INTERNSHIP REPORT

On

ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID

By

SIVAPRASAD R

(19MBA156)

Under the guidance of

Dr. MARY CHERIAN Ph.D.

ASSITANT PROFESSOR

A PROJECT REPORT

Submitted

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of

the degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION KUMARAGURU
COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY.

(An autonomous institution affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)

Coimbatore - 641 049

AUGUST 2020
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This to certify that this internship report titled “ONLINE LEARNING DURING
COVID” is for course completion of Major Project is the Bonafide work of
SIVAPRASAD R (19MBA156), who carried out the project under my supervision.
Certified further, that to the best of my knowledge the work reported herein does not
form part of any other project report or Internship on the basis of which a degree or
award was conferred on an earlier occasion on this or any other candidate.

Faculty guide Head of the Department

Dr. Mary Cherian Dr. Mary Cherian

Assistant Professor-KCTBS.

Hard and Softcopy Submitted for the Project Viva-Voce examination held on 15.09.2020

Internal Examiner I
(Signature) (Signature)

1
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this internship report entitled as, “ONLINE LEARNING
DURING COVID” has been undertaken for academic purpose for the course
submitted to Anna University in partial fulfilment of requirement for the award
of degree of Master of Business Administration. The Internship report is the
record of the original work done by me under the guidance of Dr. Mary Cherian,
Assistant Professor, KCT-BS during the academic year 2020.

I, also declare hereby, that the information given in this report is correct to the
best of my Knowledge and behalf.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to our Late Arutchelvar. N.

Mahalingam and the Management of Kumaraguru College of Technology-
Business school, for their direction.

I recorded my indebtedness with happiness to our Head of the Department,

Dr.V.R.Nedunchezhian for the guidance and sustained encouragement for
the successful completion of this project.

I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Project Guide Dr.

Mary Cherian, Assistant Professor, KCT-Business School, for her
guidance and moral support throughout the project duration from its
inception to completion and for making the project a success.

I thank Sweta singh, for her valuable guidance and motivation, to complete
the internship successfully.

I also extend my gratitude to all the faculty members and my beloved

parents for their moral support in helping me for successful completion of
this project.

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Chapter CONTENTS
PAGE
NO
I INTRODUCTION

1.1 NEED FOR THE STUDY

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 POSITIVE IMPACT OF COVID

2.2 NEGATIVE IMPACT OF COVID

2.3 EVALUATION OF E RESOURCES

2.4 INTIATIVES OF GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON

EDUCATION DURING COVID
2.5 SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBINARS

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 FUTURE RESEARCH

Ⅳ FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

4.1 FINDINGS

4.2 SUGGESTION

4.3 CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHTY

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ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID

1 INTRODUCTION
Online learning and classes are increasingly becoming part of the education
system worldwide. Online channel has made education convenient and easily accessible by one
and all. Education sector in India has been an ever-growing entity. India has been one of the
largest sectors in the world when it comes to higher education. Though online and distance
courses have been there from a long time, introduction of the online mode of taking classes in
comparison to the traditional face to face classroom approach in universities and colleges have
been considered only in the last few years in India. When it comes to the Indian educational
system, face to face classroom approach has always been the most prominently used.
Familiarity and ease of using offline methods and lack of requirement for online channels of
teaching has been the major barriers for adoption of online channels of education. However, in
the wake of current COVID-19 pandemic situation conduction of online classes at college and
university level has been made mandatory by the educational boards. Covid-19 has brought out
a drastic change in the educational system not only in India but rather the entire world.
Universities across India as well as around the globe have moved to the virtual classes
suspending physical classrooms. Online education in India is at an early stage of development.
In India, while this transition has been a mixture of both positives and negatives for most
private universities, the government colleges and universities are still adapting. While
technology makes things accessible and easier, it can also be limiting, especially in India, where
many students face a challenge in terms of access to the internet. This in turn leads to issues
with attendance and participation in online sessions, thereby making the adaptation of online
channels of education a challenge.

Meanwhile, face-to-face classroom setting can provide immediate feedback to faculty

members and students about the quality of lesson, delivery, and experience. In a classroom
setup a teacher can observe student’s body language and these non-verbal cues helps the
teacher to immediately make adjustment in their teaching approach to best suit the needs of the

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students. Additional questioning and individualized attention in classroom environment to gain
a more detailed idea about the student’s clarity with concepts being taught is a major advantage
when compared to online channels. What might be easily perceived and approached in the
classroom requires a little more probing and alertness in an online class. Investigating and
analysing how online classes should be designed and arranged by taking into consideration the
students’ and teachers’ perspective should be an integral part of building online teaching
methodology as well as learning. Previous research studies have investigated student’s
perception and satisfaction toward online learning and face-to-face learning. Fortune,
Spielman, and Pangelinan (2011) investigated 156 students who took and enrolled in either an
online learning section or face-to-face learning of the Recreation and Tourism course at
multicultural university in Northern California, United States and found that no statistically
significant difference in learning preference was found between those enrolled in the two
different learning modes. Another study by Tratnik (2017) indicated significant differences in
student satisfaction levels when online classes were compared to face-to-face learning of
English as a foreign language. Students taking the face-to face course were found to be more
satisfied with the course compared to their online counterparts.

When it comes to the Indian educational setup, online classes are a newly introduced mode of
teaching and not something that has been a part of regular classes. Investigating and analyzing
how online classes are being perceived and experienced by students and faculties across
different colleges and universities in India will help educational experts to understand and make
modifications to suit the needs of both, teachers and students. Consequently, educational
institutions and management who would be the future deliverers of online learning need more
understanding of how students as well as teachers perceive and react to online classes as a
learning mode to apply these approaches most effectively. Another important thing noticed in
the review of previous studies was that when evaluating online mode of education, student’s
perspective has been given importance and taken into consideration over teacher’s perspective.
Teacher’s perspective is equally important because if they as provider of education are not
satisfied and find the online mode unsatisfactory then the educational base itself becomes
weaker. This new introduction of online classes has been equally challenging for teachers, who
are also struggling to learn this new way or methodology of teaching. Therefore, the
significance of this research lies on exploring the Teachers and students’ perception toward
online classes in comparison to face-to-face classes. The . Thus, the following article describes

6
the results of the survey which was done to understand how well this new method is being
taken by both teachers and students, what are the general problems faced by them while taking
online classes so as to help educational instructors and facilitators and college and university
managements to understand the modifications that can be brought to make online teaching
more effective so that in future it can be integrated along with classroom teaching. The
responses from this survey will help to improve or enhance online mode of classes in order to
provide a better learning experience for students and a better teaching experience for the
teachers.

1.1 NEED FOR STUDY

The main objective of online classes is to keep the education of students smooth. Through this
students can get education according to their convenience.Online classes promotes alternative
education and ideas. The quality of education can be improved through online classes. Through
this, the wastage of money in education can be reduced. It can prove to be extremely effective
in spreading education in rural India and remote

areas. Shortage of teachers and lack of basic institutions in rural India can be met through it. It
encourage students to “Learn themselves” and “community education”. Through online
classes, teachers will have more participation from more students. Teachers can make
education effective by experimenting with new teaching techniques. Effective online learning
environment leads students to higher levels of thinking, promotes active students participation
and motivates students by adjusting for individual differences. Online learning is flexible and
convenient due to which student’s interest in education can be awakened. The online classes
system can be made anywhere at any time. Any kind of social and cultural reasons cannot stop
it, due to this also in the development of girl child education. Through online classes, students
can get solutions to their problems and students who did not ask questions due to shame in
class can openly ask their problems through online.

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

 Study the measures taken by Government of India to support online learning
 process during the lockdown period for Covid-19.

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  Enlighten various online tools/platforms adopted by educational institutions duringthe
pandemic Covid-19.
 Highlight some merits and demerits of Online Learning and put suggestions for
improvement
 Analysing students’ behavioural patterns to explain their performance in learning with
different strategies, tools or technologies

 Comparing the behavioural patterns of the students with different personal factors,
such as learning achievements, cognitive styles, learning styles or motives

 Making predictions regarding students’ learning performances based on the

analysis results of their learning behaviours

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1. online learning, perception, preferences, content analysis

Educational institutes across the world have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
jeopardizing the academic calendars. Most educational institutes have shifted to online learning
platforms to keep the academic activities going. However, the questions about the
preparedness, designing and effectiveness of e-learning is still not clearly understood,
particularly for a developing country like India, where the technical constraints like suitability
of devices and bandwidth availability poses a serious challenge. In this study, we focus on
understanding Agricultural Student’s perception and preference towards the online learning
through an online survey of 307 students. We also explored the student’s preferences for
various attributes of online classes, which will be helpful to design effective online learning
environment. The results indicated that majority of the respondents (70%) are ready to opt for
online classes to manage the curriculum during this pandemic. Majority of the students
preferred to use smart phone for online learning. Using content analysis, we found that students
prefer recorded classes with quiz at the end of each class to improve the effectiveness of
learning. The students opined that flexibility and convenience of online classes makes it
attractive option, whereas broadband connectivity issues in rural areas makes it a challenge for
students to make use of online learning initiatives.

T, Muthuprasad and S, Aiswarya and Aditya, K.S. and Jha, Girish K., Students’ Perception and
Preference for Online Education in India During COVID -19 Pandemic. SSHO-D-20-00289.

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2. COVID 19 – Lockdown: Technology Adaption, Teaching, Learning, Students Engagement
and Faculty Experience

The purpose of this paper is to understand the technology adoption, teaching and learning
process, student engagement and faculty experience towards virtual classrooms during
Lockdown due to COVID 19, India. Inductive reasoning used in this study and qualitative
research methods are used to collect the data from faculties associated with Higher education
Institutions in Bangalore and teaching courses such as PGDM, M.B.A, M.Com, M.C.A etc.
The finding of the study suggests that during the lockdown period faculty have undergone the
process of technology adoption and students are involved with various online modes of
learning. There was lots of fear, anxiety and consciousness among students and faculty
regarding COVID 19.
This study is confined to the positive side of COVID 19 and change in the education sector by
adapting to technology and engaging students with various virtual sessions. The current study
is limited to the sample frame of 20faculty from Higher education institutions at Bangalore,
India, hence finding of this study cannot be generalized for entire India. The emotions and
perceptions of faculty towards the usage of technology and experience are different for
different users. Even though COVID 19 has created cognitive dissonance in students and
faculty mind towards various situations they have faced in their day to day life in association
with the society, family, and teaching and learning. It has created the revolution in Indian higher
education.

2
Ms. Veena Shenoy, Ms. Sheetal Mahendra, Ms. Navita Vijay

3. E-readiness of Senior School Learners to Online Learning Transition amid COVID-19

Lockdown
In the backdrop of recent COVID-19 lockdown, the school learners across the
country have had the opportunity to experience online mode of learning. This study
attempts to find out e-readiness of senior secondary school learners for transition to online
learning along with their views on this mode of learning transaction. Quantitative
descriptive survey method was used for the purpose of this study. A questionnaire
comprising 20 Likert-type items covering four dimensions, viz. access, digital literacy and
e-readiness, delivery of online learning, and online load, was administered on a 100-student
sample from different schools of Delhi using non-probability sampling. Access to online
learning and online load on learners were found to be high. The study also revealed that
only 35.2% learners found online classes as effective as face-to-face classes. The delivery
of online learning by teachers and digital skills of learners were found lacking. The
geographical scope of the study is limited to National Capital Region of Delhi which has

9
 better smartphone penetration and internet access as compared to other states in India. The
study concludes that online pedagogy and digital skills of teachers and learners need to be
strengthened for a possible roadmap ahead. The study may provide useful insights into the
challenges of online learning and areas for further improvement.

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Priyadarshini, A., & Bhaumik , R. (2020). E-readiness of Senior School Learners to Online
Learning Transition amid COVID-19 Lockdown. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1),
244-256.

4. Online Learning: A Panacea in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis

Educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities) in India are currently based only
on traditional methods of learning, that is, they follow the traditional set up of face-to-face
lectures in a classroom. Although many academic units have also started blended learning, still
a lot of them are stuck with old procedures.

The sudden outbreak of a deadly disease called Covid-19 caused by a Corona Virus (SARS-
CoV-2) shook the entire world. The World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic. This
situation challenged the education system across the world and forced educators to shift to an
online mode of teaching overnight. Many academic institutions that were earlier reluctant to
change their traditional pedagogical approach had no option but to shift entirely to online
teaching–learning.

The article includes the importance of online learning and Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, & Challenges (SWOC) analysis of e-learning modes in the time of crisis. This
article also put some light on the growth of EdTech Start-ups during the time of pandemic and
natural disasters and includes suggestions for academic institutions of how to deal with
challenges associated with online learning.

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Shivangi Dhawan, Department of Commerce, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi,
Delhi, India.

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5. Effective Teaching and Examination Strategies for Undergraduate Learning During
COVID-19 School Restrictions
On Friday, March 13, 2020, all school teaching in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, West
Indies was suspended until further notice because of the novel coronavirus COVID-19
pandemic. This immediately jeopardized the completion of course content at the University of
the West Indies, St. Augustine campus. This article presents effective teaching and examination
strategies that can be utilized in teaching undergraduates during COVID-19 school restrictions.
The introductory digital electronics course of the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the University of the West Indies will be utilized to demonstrate the merits of
these strategies. The research will focus on demonstrating that the teaching methodologies
utilized avoided the student performance from degrading below what has been experienced in
the past 5 academic years. Student feedback on the methodology utilized is also incorporated
in this article to highlight key benefits gained by students.

5
Marcus L. George, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of the
West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

6. ONLINE LEARNING DURING LOCKDOWN PERIOD FOR COVID-19 IN INDIA

Covid-19, as a global pandemic, has called for social distancing. It has made people mandatory
to sit indoor and sitting idle indoor may lead to mental stress. Hence to keep people engaged
and free from mental stress, online learning can play important role.

Online learning is the best solution during this pandemic situation. Teachers can use virtual
classrooms to teach from home with all necessary tools which makes the online sessions as
effective as traditional ones. Pandemics often compel the learners to stay at home for long
period of time and obstruct teaching-learning process. This article emphasizes on how online
learning is beneficial during times of crises like work absences or pandemics. Perceptions of
learners and educators on Online Learning system during lockdown are pointed

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Dr . Pravat Kumar Jena Assistant Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar

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7. The impact of online learning during COVID-19: students’ and teachers’ perspective
The purpose of this study was to conduct an online survey regarding teacher's and student's
perception and experience related to online classes. Delivery of classes through online medium
has been a recent modification brought out by the education system in India in the wake of the
current pandemic situation. Thus, this survey describes college and university teachers and
students’ perceptions and concerns with regard to taking online classes that have been made
mandatory in the wake of COVID19. The sample consisted of 70 teachers and 407students
from colleges and universities in Bangalore city. Online survey method was used for the
purpose of data collection. The findings show that the following areas are important for teacher
and student satisfaction with online classes, these areas are: quality and timely interaction
between student and professor, technical support availability, structured online class modules,
and modifications to accommodate conduction of practical classes

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Deepika nambiar Assistant Professor, Post-Graduate Department of Psychology, Bishop
Cotton Women’s Christian College, Karnataka, India

2.1 Positive impact of COVID-19 on education

Though the outbreak of COVID-19 has created many negative impacts on education,
educational institutions of India have accepted the challenges and trying their best to provide
seamless support services to the students during the pandemic. Indian education system got the
opportunity for transformation from traditional system to a new era. The following points may
be considered as the positive impacts.

 Move towards Blended Learning: COVID-19 has accelerated adoption of digital

technologies to deliver education. Educational institutions moved towards blended
mode of learning. It encouraged all teachers and students to become more technology
savvy. New ways of delivery and assessments of learning opened immense
opportunities for a major transformation in the area of curriculum development and
pedagogy. It also gives access to large pools of learners at a time.
 Rise in use of Learning Management Systems: Use of learning management systems
by educational institutions became a great demand. It opened a great opportunity for

12
 the companies those have been developing and strengthening learning management
systems for use educational institutions
 Enhance the use of soft copy of learning material: In lockdown situation students were
not able to collect the hard copies of study materials and hence most of the students
used of soft copies materials for reference.
 Improvement in collaborative work- There is a new opportunity where collaborative
teaching and learning can take on new forms. Collaborations can also happen among
faculty/teachers across the world to benefit from each other
 Rise in online meetings- The pandemic has created a massive rise in teleconferencing,
virtual meetings, webinars and e-conferencing opportunities
 Enhanced Digital Literacy: The pandemic situation induced people to learn and use
digital technology and resulted in increasing the digital literacy.
 Improved the use of electronic media for sharing information: Learning materials are
shared among the students easily and the related queries are resolved through email,
SMS, phone calls and using different social Medias like WhatsApp or Facebook.
 World wide exposure: Educators and learners are getting opportunities to interact with
peers from around the world. Learners adapted to an international community.
 Better time management: Students are able to manage their time more efficiently in
online education during pandemics.
 Demand for Open and Distance Learning (ODL): During the pandemic situation most
of the students preferred ODL mode as it encourages self-learning providing
opportunities to learn from diverse resources and customized learning as per their
needs.

2.2 Negative impact of covid 19 on education

Education sector has suffered a lot due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It has created many
negative impacts on education and some of them are as pointed below:

 Educational activity hampered: Classes have been suspended and exams at different
levels postponed. Different boards have already postponed the annual examinations and
entrance tests. Admission process got delayed. Due to continuity in lockdown, student
suffered a loss of nearly 3 months of the full academic year of 2020-21 which is going
to further deteriorate the situation of continuity in education and the as students would
face much difficulty in resuming schooling again after a huge gap.

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 Impact on employment: Most of the recruitment got postponed due to COVID-19
Placements for students may also be affected with companies delaying the on board of
students. Unemployment rate is expected to be increased due to this pandemic. In India,
there is no recruitment in Govt. sector and fresh graduates fear withdrawal of their job
offers from private sectors because of the current situation. The Centre for Monitoring
Indian Economy’s estimates on unemployment shot up from 8.4% in mid-March to
23% in early April and the urban unemployment rate to 30.9% (Educationasia.in).
When the unemployment increases then the education gradually decreases as people
struggle for food rather than education.
 Unprepared teachers/students for online education- Not all teachers/students are good
at it or at least not all of them were ready for this sudden transition from face to face
learning to online learning. Most of the teachers are just conducting lectures on video
platforms such as Zoom; Google meet etc. which may not be real online learning
without any dedicated online learning platform.
 Reduced global employment opportunity- Some may lose their jobs from other
countries and the pass out students may not get their job outside India due to restrictions
caused by COVID-19. Many Indians might have returned home after losing their jobs
overseas due to COVID-19. Hence, the fresh students who are likely to enter the job
market shortly may face difficulty in getting suitable employment. Many students who
have already got jobs through campus interviews may not be able to join their jobs due
to lockdown. The Indians who have been doing their jobs abroad may lose their jobs.
Recent graduates in India are of also fearing for ct of COVID-19 on education
withdrawal of job offers from corporate sectors because of movement restriction in the
current pandemic situation
 Increased responsibility of parents to educate their wards: Some educated parents are
able to guide but some may not have the adequate level of education needed to teach
children in the house.
 Loss of nutrition due to school closure: Mid-day meals is a school meal programme of
the Government of India which is designed to provide better the nutritional food to
school-age children nationwide. The closure of schools has serious implications on the
daily nutrition of students as the mid-day meal schemes have temporarily been shut.
Various studies have pointed out that mid-day meals are also an important contributing
factor for increased enrolment in the schools

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 Access to digital world: As many students have limited or no internet access and many
students may not be able to afford computer, laptop or supporting mobile phones in
their homes, online teaching-learning may create a digital divide among students. The
lockdown has hit the poor students very hard in India as most of them are unable to
explore online learning according to various reports. Thus the online teaching-learning
method during pandemic COVID-19 may enhance the gap between rich/poor and
urban/rural.
 Access to global education: The pandemic has significantly disrupted the higher
education sector. A large number of Indian students who are enrolled in many
Universities abroad, especially in worst affected countries are now leaving those
countries and if the situation persists, in the long run, a there will be a significant decline
in the demand for international higher education.
 Payment of Schools, Colleges fee got delayed: During this lockdown most of the
parents will be facing the unemployment situation so they may not be able to pay the
fee for that particular time periods which may affect the private institutes.

2.3 Evaluation of e-resources

Evaluation of resources assumes a greater importance due to the large e resources such as
e-journals, database, e-text, etc available on the net. Authority, currency, intended
audience, ease of use accuracy etc are some responsible criteria for evaluation of e-
resources. Moreover, extensiveness of the content, accessibility, quality of technical
support, cost, conditions of licensing agreement are also other responsible factors which
should take into account. With the evaluation of e-resources the followings should be
should be considered to identify the electronic version have the retrospective data (as
mostly electronic resources do not include data prior to some year); to determine particular
source of information of e-resources offer any special features which are not available in
other print version; to check the content of the e-resources with relevant to the users as well
as to the collection as a whole; to check whether the information is often updated or not; to
determine the e-resources have affordable price or not though offered diverse pricing
system by the publishers; to identify the method of accessing of e-resources available; to
identify the e-resources needed to maintain and redesign the library website identified; to
check the staffing needs for training of recruiting with the existing technology.

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 In any Library Information System (either traditional or modern library system),
organization of resources is also one of the important and crucial works to function
smoothly the library services. As such, the system manager should have good professional
skills to organize the available resources effectively. In a modern digital library information
system, the professional should have skills like computing, database

2.4 Initiatives of Govt. of India on education during Covid-19 To prevent

spread of pandemic COVID-19
The Government of India has taken number of preventive measures. The union government
declared a countrywide lock-down of all educational institutions on 16 March 2020. Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) postponed all examinations of secondary and higher
secondary schools on March 18, 2020 throughout India. CBSE released revised guidelines for
examination centres to conduct examinations by maintaining a distance of at least 1 meter
between the students taking the exam with a class not having more than 24 students. If the
rooms of the examination centres are small then the students should be divided into different
rooms accordingly. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) postponed the interview
for the Civil Services Examination 2019 (Wikipedia). Similarly, the most of the state
Governments and other educational boards postponed examinations due to outbreak of
COVID-19. Govt. of India has observed one day nationwide Janata-curfew on March 22 and
implement lockdown from March 25, 2020 onwards in different phases. Govt. of India has
been extending lockdown periods from time to time adopting different strategies to fight with
the pandemic but educational institutions remained closed continuously. On May 17, 2020, the
4th phase lockdown has been extended till 31st May 2020 with some less restriction in other
sectors except education. Almost all state government ministries have taken measures to ensure
that the academic activities of schools and colleges do not hamper during the lockdown period.
They have instructed the schools to hold all their classes online. The lockdown has accelerated
adoption of digital technology. It has provided a chance to develop new and improved
professional skills/knowledge through online learning in more efficient and productive way.
Online learning is the best solution during this pandemic Covid-19 situation So, the digital
India vision of the government is emerging as a vital tool for solving the present crisis due to
Covid-19. It is a fact that technology-based education is more transparent with all respect.
Looking at this challenge of colleges and schools being shut, government of India, as well as
state governments and private players have undertaken proper initiatives. The Ministry of

16
Human Resource Development (MHRD) has made several arrangements, including online
portals and educational channels through Direct to Home TV, Radios for students to continue
learning. During lockdown, students are using popular social media tools like WhatsApp,
Zoom, Google meet, Telegram, YouTube live, Facebook live etc. for online teaching learning
system. ICT initiative of MHRD is a unique platform which combines all digital resources for
online education. The digital initiatives of MHRD for secondary as well as higher education
during COVID-19 are listed as below:

Secondary education
 Diksha portal contains e-Learning content for students, teachers, and parents aligned to
the curriculum, including video lessons, worksheets, textbooks and assessments. Under
the guidance of its national boards of education (CBSE) and NCERT, the content has
been created by more than 250 teachers who teach in multiple languages. The app is
available to use offline. It has more than 80,000 e-Books for classes 1 to 12 created by
CBSE, NCERT in multiple languages. The contents can also be viewed through QR
codes on textbooks. The app can be downloaded from IOS and Google Play Store.
Website: https://diksha.qov.in or https://seshaqun.qov.in/shaqun \
 e-Pathshala is an e-Learning app by NCERT for classes 1 to 12 in multiple languages.
The app houses books, videos, audio, etc. aimed at students, educators and parents in
multiple languages including Hindi, Urdu, and English. In this web portal NCERT has
deployed 1886 audios, 2000 videos, 696 e-Books and 504 Flip Books for classes 1 to
12 in different languages. Mobile Apps is available. Website: http://epathshala.nic.in
or http://epathshala.qov.in.
 National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) portal provides a host
of resources for students and teachers in multiple languages including books, interactive
modules and videos including a host of STEM-based games. Content is mapped to the
curriculum for classes 1-12, including aligned resources for teachers. It has a total of
14527 files including 401 collections, 2779 documents, 1345 interactive, 1664 audios,
2586 images and 6153 videos on different languages. Website:
http://nroer.qov.in/welcome

Higher Education
 Swayam is the national online education platform hosting 1900 courses covering both
school (classes 9 to 12) and higher education (under graduate, post graduate programs)

17
 in all subjects including engineering, humanities and social sciences, law and
management courses. The unique feature is that, it is integrated with the conventional
education. Credit transfers are possible for SWAYAM courses (max. 20%). Website:
https://swayam.gov.in/
 Swayam Prabha has 32 DTH TV channels transmitting educational contents on 24 x 7
basis. These channels are available for viewing all across the country using DD Free
Dish Set Top Box and Antenna. The channel schedule and other details are available in
the portal. The channels cover both school education (classes 9 to 12) and higher
education (undergraduate, postgraduate, engineering Out-of-school children,
vocational courses and teacher training) in arts, science, commerce, performing arts,
social sciences and humanities subjects, engineering, technology, law, medicine,
agriculture. Website: https://swayamprabha.gov.in/
 e-PG Pathshala is for postgraduate students. Postgraduate students can access this
platform for e-books, online courses and study materials during this lockdown period.
The importance of this platform is that students can access these facilities without
+having internet for the whole day. Website: https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/

Social Media and Webinars

Social media, specifically Twitter, has emerged as unique source of education for trainees.
Although social media “education” traditionally occurred in an unstructured manner via
presentation and discussion of unique cases as well as journal articles, there has now been a
movement towards increasing rigor to such education. In the gastroenterology community
specifically, several structured conversations now occur weekly such as @MondayNightIBD,
@GIJournal, and #ScopingSundays. In these weekly chats, trainees and staff physicians
discuss clinical and endoscopic dilemmas as well as impactful journal articles. Although
conversations occur “live,” they are permanently available for trainee review and can be
accessed on any mobile device. Trainees should also join the larger GI community by
participating in webinars directed toward practicing gastroenterologists. These webinars may
be hosted by the GI societies, as well as by industry. Importantly, these on-line learning
programs are almost always available on demand to accommodate complexities in trainee
schedules.

2.5 CHALLENGES FACED WITH E-RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

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The adoption of e-resources has made great advantage over the library services. In fact, most
of the users are satisfied with such facilities since hey can easily retrieve their required
information within a short period of time. However, libraries face a number of challenges as
they seek to continue offering the high level of services that users have come to expect. Some
of the challenges facing with e-resource management are discuss below. Preservation- Though
the e-resources are enabling information to be created, manipulated, disseminated and located
with increasing ease, preserving access to this information posses a great challenge. Unless,
preservation of digital information is actively taken, the information will become inaccessible
due to changing technology platform and media instability. Lack of professional skills- Due to
lack of management and technical skills, the library professionals is not able to handle the e-
resources. The professional staffs are required to constantly update their own knowledge and
skill base so as to work in today’s rapidly changing digital environment. Inadequate library
fund- Most of the libraries have inadequate fund for acquiring e resources and so the users do
not get their needy information at the right time. Libraries are at a disadvantage when acting
alone in this environment and there is need for cooperative purchasing through library
consortia. Technical infrastructure- In a digital information service system, infrastructure such
as software, hardware, internet facilities and other physical equipments are required to provide
easier, faster and comprehensive access to information. Therefore, libraries in the digital age
need to enhance and upgrade current technical architecture to accommodate e-resources.

Lack of cooperation of staff members- The support and cooperation of staff members,
programmers and technical staff are very essential to provide effective service in a digital
environment. As such, the library staff should not only be technically competent but should
also user-friendly-approach

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
Research can be described as the systematic and process of gathering, recording and
analysing data to make business decisions. The basic task of research is to generate accurate
information for use in decision making. This research is to make a view on the impact of online
education during covid. Agricultural graduates were chosen as the respondents for this study
as agriculture is the most diverse subject that includes subjects ranging from life sciences to
social sciences where students work from lab to land. The participants were 307 agricultural

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graduates from different universities of National Agricultural Research System (NARS). It
included 136 Under Graduates, 84 Postgraduates and 87 students pursuing their Ph.D. Among
them 172 were female and 135 were male

RESEARCH DESIGN

A structured and unstructured preliminary questionnaire was designed with the help of
literature survey and informal discussions with the students who are currently attending the
This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Pre-testing was done with 12
respondents and their feedbacks were considered for designing the final questionnaire.

we identified key-informants among different agricultural universities for online survey. The
link for Google form was sent to the key- informants through the WhatsApp. After submitting
their responses, they circulated the questionnaire among other university students like snowball
sampling. We have disabled the link after 10 days of circulating the Google forms. In this way,
responses from a total of 307 students were obtained from different universities of the NARS.

Demographic details of respondents

The demographic variables included age, sex, degree, and place of residence.
The mean age of the respondents was 23 years. There were more female respondents
172(56.03%) than male respondents 135 (43.97%). Majority of the respondents were belonging
to rural background 140 (45.60 %) whereas 121 (39.41%) were from urban areas and only
46(14.98 %) were from peri urban area

Table 1

Demographic variables Percentage

UG 44.29
Degree PG 27.36
Ph.D. 28.33
Female 56.03
Sex
Male 43.97
Place of Residence Peri-urban 14.98

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 Rural 45.60
Urban 39.41

Basic information regarding online classes (Table 2 )

Among the respondents, only 145 (47.23 %) were having prior experience of online classes
and 162 (52.2%) did not attend online classes before. And 82 % of the respondents said that
online classes have already started by the universities where they have enrolled. When a
question was asked how to cope up with curriculum during this COVID-19 pandemic, majority
of the respondents (67.1%) indicated that online classes can be used as substitute for class room
teaching to cover the syllabus, whereas 29.97 % of the students wanted the curriculum to be
suspended and very few (2.93 %) wanted teachers to provide only assignments and reading
material. The reasons behind the response of those 30 % respondents who were not in favour
of online classes can be traced to inability to focus on curriculum due to the fear of the
pandemic or technological constraints they face for online learning. In the later part of the paper
we will examine the constraint faced by students for online learning

Table 2: Basic information regarding online classes N=307

Questions Response Percentage

Did you attend any online course earlier? No 52.77

Yes 47.23
Whether your college has begun online No 17.92
classes in the wake of corona?
Yes 82.08
As the COVID-19 continues to spread,
educational institutions around the globe
has been shut, disrupting the educational Assignments and reading
system. What will you suggest to meet the materials can be provided 2.93
current situation? Curriculum schedule can be
suspended 29.97
Managing with online classes 67.1

3.1 Future Research

E-learning is set to grow at high speed. And if that is the case, research must be carried
out on a large scale to facilitate the improvement of methods of teaching and learning.

21
Currently, there exists a void that needs to be filled. Perhaps future research should be mainly
concerned in carrying out an in-depth analysis of the practices that should be adopted such as
online instruction practices, implementation process as well as a more detailed analysis
procedure for course design. The study aimed to get the view and perspectives of the learners,
especially the students who have never been in computer class learning and are interested in
enrolling for the online programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has to be understood that
there is no empirical evidence in the already carried out research which reveals whether e-
learning has actualized the academic goals of the student

E-learning is growing, and the trend is likely to continue as more institutions are expected to
join the rest in offering online courses to the ever-growing number of students. To add to that,
the research should also look at the number of students enrolling for the online studies for an
instant the undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels. According to Wang and Hu (2019),
E-learning is a better alternative for the learners, and the researchers should be able to look for
ways of making it more focused on thinking and creation. It should be understood that most
online courses are dictated by technology. To be able to enhance intellectual rigour as well as
the development and individual perspectives, a more in-depth investigation must be explored
to find out the use of technology and software during the implementation process. The mode
of teaching should be able to keep the students engaged. The other aim of the study was to
establish how group designs can positively influence social interaction and some form of the
learning community. This is in consideration of the different personalities of group members,
varied learning styles, and different levels of skills. Initial studies mainly focused on examining
the postings that were sent by the interviewees. With the enhancement of tools, researchers
need to find out the roles played by technological devices in the promotion of a highly efficient
and effective social interaction as well as the expansion of a learning environment. For
instance, the researchers need to find out ways of making use of video conferencing and Skype.
Making use of social networks and virtual reality environment can significantly enhance the e-
learning process.

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4 FINDINGS SUGGESTIONS & CONCLUSION

4.1 FINDINGS

The coronavirus crisis has forced all major industries to shift their operations online–the
education sector is no exception. With lockdowns being imposed across the world, schools and
higher education institutions have been shut down to protect students and prevent contagion.
According to UNESCO, this has impacted more than 1.26 billion students across 191 countries.
In India alone, more than 320 million students have been affected by the school closures since
PM Narendra Modi imposed a national lockdown on March 25. Governments worldwide have
recommended shifting to online learning as a stop-gap arrangement to avoid any significant
disruptions in academic calendars. Consequently, e-learning is now being heralded as the key
to transform the education sector. While the benefits of virtual learning are manifold, the
immense digital, gender, and class divide in India mean that these benefits will only accrue to
those who have access to technology, those who can adapt to it, and most importantly, those
who can afford it. According to the Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on
Education in India report, based on the 2017-18 National Sample Survey, only 23.8% of Indian
households have internet access. This statistic is even lower in rural areas, where just 14.9% of
households have access to the internet–as opposed to 42% of urban households. Only 13% of
people surveyed (aged above five) in rural areas are able to use the internet. The overlapping
socioeconomic and gender disparities are also quite stark in such areas, as just 8.5% of females
in rural areas know how to use the internet. Additionally, a mere 4.4% of rural households have
a computer–compared to 23.4% of urban households. These pitiful numbers highlight the fact
that without a comprehensive plan of action, a majority of the country will be left out of the
pursuit to achieve basic education in the months to come. During a pandemic, with such limited
access to learning, some children could be left with the difficult choice of either abandoning
education altogether or traveling to a friend’s house who has internet to attend classes, thereby
risking their health. Experts have argued that the government must work to bridge the gaps in
access by improving internet infrastructure and connectivity, and by subsidizing mobile data
to make learning through WhatsApp, or other media platforms more affordable. If universities
remain closed for a longer period of time, education inequalities will increase. In light of this
possibility, authorities must find ways to subsidize cheap smartphones and expand the access
and affordability of decent bandwidth in remote areas to promote learning among all sections
of the population. While physical infrastructure is an enormous barrier to children and young

23
adults being able to learn remotely, one must also take into consideration the concerns of the
providers of that education. The sudden and rapid shift in focus to online learning without any
real planning has meant that teachers are playing catch up, not only in finding ways to teach
effectively virtually, but also in trying to mold their curriculum to fit a format it was not
originally meant for. Training for teachers does not necessarily include skills needed to
undertake online teaching–which could require building lesson plans or creating audio-visual
content. If teachers are unfamiliar or comfortable with virtual platforms, it could affect their
ability to communicate learning material in a precise manner to their students, which could
ultimately result in a lower quality of education being provided to students. Adaptation to
online education may also be easier for those with English as their medium of instruction, due
to the existing widespread availability of English learning tools and content. In comparison,
resources for the vernacular languages that dominate the Indian school education space are far
more limited. As face-to-face interaction becomes less common, all of the factors mentioned
above could have a significant impact on students’ learning outcomes. If they are not able to
ask clarifying questions to their teachers–due to lack of internet connectivity or the structure of
classes–or are left to learn some syllabus on their own, it could invariably foster rote learning
rather than facilitating meaningful comprehension of various subjects. Though online learning
tools are glorified for being customizable, affordable and inclusive, access to the internet is
not. There is a massive gender gap in internet usage in India. According to the Internet and
Mobile Association of India’s (IAMAI) India Internet 2019 report, only 33% women have
access to the internet. This statistic is all the more sobering when one considers that 67% men
have access to the internet in the same country. The disparity was even more glaring in rural
areas, where only 28% of women had access to the internet, as compared to 72% of men. We
are already seeing gender concerns being overlooked during this all-consuming pandemic, and
if the government does not consider these challenges and implement measures that support
inclusive and comprehensive learning, inequalities in learning will continue to widen. Various
non-profits and public-private organizations are working to address the challenges brought on
by the shift to remote learning. Avanti, a social-educational enterprise established in 2010, has
launched a free learning app called ‘Sankalp’ for Hindi medium students of Class IX-XII. The
app contains topics of mathematics and science, and includes classes being streamed on
YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and other social media platforms. Think Zone, a social impact
start-up from Cuttack uses Interactive Voice Response (IVR), SMS and radio to help those who
do not have access to the internet. Through the radio, it broadcasts activity-based modules for
younger learners from age 3-10. While such measures are yielding some positive results, there

24
needs to be a simultaneous effort by the central and state governments to improve digital
infrastructure for virtual learning and tailor school syllabi and teacher training to fit the format
of online courses. Unfortunately, there has not been any significant expenditure to address this
concern. In fact, the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability’s (CBGA) Provita
Kundu noted that the Human Resource Development Ministry’s budget for e-learning in FY
2020-21 was actually reduced to INR 469 crore (4.69 billion) from INR 604 crore (6.04 billion)
in FY 2019-20. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the severe inequalities that exist
between the rich and the poor, rural and urban households, and between males and females.
These disparities lay bare the pitfalls in access to education in India, even on virtual platforms.
While a push towards remote learning is understandable in these trying times, the current
system is insufficient to serve as a suitable alternative to in-person learning. Following the
current trajectory, an inability or unwillingness to build and strengthen the education
infrastructure in the country will only push the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged even further
into the margins of society, and even worse, leave them behind.

4.2 Suggestions

1. India should develop creative strategies to ensure that all children must have
sustainable access to learning during pandemic COVID-19. The Indian policies
must include various individuals from diverse backgrounds including remote regions,
marginalised and minority groups for effective delivery.

2. Immediate measures are required to lessen the effects of the pandemic on job offers,
internship programs, and research projects.

3. Many online learning platforms offer multiple programmes on the same subjects with
different levels of certifications, methodology and assessment parameters. So, the quality of
programmes may differ across different online learning platforms. Therefore, establishment of
quality assurance mechanisms and quality benchmark for online learning programmes must be
developed and offered by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India keeping in view of
rapid growth of the online learning platforms

4. Across the globe, Indian traditional knowledge is well known for its scientific innovations,
values and benefits to develop sustainable technologies and medicines and this knowledge

25
systems in different fields should be integrated with a present-day mainstream higher education
system.

5. Govt and educational institutes should plan to continue the educational activities maintaining
social distancing. 30-40% students and teachers may attend schools/colleges in two shifts per
day to carry on educational activities by obeying guidelines for COVID-19.

6. At current times, access to technology and internet is an urgent requirement. So, the digital
capabilities and the required infrastructure must reach to the remotest and poorest communities
to facilitate the students to continue their education during the pandemics. There is a need to
deploy public funds to fix the internet gap and ensure that students continue to learn digitally.
The state governments/private organisations should come up with ideas to address this issue of
digital education.

7. Some significant issues associated with distance learning strategies like the availability and
access to digital devices with internet connectivity, the need for safe learning spaces, creating
capabilities for teachers, families and students to operate and navigate digital devices, and
engaging lesson plans for disabled students and other marginalised groups should be addressed
by Govt. and the stakeholders.

4.3 Conclusions

COVID-19 has impacted immensely to the education sector of India. Though it has created
many challenges, various opportunities are also evolved. The Indian Govt. and different
stakeholders of education have explored the possibility of Open and Distance learning (ODL)
by adopting different digital technologies to cope up with the present crisis of COVID-19. India
is not fully equipped to make education reach all corners of the nation via digital platforms.
The students who aren’t privileged like the others will suffer due to the present choice of digital
platforms. But universities and the government of India are relentlessly trying to come up with
a solution to resolve this problem. The priority should be to utilise digital technology to create
an advantageous position for millions of young students in India. It is need of the hour for the
educational institutions to strengthen their knowledge and Information Technology
infrastructure to be ready for facing COVID-19 like situations. Even if the COVID-19 crisis
stretches longer, there is an urgent need to take efforts on maximum utilisation of online

26
platforms so that students not only complete their degree in this academic year but also to get
ready for the future digital oriented environment. The concept of “work from home” has greater
relevance in such pandemic situation to reduce spread of COVID-19. India should develop
creative strategies to ensure that all children must have sustainable access to learning during
pandemic COVID-19. The Indian policies must include various individuals from diverse
backgrounds including remote regions, marginalised and minority groups for effective delivery
of education. As online practice is benefitting the students immensely, it should be continued
after the lockdown. Further detailed statistical study may be undertaken to explore the impact
of COVID-19 on education system of India.

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digital-learning/

T, Muthuprasad and S, Aiswarya and Aditya, K.S. and Jha, Girish K., Students’ Perception and
Preference for Online Education in India During COVID -19 Pandemic. SSHO-D-20-00289

Ms. Veena Shenoy, Ms. Sheetal Mahendra, Ms. Navita Vijay

Priyadarshini, A., & Bhaumik , R. (2020). E-readiness of Senior School Learners to Online
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Marcus L. George, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of the West
Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Dr . Pravat Kumar Jena Assistant Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar

Deepika nambiar Assistant Professor, Post-Graduate Department of Psychology, Bishop Cotton

Women’s Christian College, Karnataka, India

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