distant dream in the eyes of poor rural students whose careers are still in grave danger for the past two years due to COVID19 pandemic and lockdown.
DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE EDUCATION:
Various disadvantages of online education are discussed below:
- TEACHER TRAINING: Most of the teachers in rural areas and villages are technologically not sound in delivering and using digital teaching aids for online classes. Online learning requires teachers’ training to have basic understanding of using digital forms of learning. And due to lack of proper training the teachers in rural areas are unable and hesitate to deliver lessons online. Another problem of online class is that teachers in rural areas do not even have necessary resources and tools to conduct online classes. In most of the villages internet facility, telecommunication and electricity supply which are the basic needs of online classes are still not available.
To combat these challenges, it is important for government and school education department to invest in training teacher with latest technological updates and other necessary requirements so that they can conduct their online classes seamlessly for the benefit of student community.
- SENSE OF ISOLATION: Students can learn a lot from being in the company of their peers. However, in an online class, there are minimal physical interactions between students and their teachers. This often results in a sense of isolation for the students. In this situation, it is imperative that the school should allow for other forms of communication among the students, peers, and teachers. This can include online message,, emails and video conferencing that will allow for the face to face interaction and reduce the sense of isolation.
- TECHNOLOGY ISSUES: Another key challenge of online education is internet connectivity. While internet penetration has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years. In small cities and most villages, inconsistent and indecent internet connection with slow speed is a time consuming which creates big problem while studying. Without a consistent internet connection, there can be a lack of continuity in learning for the students which results in dull and boring teaching -learning process. This is detrimental to the education process.
- INABILITY TO FOCUS ON SCREEN: For many students, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle with focusing on the screen for long periods of time. With online learning there is a greater chance for students to be easily distracted by social media or other sites. Therefore, it is imperative for the teachers to keep their online classes crisp, engaging and interactive to help students stay focused on the lesson.
- MANAGE SCREEN TIME: Many parents are concerned about the health hazards of having their children spend so many hours staring at the screen. This increase in screen time is one of the biggest concerns and disadvantages of online learning. Due to increase in screen time, students develop bad postures and many other physical problems arise due to staying hunched in front of a screen. Due to this increase in screen time students can develop digital eye strain and many other common signs of eye strain like headaches, blurred vision, and neck and shoulder pains. All these strains are due to the blue light emitted by mobile phones and many other digital devices. These days, students and teachers are taking more time on mobile and computer screens which may cause dry eye and irritation, painful throbbing headaches and pain around eye region.
- FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS: With an increase need of online classes during recent COVID19 pandemic situation, students are forced to learn online using computers, laptops, tablets or mobiles which in turn bring attention of the parents towards the use of these expensive electronic gadgets for learning purposes. Students are demanding mobile phones and other expensive devices from their parents for the purpose of online learning which results in the financial constraints of poor parents. They have to manage all these at any cost for their wards. Many students across India continue to remain cut off from online classes due to financial crisis faced by their parents during COVID19 pandemic. Students are forced to leave their schools and colleges to take up temporary jobs at various places to support their parents. Several students have to depend on their parents to get a smart phone to access the classes and assignment given by their teachers over videoconferencing and other online platforms. The increasing hours of live classes on daily basis have increased the expenses for recharging internet packs which is another worry for the students and their parents.
If this pandemic situation continues, our government should, Education department and school management should focus on providing financial resources to poor students so that they could get access of online education. Government and school authorities should launch a digital initiative to help economically backward communities and needy students in providing mobile phones and other learning equipments including financial assistance for internet recharge.
Although technology has been proved to be an effective teaching-learning aid as it has facilitated teaching across borders but it cannot replace a real teacher. There are many reports that discuss the constraints of only using online classes due to which students are more busy on mobiles and other modern electronic gadgets and are distracted due to social media, as a result the use of online classes has been advocated. The COVID19, however, has forced teachers to rely solely on online classes due to which teachers especially in rural areas are facing many problems in delivering online lectures due to weak network and internet connectivity and lack of knowledge in handling digital teaching aids.
So, the advantages of online learning are numerous however, a quick look around the real world clearly demonstrates that most of the parents and students are still choosing traditional face to face classes rather than online classes because of multiple drawbacks of online classes in comparison to traditional classrooms education such as lack of accreditation and low quality of online courses, little or no face to face interaction between teacher and students, more work in online education with intense requirement of self direction and self discipline.
Despite of potential pitfalls, the vast majority of people mostly in cities are satisfied with their online education. They are happy with the online system of education which their wards are taking from the comforts of their homes during this pandemic situation. They are also satisfied with the quality of online education and other contents provided there on online platforms but he question here is how this can be achieved in rural areas as majority of students in rural areas are still dreaming for telecommunication and internet facilities. Citing the example of Govt. High School Sohal Padder and other adjoining schools where hundreds of students are deprived of online classes for the last two years. Here online class is still a big challenge for all the staff members and school administration. In these areas, students and teachers have to travel five to ten kilometers on foot to access the facility of internet. To participate in various online examinations and quiz competitions, students have to travel to network zones by themselves. Another problem students are facing in these areas is non availability of android mobile phones. Teachers have to manage and arrange mobiles for taking part in online educational competitions. Major challenge in rural areas is how to make all the students and their parents aware about the importance of online classes and other modern educational technologies as most of the parents are complaining about the harmful effects of online education. They are making complaints that due to the advent of online system of education, their wards are becoming more addicted to video games, they are becoming the victims of cyber bullying and their ways of talking and discipline have totally changed. They are waking in the nights and sleeping during the days. Their daily routines have completely changed. They are keeping themselves in complete isolation and not taking part in physical works. They are completely remaining in fantasy world of their own.
This advent of new era due to advancement in technologies and closure of educational institutions due to COVID19 pandemic, students are totally cut off from their teachers and schools. They are totally free from busy schedules of school curricula. They are not receiving any moral lessons from their teachers. Their daily routines have completely changed. Examinations and other tests are being conducted online and students are getting more marks as compared to real examinations. As a result, students are no more in need of their teachers. They are receiving their lessons from Youtube and other learning platforms like VEDANTU and BYJU’S . The grave concern which is creeping in our societies is that teachers are not being respected in schools and societies. Their importance is no more felt as education is being received in virtual modes due to which the most sacred relation between a teacher and student is in grave danger. We all should take serious note so that the real value of education and teachers could be felt at an earliest and saved in near future.
By TENZEN SAMBEL,
A School Teacher
Presently posted at Govt. High School Sohal Paddar.
