literature review on online education in india

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Students’ perception and preference for online education in India during COVID -19 pandemic

T. muthuprasad.

a Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 11001, India

S. Aiswarya

b Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 11001, India

K.S. Aditya

Girish k. jha, associated data.

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. However, in agricultural education system where many courses are practical oriented, shifting completely to online mode may not be possible and need to device a hybrid mode, the insights from this article can be helpful in designing the curriculum for the new normal.

1. Introduction

With the COVID-19 -a novel corona virus disease spreading across the globe, many countries have ordered closure of all educational institutes. Educational institutions have come to a functional standstill since they had to protect their students from viral exposures, which are likely in a highly socializing student community. In the beginning of February 2020, schools only in China and a few other affected countries were closed due to the proliferating contamination. However, by mid-March, nearly 75 countries have implemented or announced closure of educational institutions. As on 10th March, school and university closures globally due to the COVID-19 has left one in five students out of school. According to UNESCO, by the end of April 2020,186 countries have implemented nationwide closures, affecting about 73.8% of the total enrolled learners ( UNESCO, 2020 ). Even though the lockdown and social distancing are the only ways to slowdown the spread of the COVID-19 by breaking the chain of transmission, closure of educational institutions has affected large number of students.

As the schools and colleges are shut for an indefinite period, both educational institutions and students are experimenting with ways to complete their prescribed syllabi in the stipulated time frame in line with the academic calendar. These measures have certainly caused a degree of inconvenience, but they have also prompted new examples of educational innovation using digital interventions. This is a silver lining on a dark cloud considering the sluggish pace of reforms in academic institutions, which continues with millennia-old lecture-based approaches in teaching, ingrained institutional biases and obsolete classrooms. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has been a trigger for educational institutions worldwide to pursue creative approaches in a relatively short notice. During this time, most of the universities have shifted to online mode using Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other online platforms.

The educational institutions in affected areas are seeking stop-gap solutions to continue teaching, but it is important to note that the learning quality depends on the level of digital access and efficiency. The online learning environment varies profoundly from the traditional classroom situation when it comes to learner’s motivation, satisfaction and interaction ( Bignoux & Sund, 2018 ). The Community of Inquiry (COI) framework offers a convenient baseline for intervening in online teaching and learning ( Garrison et al., 2001 ). According to COI framework, success of web-based instruction is determined by creating a learners’ group. In this group (analogous to the traditional classroom situation), learning happens through three interdependent elements: (1) social presence, (2) cognitive presence, and (3) teaching presence. Study by Adam et.al . (2012) argued that there was no significant difference between online learning and face to face class with regard to their satisfaction and also, they supported the fact that online class will be as effective as traditional class if it is designed appropriately. These facts clearly show us that online learning is a perfect substitute for the traditional classroom learning if they are designed suitably.

Educational institutions in India have also made a transition to online teaching environment soon after Union Government’s decision to impose nation-wide lock-down for 21 days from 25th March, 2020 which was later extended for 19 more days. However, the major concern is about the quality of learning which is closely related with how well the content is designed and executed. Effectiveness of learning also depends on how the content is curated to online environment and also in understanding and addressing the constraints faced by students. The study is even more relevant considering that in India the system of online education has never been tried at this scale and this is like a massive social experiment. Further, in agriculture education sector, the curriculum of agriculture gives a lot of importance to practical aspects and adopting it to online platform can decide the effectiveness. In this line, we have examined Indian agricultural students’ perception regarding online education and various attributes which could make the online learning more effective and successful.

The results of the study are important for educational institutes in Agriculture for two main reasons. Firstly, the shift to online mode has been an abrupt one due to unprecedented lockdown imposed to manage the COVID-19, and the institutes did not had time to design and adopt the course contents for online mode. In this context, experience of students and the learnings can be incorporated to make online learning easy, efficient and productive. Second, even after lockdown is revoked, life after the COVID-19 pandemic will not be like before and online learning is here to stay, though in combination with regular offline classes. There is uncertainty about the length of the pandemic and chances of reinfections, the social distancing can become a new normal. So, all the educational institutes need to be prepared to shift majority of the course content to e-learning platforms and modify the course structure and curriculum suitably. The results of our study can be important input in deciding on the learning environment in online platform to promote effective learning. In the next section, we provide a brief review of literature followed by data and methods section where we describe the methodology used in the study. Then, we discuss the results and the implications followed by concluding remarks of the study.

2. Review of literature

The current technological advancements allow us to employ several ways to design the online content. It is very important to consider the preferences and perception of learners while designing the online courses to make the learning effective and productive. Preference of the learner is related to the readiness or willingness of the learner to participate in collaborative learning and the factors influencing the readiness for online learning. In the section to follow, we summarie the learnings from the review of related literature.

Warner et al. (1998) proposed the concept of readiness for online learning in the Australian vocational education and training sector. They described readiness for online learning mainly in terms of three aspects:(1) the preference of student’s for the way of delivery opposed to face-to-face classroom instruction; (2) student’s confidence in the utilising the electronic communication for learning which includes competence and trust in the use of the Internet and computer-based communication; and (3) capability to engage in autonomous learning. The concept was further refined by several researchers like McVay (2000 , 2001) who developed a 13-item instrument which measured student behaviour and attitude as predictors. Subsequently, Smith et al. (2003) conducted an exploratory study to validate the McVay’s, (2000) questionnaire for online readiness and came up with a two-factor structure, “Comfort with e-learning” and “Self-management of learning”. Later, several studies were taken up for operationalising the concept of readiness for online learning ( Evans (2000) ; Smith (2005) ).The factors that influenced the readiness for online learning as put forth by researchers were self-directed learning( Guglielmino (1977) ; Garrison (1997) ; Lin and Hsieh (2001) ; McVay (2000 , 2001) ), motivation for learning ( Deci and Ryan (1985) ; Ryan and Deci (2000) ; Fairchild et al. (2005) , learner control ( Hannafin (1984) ; Shyu and Brown (1992) ; Reeves (1993) ),computer and internet self-efficacy (( Bandura (1977 , 1986 1997) ; Compeau and Higgins (1995) ; Eastin and LaRose (2000) ; Tsai and Tsai (2003) ; Tsai and Lin (2004) ; Hung et al. (2010) ), online communication self-efficacy ( Palloff and Pratt (1999) ; McVay (2000) ; Roper (2007) ).

Any efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of online learning needs to understand the perception of the users. Studies have documented both favourable and unfavourable perceptions by students on online learning. Several studies indicate that the instructor’s interaction with students has considerable impact on the student’s perceptions of online learning. Consistency in course design ( Swan et al. 2000 ), the capability of the interaction with course instructors to promote critical thinking ability and information processing ( Duffy et al. (1998, pp. 51–78) ; Picciano (2002) ; Hay et al.(2004) ) rate of interactivity in the online setting ( Arbaugh (2000) ; Hay et al. (2004) ), the extent of instructional emphasis on learning through interaction, the flexibility of online learning ( Chizmar and Walbert (1999) ; McCall (2002) ; National Centre for Vocational Education Research (2002) ; Petrides (2002) ; Schrum (2002) ; Klingner (2003) ; Kim et al. (2005) ), chances of engaging with teachers and peers in online learning settings ( Soo and Bonk (1998) ; Wise et al. (2004) ; Kim et al. (2005) ), social presence ( Barab and Duffy (2000) ; Kim et al. (2005) ; Jonassen (2002) ),academic self-concept ( Trautwein et al. (2006) ; Lim et al. (2007) ), competencies required to use the technology ( Wagner et al. (2000) were identified as the perceived strengths of online learning. Hence an effective online class depends upon well-structured course content ( Sun and Chen (2016) ), well-prepared instructors ( Sun and Chen (2016) ), advanced technologies ( Sun and Chen (2016) ), and feedback and clear instructions ( Gilbert, 2015 ).

However, several weaknesses related to online learning were also described in the literature. Delay in responses ( Hara and Kling (1999) ; Petrides (2002) ; Vonderwell (2003) , scepticism of their peers’ supposed expertise( Petrides (2002) ); lack of a sense of community and/or feelings of isolation ( Woods’, (2002) ; Vonderwell (2003) ; Lin & Zane, (2005) ); , problems in collaborating with the co-learners, technical problems Piccoli et al.(2001) ; Song et al. ( 2004) ), issues related to instructor (Muilenburg & Berge, 2005) higher student attrition rates ( Frankola (2001) ; Ryan (2001) ; Laine (2003) ), the need for greater discipline, writing skills, and self-motivation; and the need for online users to make a time commitment to learning ( Golladay et al. (2000) ; Serwatka (2003) are considered to be barriers or weakness of online learning.

Several researchers compared the efficacy of online or web-based tutorials with conventional teaching in classrooms. The types of possible encounters that might occur online as compared to conventional classrooms differ substantially, and the impact of communicating within one setting or another can have a direct effect on attitudes of the students and faculty. The studies explored perceptions of online learning experiences vs. conventional classroom experiences by students and faculty and reported mixed findings that demand further studies. Some of those areas include analysing the nature and amount of interactions that is available online ( Moore and Kearsley (1995) ), flexibility and accessibility of web - based instructions ( Navarro and Shoemaker (2000) ),the skills, motivations, time and perception of learner and instructor( Yong and Wang (1996) ; Shih, Ingebritsen, Pleasants, Flickinger, & Brown, 1998 ; McIsaac et al. (1999) ; White (2004) and whether some or all of these aspects are linked to academic achievement ( Brewer and Erikson (1997) ).It was also found that there was no significant difference between online learning and face to face class with regard to their satisfaction and also in terms of their academic performance ( Hara and Kling, 1999 ).Studies also supported the fact that online class will be as effective as traditional class if it is designed appropriately ( Nguyen, 2015 ).

The literature has highlighted different models which provides the basic framework to understand the students perception regarding online education. Papers have also highlighted potential bottlenecks for success of the online learning. However, not many papers have attempted to understand the students perception and preference in Indian context. It is understandable that only limited number of distance education platforms were using online mode of education before the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, to the best of our knowledge, study on these lines has not been attempted in the field of agricultural education, where online learning initiatives are even lesser probably because of higher share of practical learning aspects in curriculum. We try to fill this gap with our study, drawing insights from the literature in conceptualizing the problem, exclusively focusing our attention on online learning in agricultural education.

3. Data and methods

3.1. participants.

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 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.

3.2. Procedure

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 online classes. Pre-testing was done with 12 respondents and their feedbacks were considered for designing the final questionnaire.

3.3. Domain of the study

First of all, 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.

3.4. Data analysis

Data were collected on demographic features, followed by learners’ preferences, perception, advantages, constraints and suggestions. The statements were prepared based on extensive review of literature and discussion with experts to minimize researchers bias. To analyze and summarize the perception, statements were rated on a five-point continuum scale (five being most effective and 1 being the least effective). Frequency and percentage were calculated for most of the questions to summarize the data. Apart from calculating the percentage table for the perceptions, we used a measure of consensus for each of the statements. The consensus was calculated by the formula suggested by Tastle and Wierman (2007) .

• p i = probability or frequency associated with each Likert attribute X i ; i ranges from 1to 5
• d X  ​= ​width of X
• μ X  ​= ​mean of X.

Further, each statement regarding perception of respondents based on effectiveness of online learning in comparison to classroom teaching was ranked based on mean rank obtained by Friedman’s test. Formula used for calculating mean rank in Friedman’s test is as follows

Where, k ​= ​number of columns(treatments); n r  ​= ​number of rows(blocks); R i = Sum of the ranks.

To identify the most important benefits and constraints of online learning, Garret ranking technique was used. For this, 5 benefits and 8 constraints were given to the respondents and they were asked to rank it based on their opinion. As a first step these ranks were be converted into percent positions based on the following formula

• R ij  ​= ​Rank given for the ith Benefit/constraint by jth respondents
• N j  ​= ​Number of Benefits/constraints ranked by jth respondents

As a second step these percent position of each rank was converted into scores using the table given by Garrett and Woodworth (1969) . And then for each factor, scores of individuals were added and divided by the total number of respondents to get the mean score of each factor. The Benefit and Constraint with the highest mean score was considered as the most important.

The perception study detailed above has a limitation that the responses are dependent on how the questions are framed. Insights can be drawn only on statements for which answers are recorded. In this context, to broaden the perception of students regarding the online course and factors determining the success, we have used content analysis. To analyze the open-ended questions conventional content analysis was done. Content analysis is defined as a generic name for a variety of textual analyses that typically involves comparing, contrasting, and categorizing a set of data ( Schwandt, 1997 ). We tried to perform content analysis to identify the trends in learners’ perspective regarding online classes. As a foremost step, two authors after looking into all the responses of the open-ended questions, created the themes and sub-themes which was checked for inter-rater reliability using Kappa Co-efficient with the help of the other two authors. The estimated Kappa co-efficient was found to be 0.72 which denotes substantial agreement between the two rater’s.

Findings from the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data gathered from the present study are presented below.

4.1. 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 areas (see Table 1 ).

Table 1

Demographic details of the respondents.

4.2. Basic information regarding online classes ( Table 2 )

Table 2.

Basic information regarding online classes.

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.

5. Learner’s prefernce for online classes

5.1. technical availability.

Various devices preferred by the respondents for attending online classes were Smartphone (57.98%), laptop (35.83%), tablet (4.89%) and desktop(0.65%)which clearly suggests that if any organization which wants to develop an application for the online learning, it has to ensure that the platform is compatible with smartphone. Mobile data pack was the source of internet for 82% of the respondents. Majority of the respondents (62%) said that WhatsApp was the best way to communicate class updates ​(see Table 3a ).

Table 3a

Technical requirements for online classes.

5.2. Structure of online classes

Recorded classes uploaded at the university website/YouTube/any other application was the most preferred (54.4%) class format by whereas 27.04% of the respondents preferred live classes that can be recorded, 17.92% opined in favour of live classes and 0.65% preferred only reading materials.

Majority of the respondents preferring recorded classes and live classes that can be recorded since it gives them a flexibility in learning. Regarding the nature of reading materials majority of the respondents (84%) preferred video content supplemented with reading materials. More than half (53%) of the respondents preferred the instructor to teach using PowerPoint presentations (see Table 3b ).

Table 3b

Structure of online classes.

5.3. Frequency and duration of online classes

Around 58% of the learners wanted online classes for twice in a week with 46% respondents preferring 45 ​min duration for each class. Around 48% of the respondents desired to spend only two to 4 ​h in a day for online class and wanted a break of 15 ​min in between the two classes (See Table 3c ).

Table 3c

Frequency and duration of online classes.

5.4. Addressing the queries

Various methods preferred for clarifying the queries were a platform with option for posting queries (48.21%), through live chat (35.5%), email to the course instructor (14.33%) and WhatsApp (0.98%). Interestingly,40% of the respondents expect the instructor to clarify their doubts within a day (See Table 3d ).

Table 3d

Addressing the queries.

5.5. Plans and criteria for evaluation

Majority of the students preferred quiz (75.9%) and assignments (56.3%) at the end of every class for effective learning. Around 47 %of the respondents felt that one-week time should be given for submitting their assignments.

Surprisingly,60% of the respondents wished to attend online exams and around 70% of the respondents preferred objective mode of examination rather than descriptive examination (See Table 3e ).

Table 3e

Plans and criteria for evaluation.

6. Respondent’s perception towards online learning

The frequency and percentage were calculated for each of the seven statements rated on a scale of five-point continuum as shown in Table 4 a.

Table 4a

Respondents’ perception towards online learning.

Where,1- online is or might be less effective

2- online is or might be somewhat less effective

3- online is or might be equally effective

4- online is or might be somewhat more effective

5- online is or might be much more effective.

Results suggested that, there was not much differences in the perception of Graduate and Post Graduate students towards online learning. Around 50% of the respondents agree with the statement online leaning improves their technical skills as compared to face-face classes. It also evident that around 60% of respondents are agree with the statement that online classes are less effective when it comes to communication with the instructor as compared to face-face classes. On an average 20–30% of the respondents perceive that online and face-face classes are equally good when it comes to the above criterions.

It should also be noted that the consensus varied from 0.40 to 0.56 implying that there was neither perfect disagreement nor perfect agreement between the respondents regarding the effectiveness of online learning. Difference in perception among the respondents could be attributed to lack of equity in internet availability, poor teaching skills or poor learning environment.

Further, to test for the presence of pattern in the data, we employed Friedman test. The ranking provided by the respondents might as well be random without any pattern and simply comparing them based on mean rank can be erroneous. So, mean ranks can be compared only after making sure that there is a pattern in the ratings provided by the users. The analysis revealed that there is a pattern in the data as the test statistics turned out to be significant. Mean value for each statement was used to rank the statements related to the perceived effectiveness of online classes in comparison with classroom teaching. The results revealed that enhancement in technical skills; instructors’ ability to understand the virtual environment and making the platform easier to learn and spending more time on assignments in comparison to classroom environment were ranked first, second and third respectively (see Table 4b ). The test statistic is presented in the Table 4 c and its level of significance indicated that the differences were highly significant.

Table 4b

Friedman rank test.

Table 4c

Test Statistics for Friedman Rank test.

7. Benefits of online learning

Results of the study indicate that flexible schedule and convenience was ranked as the major benefits of the online learnings. Online education offers students the opportunity to study at their own pace and time of their convenience. Hence, flexibility and convenience are major drivers behind the demand for online education.

More comfortable environment, enhancing the technical skills, more interaction and greater ability to concentrate and self-discipline and responsibility were ranked two, three, four and five respectively (see Table 5 ).

Table 5

Benefits of online learning.

8. Bottlenecks for online learning

Table 6 indicates that lack of connectivity was the ranked as the major hindrance in online learning. The situation is even worse for those from remote areas. The findings highlight the India’s digital divide and lack of equity in access to uninterrupted internet proving to be a hassle to many students.

Table 6

Bottlenecks in online learning.

The second and third constraints were data limit and data speed which were again the limitations of internet infrastructure. These give us an insight that if any country wants to move towards online education then as a pre-requisite it should focus on its internet facilities. Lack of traditional way of direct interactions in classrooms is also a major concern along with those mentioned above in conducting online classes.

9. Factors affecting success of online classes

Qualitative analysis of the open-ended questions indicate that the majority of the participants recognized the following components for conducting online classes successfully such as nature of content, infrastructure, competency of the instructor, student readiness and follow up and various subcomponents were also discussed.

Majority of the respondents opined that nature of content and infrastructure were the major determinants for smooth conduct of online classes (see Table 7a , Table 7b ) The course instructor should spend quality time to design the content which should be well structured, concise, interactive and relevant. The students should be able to record the classes such that content can be accessed at any time based on their convenience. Recording will also come in handy for those students who have internet connectivity issues to live stream the classes.

Table 7a

Factors affecting success of online classes.

Table 7b

Frequency of themes identified for success of online classes.

Where TC-Total Count.

The online classes will succeed only if all the students have access to internet. Minimum technical requirements such as internet connectivity, devices and software requirements should be fulfilled for optimal learning experience.

10. Factors that could lead to failure of online classes

Many participants in this research study reported that technological constraint, distractions, instructor’s incompetency, learner’s inefficacy and health issues were challenges in their online learning experience.

The biggest challenge reported by participants was technological constraints. The concern over technological constraints was also reflected across all the responses (see Table 8a , Table 8b ) . Lack of access to internet will exclude some of the learners from the online classes. Slow connections can also make accessing course platforms and materials frustrating. Online classes will be successful only if internet facility is provided to all by making it equitable and affordable.

Table 8a

Factors affecting failure of online classes.

Table 8b

Frequency of themes identified for failure of online classes.

The concern over a lack of community was also expressed by the respondents. It is challenging to build a comfortable environment for learning or a sense of community in the online environment. It will be important to think about ways that students and teachers can get to know each other and stay connected.

Incompetency of the instructor was also reflected from the survey. Efforts should be made by the instructor to make classes interesting and effective so as to sustain the interest of the learner. It is also important to feel comfortable using a computer and navigating the Internet.

In addition to discussing specific challenges and useful components, interviewees provided several suggestions for conducting online classes smoothly during COVID-19 pandemic. The major themes identified were general, content, connectivity, interactivity, flexibility, skills and follow-up (see Table 9a , Table 9b ) .

Table 9a

Themes identified for suggestions for online classes.

Table 9b

Frequency of themes identified for suggestions.

Where- TC-Total Count.

Majority of the participants opined that online classes are effective provided that the classes are well structured and interactive with flexible curriculum supported with uninterrupted internet connectivity and competent instructor.

11. Discussion

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the preference and perception of students regarding the online classes.

Majority of the respondents preferred online classes to cope up with the curriculum due to lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, whereas 30% of the respondents suggested suspending the classes or providing reading materials till the lockdown is lifted. In order to probe into this matter, analysis of perception of the respondents regarding online classes was required.

We also identified the learners’ perceptions of successful components and hindrances in online learning environment. Early work has provided some fundamental insights into the prospects of online learning ( Cereijo et al., (1999) ; Hartley and Bendixen (2001) ; Hill (2002) ). The components identified by the participants were in line with previous research. One of the primary factors listed for determining the success of online classes was structure of online classes. This finding is reinforced by the studies of Dempsey and Van Eck (2002) ;; Song et al.(2004) ; Allen (2011) .In order to enhance the productivity of the learners’ long duration classes should be avoided and sufficient break should be given between two consecutive classes. It will not only avoid cognitive load but also takes care of the physical strain caused due to prolonged use of electronic gadgets. It was supported by Thompson’s (2014) formula of work for 52 ​min and break for 17.

Technical proficiency of teachers and learners related to usage of computer and internet is a major factor determining the effectiveness of online classes. It was in line with the findings of Tsai and Lin (2004) ; Peng, et al. (2006) ; Convenience and flexibility were identified as the strength of online classes. Petrides (2002) claimed that respondents indicated that it was convenient to work in an online course in collaborative groups without rearranging the schedule for everyone as one would do in traditional classroom learning. Poole (2000) found that learners often accessed resources for the course from their home computers, the most convenient location for them. Hence care should be taken to fix the online classes based on the learner’s convenience and it will be better if recorded videos are uploaded in the university website so that the learner can access the videos as per the convenience.

Agriculture education system gives a lot of emphasis on imparting practical skills to the learners. But conducting the practical classes online is a difficult task. In the wake of adapting to the changed times, innovative solutions like 3D virtual labs are being devised. A teacher’s competency in communication as well his ability to use the multimedia contents for effective presentation are very important in this juncture. The results of the study clearly highlight that the lack of teachers’ competencies could be a major reason for failure of online classes and also calls for further exploration on the potential of the recent initiatives in online practical classes to further develop suitable models/applications to cater the real needs.

Interactivity was found to be one of the major driving forces for success of online classes. For example, the findings by Johnson et al. (2008) indicates that developing and sustaining a collaborative learning space within an e-learning environment is essential for maximizing the satisfaction of the participants. In addition to this Gunawardena and Zittle (1997) found a strong correlation between learners’ social presence and their overall satisfaction in the medium.

Online classes must engage participants through frequent, meaningful activities that helps to keep them focussed. The importance of frequency of interaction in making online classes was also explained by Huggett (2014) . It was also found that lack of immediacy in getting answers to their queries was also found to be a challenge in online learning. It was also reported by Hara and Kling’s (1999) ; Petrides’ (2002) ; Vonderwell’s (2003) . Hence care should be taken by the instructor to answer the queries of the learners’ immediately.

Suggestions were also taken from the participants to enhance the effectiveness of online learning. It was found that appropriate content, connectivity, recorded videos along with proper follow up makes online classes on par with the traditional classroom situation. Majority of the participants reiterated the point several times. Therefore, Online learning thus allows institutions and/or teachers to reach learners virtually, enhances convenience and strengthens educational opportunities ( Bourne et al.(1997) ; Owston (1997) ; Hara and Kling (1999) , ( 2001 ); Schrum (2000) ; Rourke (2001) ; Hill (2002) ; Hofmann (2002) ).

Even in countries with little digital divide, unlike India, and has better internet connectivity has never shifted to complete online mode before this pandemic. Reasons could be varied including the advantage of face to face interactivity, immediate feedback and sense of community amongst many other. One reason could also be related to difficulty in teaching skills, as in practical classes. In Agricultural Education, where the weightage to practical aspects of learning is more, shifting completely online mode may not be possible. In the immediate future, the universities may resort to a hybrid mode where the classes are conducted online and practical’s are conducted in small batches with social distancing. The findings of the study can be very useful in designing the content as well as structure for the online classes.

12. Limitations

Due to time constraint the study was restricted only to Agricultural students from India. Further we have limited our analysis to understand the perception of learners and excluded the instructors for the sake of brevity and time constraint.

13. Conclusion

With efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the contours of education system are changing with online education becoming the primary means of instruction. Universities and institutions are shifting to online platforms to catch up with the curriculum. It may be too early to say how students and teachers will cope with online learning as they figure out the constraints, reorient to address them but the perception and readiness of teachers and students is an important consideration which we have tried to document.

The findings of this study indicated that majority of the students evinced a positive attitude towards online classes in the wake of corona. The online learning was found to be advantageous as it provided flexibility and convenience for the learners. Students preferred well-structured content with recorded videos uploaded in university websites. They also indicated the need for interactive sessions with quizzes and assignments at the end of each class to optimise the learning experience. However, most students also reported that online classes could be more challenging than traditional classroom because of the technological constraints, delayed feedback and inability of the instructor to handle effectively the Information and Communication Technologies. Therefore, all these factors should be considered while developing an online course to make it more effective and productive for the learner.It’s possible that once the COVID-19 pandemic settles down, we may see a continued increase in education systems using online platforms for study aids, albeit in a hybrid mode in combination with regular classes. Hence this study will prove useful for reimagining and redesigning the higher education with components involving online mode.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

T. Muthuprasad: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Writing - original draft, Validation, Investigation. S. Aiswarya: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing, Formal analysis, Validation, Investigation, Visualization. K.S. Aditya: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Validation, Resources. Girish K. Jha: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

We whole-heartedly acknowledge all the respondents for spending their valuable time on filling our questionnaire. We also acknowledge the anonymous referee for providing valuable comments.

Appendix A Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100101 .

Appendix A. Supplementary data

The following is/are the supplementary data to this article:

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Impact of Online Learning in India: A Survey of University Students During the COVID-19 Crisis

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The unprecedented situation of COVID-19 caused the government of India to instruct educational institutions to switch to an online mode to mitigate the losses for students due to the pandemic. The present study attempts to explore the impact of online learning introduced as a stop-gap arrangement during the pandemic in India. A survey was conducted (N=289), via Facebook and WhatsApp, June 1-15, 2020 to understand the accessibility and effectiveness of online learning and constraints that students of higher education across the country faced during the peak times of the pandemic.

The analysis and interpretation of the data revealed that the students acclimatized in a short span of time to online learning, with only 33.21% saying they were not satisfied with the online learning mode. However, the sudden shift to online education has presented more challenges for the socially and economically marginalized groups, including Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Class (OBC), females, and students in rural areas, due to factors like the price of high-speed Internet (78.20% identified it as a barrier to online learning), insufficient infrastructure (23.52% needed to share their device frequently or very frequently), poor Internet connectivity, etc. According to 76.47% of respondents, the future of learning will be in “blended mode.” A total of 88.92% of the respondents suggested that the government should provide high-quality video conferencing facilities free to students to mitigate the division created by online education in an already divided society.

The unprecedented situation of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced the Indian education system to move to digital learning and teaching to fill the gap created by suspending classroom teaching across the country. Technological development and the Internet have changed the lives of people immensely and have also brought a huge change in various fields (Nadikattu , 2020) .

The majority of countries worldwide temporarily closed educational institutions to contain the spread of the COVID-19. According to UNESCO (2020) , 191 countries have implemented nationwide or localized school closures, resulting in over 91% of enrolled students, or 1.5 billion people, not being able to go to school as of April 20, 2020 (Lamrabat , 2020) . UNESCO has supported countries in their efforts to mitigate the immediate impact of school closures, particularly for more vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, and to facilitate the continuity of education for all through remote learning (UNESCO , 2020) .

The decision of the countries to switch to an online mode of education in light of the outbreak of COVID-19 was needed to contain the spread of the pandemic. Although the Indian government has attempted to control the damage by introducing online teaching through the virtual classroom, uploading and sharing e-study materials, and through virtual interaction, all such tools and techniques have limitations. This damage control mechanism will certainly have long-term consequences on the quality, accessibility, and deliverability of educational content. The effects of the global pandemic on the education system may vary from country to country, depending mainly on infrastructure and quality of content. The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected all segments of students, but it is particularly damaging to students of the vulnerable groups of the society.

The people of the vulnerable groups in India are disadvantaged in comparison to others mainly on account of limited access to basic needs or services. The vulnerable groups susceptible to mainly social and economic discrimination include women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, children, aged, disabled, poor migrants, people living with HIV/AIDS, and sexual minorities (MES , 2011) . As per census of India 2011, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) account for 8.2% and 16.2% of the total population of the country respectively (Census India , n.d.) . The term OBC, which stands for Other Backward Class, is collectively used by the Government of India to categorize the educationally or socially underprivileged castes living across the country. It is one of the official classifications of the population alongside General Class, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs).

There are reports of students of a large section of the country facing difficulties coping with the present online system of delivery of education based on the digital divide. The closure of 1.5 million schools due to the pandemic and lockdowns in 2020 has impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in India (UNICEF , 2021) . The interruptions in the teaching and learning process have adversely affected mainly the students without smartphones and computers, those with poor Internet speed or lack of stable Internet connection, electricity failures, etc. The early evidence and news reports also indicate that the impact of COVID-19 is most severe among the students from vulnerable groups due to their inability to continue with studies due to meager economic conditions. Moreover, re-contextualizing the teaching and learning process to an e-learning mode has several limitations for students with less access to technology.

The problem for the students with meager sources of family income is more severe and such students require additional attention and support. The online method of delivering content is a big barrier for such students and their families. It has restricted both the cognitive as well as non-cognitive development of these students. The online delivery of education may turn out to be harmful if the pandemic situation continues for a long time for the students living in poverty. The situation will adversely affect students from indigent and other marginalized groups in particular. Moreover, health and psychological issues such as mental stress, eye strain, headache, backache, neck ache, spondylitis, sleeplessness, irritation, aloofness, lack of physical peer interaction, etc. emerging from the sudden introduction of online education can cause the students to experience many difficulties. Any stress and inadequate resources to alleviate these potential harms may lead the individual to experience psychological distress (Lazarus & Folkman , 1984) .

As an offshoot of digital and Internet technology, e-learning or online learning has developed the potential to make some notable changes in accessing educational curriculum outside the traditional classroom and previously existing technology over the last two decades. However, the widespread technological innovations and infrastructural growth divided the world into the physical and digital world since the dawn of the new millennium. Besides the availability of the infrastructure, a detailed lesson plan, presentation, and good study materials need to be prepared for effective online learning. The lack of online teaching skills, no training for preparing lesson plans, poor or no hands-on training of software, unavailability of infrastructure, etc. among the educators of developing and underdeveloped countries stand as a major challenge. The trend of online learning has been benefiting the learners from developed counties with sound technological infrastructure more than the developing and poor counties, resulting in a huge gap between education rich and education poor countries.

Over the years, India has introduced several public policies in different sectors to acquaint and encourage citizens to accept digital technology for a wide range of benefits. Of late, digital activity is gaining acceptance across different sectors including education, especially in private educational institutes, coaching centers, and distance learning universities in pre-COVID-19 India.

In a country as diverse as India, along with overcoming the infrastructure barrier, there needs to be a focus on overcoming the barriers of language and content (Saini , 2018) . The migration to online learning has been looked at as a good solution for the future by experts while overcoming the infrastructural barriers in gradual progression to maintain quality and accessibility to meet the learning needs of the growing population of the country.

There may be numerous pros and cons of online education with respect to the students of different classes, castes, genders, and economic conditions. Despite all odds, the government and stakeholders of educational institutions have been working hard to strengthen the knowledge of the individual, larger community, and society for any normal and future crisis situations.

This paper concentrates on the socio-demographic impact of the introduction of online learning process in higher education on students of different classes, castes, genders, urban, and rural areas in higher education.

Literature Review

Fast research growth and technology have made distance education easy (McBrien et al. , 2009) . “Most of the terms (online learning, open learning, web-based learning, computer-mediated learning, blended learning, m-learning, for ex.) have in common the ability to use a computer connected to a network, that offers the possibility to learn from anywhere, anytime, in any rhythm, with any means” (Cojocariu et al. , 2014) .

Not only the teachers but also the students are facing challenges due to a deficiency in proper learning attitudes, lack of suitable materials for learning, more involvement in classroom learning, lack of self-discipline, and the inadequate learning environment at some of their homes during self-isolation (Brazendale et al. , 2017) .

Using a qualitative content analysis approach, the study conducted by Sun and Chen (2016) reviewed 47 published studies and research regarding online teaching and learning since 2008. Their study primarily focuses on how theories, practices, and assessments apply to an online learning environment. Some prominent factors required for effective online instruction included well-designed course content, motivating interaction between the instructor and learners, well-prepared and fully supported instructors, creation of a sense of online learning community, and rapid advancement of technology Sun and Chen (2016) .

In their systematic analysis, Navarro and Shoemaker (2000) observed that the learning outcomes of students having online classes were as good as or better than traditional classroom learning, irrespective of the background characteristics of the students. The student learners were highly satisfied with online learning.

Lederman (2020) had the opinion that the COVID-19 crisis compelled both teachers and students to embrace the digital academic experience of the online teaching-learning process. Bao (2020) was perhaps one among the early researchers during the pandemic who described how universities have been moving from classroom-based education to online education, owing to the exponential number of COVID-19 cases. The teachers have been delivering course content through various online platforms, including online educational platforms, videoconferencing software, and social media (Aguilera-Hermida , 2020) . The online educational platforms like Google Classroom and Blackboard allow teachers to share notes and multimedia resources to continue the regular studies of students. Students can submit their assignments via educational platforms and teachers can track the progress of students.

Videoconferencing tools such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams have been playing important roles in delivering online lectures and organizing discussion sessions. In fact, these platforms typically support slideshows and have several useful features. A number of universities and institutions of higher education have been disseminating course material through their official websites (Chatterjee & Chakraborty , 2020) .

Several countries were equipped with significant infrastructure for online education before the pandemic hit the world (Mishra et al. , 2020) . Despite this, not all universities were prepared to shift to complete online education. There are some empirical studies that suggest that students have a better learning experience in a physical classroom than through online education (Bojović et al. , 2020) . Students miss the assistance they obtain from their peers in classrooms and laboratories and access to a library (Aguilera-Hermida , 2020) . However, students believe that online education facilitated the continuation of their studies during the pandemic (Mishra et al. , 2020) .

The caste system of Indian society is one among the world’s oldest forms of surviving social stratification. The system of caste segregates the Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, based on their karma (work) and dharma (religion or duty in Hindi language). This system of casteism among Hindus is believed to be more than 3,000 years old. This system of social division dictates nearly all facets of Hindu religious and social life, where each group occupies a definite place in the complex social hierarchy. The communities living in rural India are mainly segregated on the basis of castes - the upper and lower castes. They have been living in segregated colonies with restrictions on movements, alliances and sharing facilities. The Constitution of India banned discrimination on the basis of caste after country’s independence from British rule, and, in an attempt to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the traditionally disadvantaged, the authorities announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes, the lowest in the caste hierarchy, in 1950 (BBC , 2019) . The Constitution of India defines who are members of the SC and ST under Article 341 and 342 with respect to any state or union territory.

The population of OBC consisted of 52% of the country’s population according to the B P Mandal Commission report (TNS , 2021) of 1980, and it was determined to be 41% in 2006 (TNN , 2007) by the National Sample Survey Organisation. A constitutional provision of 27% reservation (PIB , 2014) was made in public sector employment and higher education to uplift the OBC.

The review of literature suggests that online learning has both positive and negative aspects in terms of delivery of content, current environment, and availability of infrastructure. The trend of learning via online mode is not new for the students belonging to privileged classes in India. There are a section of people opting for online learning via various platforms like edX and Coursera for better learning and international exposure. The present crisis of the pandemic forced some students to not be able to carry out their studies in the online mode due to several to social, economic, and infrastructure related issues. These issues include no or poor Internet facilities, no mobile phone, laptop or computer, no conducive environment for learning, etc. The sample for the current study mainly represents only those higher education students who were forced to go to an online mode of learning.

The researchers have not found any studies on the effectiveness of online learning among the students of higher education of varied demographics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study may be helpful to understand the effectiveness of online learning especially among the vulnerable groups of the society during the pandemic.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

The current study investigates the effect of the sudden shift of the entire learning environment from physical to online mode. The research questions formulated for the study are as follows.

RQ1 : How or what were the opinions of the students regarding online mode of learning?

RQ2 : How has online learning affected the students of different groups, particularly disadvantaged members of society, including OBC, SC, ST, rural, and female students?

RQ3 : Will the online mode of learning will reduce the discrimination among the different socio-economic groups of the society?

The following hypotheses have been framed and will be tested from the data collected.

H 1 : Different sections of the society were differently impacted due to the sudden shift to an online mode of learning.

H 2 : There were sections of the society who lacked sufficient infrastructure for online learning.

H 3 : Online learning is considered less effective and the interaction level is also less.

Methodology

There is the need during the ongoing pandemic to study and understand the efficacy of online education when students of various disciplines of India are entirely dependent on learning online. An explorative research design technique has been chosen for this study, and the analysis in this paper will also look into the following aspects of online learning.

Frequency of participation in learning via online classes, the kind of devices used, mode of connection, and the platform used for learning online.

Suitability of the additional e-material available for the online learning process among learners.

Effectiveness of online learning among students in higher education. (Satisfaction, understanding the subject, classroom adjustment, teacher-pupil interactions, peer interaction/sharing).

Constraints faced during online learning (gender, economic status, social status, place of residence, and health).

Problems faced by e-learners in the process of learning such as conceptual, theoretical, and practical clarity of the content, technical problems, and the physical environment.

Effectiveness of online learning in the present situation of the pandemic and future implications.

Need and preference of learners for better learning and understanding of the content and realistic approach to the subjects.

A Google Form containing 38 questions has been developed to understand respondents’ experiences and perception of online classes during the pandemic. It also attempts to investigate how the sudden shift has differently impacted students belonging to different socio-demographic backgrounds. The responses to the questionnaire helped us to determine the frequency of participation in learning via online classes, the kind of devices used, connection mode, the platform used for learning online, etc.

The link to the questionnaire was circulated online via various Facebook and WhatsApp groups of students of higher education, aged 18-30 years across India. The link was kept active for 15 days from June 1, 2020 to June 15, 2020 to collect responses from the e-learners of the target group. The responses of 289 e-learners were recorded during the period. All the questions were close ended. The collected data was recorded on a nominal or ordinal scale. Therefore, the data received is categorical data.

Pertinent tools to analyze categorical data were used, which include frequency analysis, contingency tables, and chi-square test for testing the associations of the categorical data. Using cross-tabulation, we could get grouped frequencies to find whether there is a pattern of association between two or more variables.

Results and Discussion

Out of 289 responses, 171 (59.16%) were male and 118 (41.83%) were female. In terms of caste, the majority of the responses were received from the General Category ( n =192, 66.43%) and Other Backward Class (OBC) ( n =67, 23.18%); only 15 responses were received from members of a Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) each.

Participation, Device, Connectivity, and Platform

A total of 211 (73.01%) students responded that they participate most of the time in online learning, whereas 69 (23.87%) said that they participate some of the time. The number of students who seldom or never attended online classes was very low (8 students and 1 student, respectively). This clearly reflects that students did not face much difficulty starting to learn online. The majority of students ( n =245, 84.77%) were using smart phones for online learning, whereas the uses of laptops, tablets, and desktops were limited to only 38, 4, and 2 students (13.15%, 1.38%, and <1%) respectively. More than three-quarters of the students (76.12%) used mobile Internet to participate in online learning, which indicates that using wi-fi connectivity is less popular or not available.

The number of students using Zoom as a platform for learning was the highest ( n =153, 52.94%); 60 (20.76%) used WhatsApp, 33 (11.42%) used Google Classroom, 21 (7.27%) used Google Meet, and 22 (7.61%) used other platforms of class room meetings. When it comes to receiving study material, most of the learners preferred WhatsApp ( n =252, 87.20%) and only 35 (12.11%) preferred other online platforms.

E-Material Preference and Satisfaction

It was observed that students preferred e-notes and online videos over e-books as supporting resources for online learning (see Table 1 ).

In response to the question about whether they were satisfied with the online mode for effectively learning the subjects covered on their syllabus, 96 (33.22%) of the e-learners were not satisfied. Other students responded to the same question that they were very satisfied (20, 6.92%), satisfied ( n =62, 21.45%), or that it was manageable ( n =111, 38.40%).

Exposure and Material

A total of 122 (42.21%) strongly agreed and 124 (42.91%) agreed with the statement that hands on experience in a physical classroom may not work in an online mode. A total of 19 e-learners (6.57%) could not decide. Another 18 (6.23%) and 6 (2.08%) respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed, respectively, with the statement that practical exposure with a teacher in a physical classroom interaction may not work online. The responses reflect that the majority of the students felt that they get less practical exposure in the online mode of learning.

Most of the students ( n =270, 93.43%) received online material from their teachers; only 19 (6.57%) said that they had not received it. Only 58 students (20.07%) had recorded lectures from their teachers. A chi-square test revealed that type of course and the level of satisfaction in online learning are independent, that is, not affecting each other (χ 2 (9, N =289)=10.257, p =.330). However, residential area (urban, suburban, or rural) and students’ satisfaction level are associated (χ 2 (6, N =289)=29.239, p <.001). This is an indication that the urban students (privileged) are more satisfied than suburban and rural (less privileged) students. It hints that online education has created a divide in the society. This result shows that H 1 is supported that is, the different sections of the society were differently impacted.

Constraints of Learning

To explore the constraints faced during online learning, several questions were asked, and pivot tables were created to understand the associations between the responses to these questions and some important demographic variables such as gender, caste, family income, place of residence, etc.

On the question about whether the online schedule of classes caused any problem to their family members’ daily routine or not, the majority of students reported that it has created a little problem ( n =108, 37.37%) or it was never a problem ( n =94, 32.53%). However, when the responses of the same questions were cross tabulated with gender and caste and a chi-square test was applied, it was found that responses were independent of caste (χ 2 (12, N =289)=9.6776, p=.1389), but related to gender (χ 2 (4, N =289)=13.531, p =.009). These test results suggests that female students had to adjust their household work for online classes. In addition, while this does not directly indicate infrastructural issues, it may be an indication that female students may not own their own device for attending online classes, which may be attributed to less infrastructure. Therefore, these results may support H 2, which stated certain sections of society have insufficient infrastructure for online learning.

The responses of the e-learners were evenly spread when the question of whether the sharing of a device while attending an online session created any problems for family members or not. A total of 80 respondents (27.68%) rarely had any problem, whereas it was never a problem for 72 respondents (24.91%). The details of the responses are in Table 2 . The results of chi-square tests showed that problems due to sharing a device were related to both caste (χ 2 (4, N =289)= 25.504, p =.009) and gender (χ 2 (4, N =289)=13.68709, p =.008), further supporting H2.

Note. 1 = very frequently/strongly agree , 2 = frequently/agree , 3 = occasionally/neutral , 4 = rarely/disagree , 5 = never/strongly disagree

An attempt to explore whether this problem has any association with gender/caste/household income and residential area (urban, suburban, or rural) has been done. Cross tabulations have been done with all these. A chi-square test for independence for attributes was performed. The chi-square test revealed that the constraints of learning are associated with gender (χ 2 (4, N =289) =13.687, p=.008) and caste (χ 2 (12, N =289)=26.504, p =.009). However, no association was found between the responses to this question and the income status of the respondents’ families. These results help to understand the online learning constraints of e-learners in terms of their gender, economic status, place of residence, and societal standing (caste). The results of the test support H 1 .

Internet Speed

Most of the respondents ( n =226,78.20%) agreed or strongly agreed that the price of high-speed Internet is a barrier to online learning (see Table 2 ). Caste (χ 2 (12, N =289)=25.501, p =.013) and income (χ 2 (12, N =289) =27.921, p =.006) were found to be significantly associated with the price of high-speed Internet being a barrier to online learning. These results support H 2 , that is, that certain groups lacked the infrastructure needed for online learning.

Information Overload

Most of the respondents (52.60%) opined that the abundance of e-materials on course curriculum may lead to information overload, whereas the number of students who responded yes or no were found to be 76 (26.30%) and 61 (21.10%) respectively (see Table 3 ).

Note. 1 = Yes, 2 = Somewhat, 3 = Maybe/Not sure, 4 = No.

Stress and Remedies

The majority of the students strongly agree (21.45%) and agree (37.03%), that online classes were stressful.

The majority of the students believe, that is, agreed (36.33%) or strongly agreed (18.00%), that inclusion of online music and meditation classes can reduce the stress of online classes. Table 2 shows that 19.73% disagreed and 6.58% strongly disagreed that music would reduce stress, and 19.36% were undecided.

If undecided responses are excluded, strongly agree/agree are combined, and strongly disagree/disagree are combined, and a z -test for difference of proportion is conducted, it reflects that more people agreed with introducing music and meditation as supplementary classes along with main the subjects ( z =5.3, p < .001).

User-Friendliness of Tools

A total of 139 respondents (48.10%) found online learning tools user-friendly (see Table 3 ). When the responses yes and somewhat were combined and a z -test was conducted, the result of the test suggests that the majority found online tools user friendly ( z =11.4, p <.001).

Readiness for Online Learning

The number of respondents who feel that India is not ready for online classes was found to be highest ( n =112, 38.75%) in the survey (see Table 3 ). An equal number ( n =65, 22.49%) of participants responded somewhat or yes, whereas 47 (16.26%) of respondents were not sure. The responses of the participants indicate that the present situation for online learning is not encouraging when considering India’s readiness for online learning in similar situations in the future.

Online vs. Classroom Teaching

On the question of whether the students, who have been forced to attend online classes due to the pandemic, had attended classroom classes before the outbreak of COVID-19, the majority of the students, which includes very frequently (17.99%) and frequently (46.37%), had attended classes regularly, 17.65% attended occasionally, and 13.49% rarely attended classroom classes before the outbreak of COVID-19, whereas a small percentage (4.50%) never attended classes held in regular classrooms (see Table 2 ). The majority of the students (64.36%), which includes very frequently (17.99%) and frequently (46.37%), attended online classes regularly.

Should We Replace Classroom Teaching with Online Teaching?

More than half of the respondents (53.29%) had the opinion that online teaching cannot replace classroom teaching, whereas 22.49% believed that online teaching can replace traditional classroom teaching; 9.00% of the respondents were not sure, and only 15.22% believed that online teaching can replace classroom teaching (see Table 3 ).

The limitations of online learning may hamper the majority of the respondents’ ability to understand contents and develop skills related to the subjects.

Art of Teaching and Students’ Zeal for Learning

More than 70% (71.28%) of the respondents believed (yes or somewhat) that online learning has affected the art of teaching and zeal for learning (see Table 3 ). A total of 28.75% (19.38% no and 9.37% not sure) have different views.

Future Approach to Learning

More than three-quarters of total respondents, who either agreed or strongly agreed, believe the future of learning would be blended, that is, a combination of classroom and online learning (see Table 2 ). Only 2.42% disagree and 6.23% were not sure about it.

Support from Government

A total of 88.93% of the respondents either strongly agree or agree (see Table 2 ) with the statement that the government should provide high quality video conferencing facilities free to all students. The percentage of respondents with opinions such as disagree, strongly disagree, or undecided were minimal.

Practical Components of Learning

The majority of the respondents ( n =260, 89.97%) either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that they faced difficulties in comprehending lab/field-based activities when taught online (see Table 2 ). These results support H 3 .

Preference of Learning

More than half of the respondents (54.33%) believe that face-to-face interaction is a better option (see Table 4 ). A total of 22.14% preferred 50% face-to-face and 50% online. Only 4.15% preferred completely online learning. These findings support H 3.

The findings of the study suggest that there is a serious need to invest a sizeable amount of money in the development of infrastructure and to frame national policy to overcome challenges faced during the stop-gap arrangement of the teaching-learning process and continue it as an additional mode of teaching and learning even after the pandemic ends.

With the current experience of online education, advancement in technologies, proliferation of education, and ample opportunities of learning from experts, the modes and ease of learning have been significantly changing over a period of time. Hence, there is a need to develop new theories that deal with effectiveness, opportunities, and necessity for online learning.

We can observe the following from this study.

(i) Different sections of the society were differently impacted due to sudden shift on online mode of learning.

(ii) There were sections of the society who did not have sufficient infrastructure for online learning.

(iii) Discrimination among different classes may not be there as it takes place in physical classes, but the online mode of education will widen the gap among different sections of the society.

(iv) Teaching satisfaction level with the online mode is less than in-person education mode and even less for suburban and rural students.

(v) Constraints of online education are associated with gender and caste, indicating that online education creates more division in an already divided society.

The findings of the study may not be suitable to derive a universally acceptable conclusion, as it was conducted with a small group of people. The results may vary due to different social and economic standings of different groups of students of higher education, who have been continuing their online education during the pandemic crisis. However, the results of the study may give a direction to future researchers who wish to conduct similar studies with a larger sample and derive any model, concept, or theory based on the findings.

Submitted : February 27, 2021 KST

Accepted : July 18, 2021 KST

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Online education and its effect on teachers during COVID-19—A case study from India

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Area of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management Indore, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

• Surbhi Dayal

• Published: March 2, 2023
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287
• Reader Comments

COVID pandemic resulted in an initially temporary and then long term closure of educational institutions, creating a need for adapting to online and remote learning. The transition to online education platforms presented unprecedented challenges for the teachers. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of the transition to online education on teachers’ wellbeing in India.

The research was conducted on 1812 teachers working in schools, colleges, and coaching institutions from six different Indian states. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected via online survey and telephone interviews.

The results show that COVID pandemic exacerbated the existing widespread inequality in access to internet connectivity, smart devices, and teacher training required for an effective transition to an online mode of education. Teachers nonetheless adapted quickly to online teaching with the help of institutional training as well as self-learning tools. However, respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of online teaching and assessment methods, and exhibited a strong desire to return to traditional modes of learning. 82% respondents reported physical issues like neck pain, back pain, headache, and eyestrain. Additionally, 92% respondents faced mental issues like stress, anxiety, and loneliness due to online teaching.

As the effectiveness of online learning perforce taps on the existing infrastructure, not only has it widened the learning gap between the rich and the poor, it has also compromised the quality of education being imparted in general. Teachers faced increased physical and mental health issues due to long working hours and uncertainty associated with COVID lockdowns. There is a need to develop a sound strategy to address the gaps in access to digital learning and teachers’ training to improve both the quality of education and the mental health of teachers.

Citation: Dayal S (2023) Online education and its effect on teachers during COVID-19—A case study from India. PLoS ONE 18(3): e0282287. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287

Editor: Lütfullah Türkmen, Usak University College of Education, TURKEY

Received: November 13, 2021; Accepted: January 27, 2023; Published: March 2, 2023

Copyright: © 2023 Surbhi Dayal. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: Data apart from manuscript has been submitted as supporting information .

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

As of November 4, 2021, the spread of novel coronavirus had reached 219 countries and territories of the world, infecting a total of 248 million people and resulting in five million deaths [ 1 ]. In March 2020, several countries including India declared a mandatory lockdown, resulting in the temporary closure of many institutions, not least educational ones. Since then, various restrictions and strategies have been implemented to counter the spread of the virus. These include wearing masks, washing hands frequently, maintaining social and physical distance, and avoiding public gatherings. The pandemic has greatly disrupted all aspects of human life and forced new ways of functioning, notably in work and education, much of which has been restricted to the household environment. The closure for over a year of many schools and colleges across the world has shaken the foundations of the traditional structures of education. Due to widespread restrictions, employees have been forced to carve out working spaces in the family home; likewise, students and teachers have been compelled to bring classes into homes [ 2 ]. Nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries have been physically out of school due to the pandemic. In total, 94 percent of the world’s student population has been affected by school closures, and up to 99 percent of this student population come from low-to middle-income countries [ 3 ].

According to the World Economic Forum, the pandemic has changed how people receive and impart education [ 4 ]. Physical interaction between students and teachers in traditional classrooms has been replaced by exchanges on digital learning platforms, such as online teaching and virtual education systems, characterized by an absence of face-to-face connection [ 5 ]. Online education has thus emerged as a viable option for education from preschool to university level, and governments have used tools such as radio, television, and social media to support online teaching and training [ 6 ]. Various stakeholders, including government and private institutions, have collaborated to provide teachers with resources and training to teach effectively on digital platforms. New digital learning platforms like Zoom, Google Classroom, Canvas, and Blackboard have been used extensively to create learning material and deliver online classes; they have also allowed teachers to devise training and skill development programs [ 7 ]. Many teachers and students were initially hesitant to adopt online education. However indefinite closure of institutions required educational facilities to find new methods to impart education and forced teachers to learn new digital skills. Individuals have experienced different levels of difficulty in doing this; for some, “it has resulted in tears, and for some, it is a cup of tea” [ 8 ].

Teachers have reported finding it difficult to use online teaching as a daily mode of communication, and enabling students’ cognitive activation has presented a significant challenge in the use of distance modes of teaching and learning. Teachers have also expressed concerns about administering tests with minimal student interaction [ 9 ]. Lack of availability of smart devices, combined with unreliable internet access, has led to dissatisfaction with teacher-student interaction. Under pressure to select the appropriate tools and media to reach their students, some teachers have relied on pre-recorded videos, which further discouraged interaction. In locations where most teaching is done online, teachers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities (i.e., semi-urban areas) have had to pay extra to secure access to high-speed internet, digital devices, and reliable power sources [ 10 ]. Teachers in India, in particular, have a huge gap in digital literacy caused by a lack of training and access to reliable electricity supply, and internet services. In rural or remote areas, access to smart devices, the internet, and technology is limited and inconsistent [ 6 ]. In cities, including the Indian capital Delhi, even teachers who are familiar with the required technology do not necessarily have the pedagogical skills to meet the demands of online education. The absence of training, along with local factors (for example, stakeholders’ infrastructure and socio-economic standing), contributes to difficulties in imparting digital education successfully [ 10 ]. The gap in digital education across Indian schools is striking. For example, only 32.5% of school children are in a position to pursue online classes. Only 11% of children can take online classes in private and public schools, and more than half can only view videos or other recorded content. Only 8.1% of children in government schools have access to online classes in the event of a pandemic-related restrictions [ 11 ].

The adverse effects of COVID-19 on education must therefore be investigated and understood, particularly the struggles of students and teachers to adapt to new technologies. Significant societal effects of the pandemic include not only serious disruption of education but also isolation caused by social distancing. Various studies [ 7 , 12 , 13 ] have suggested that online education has caused significant stress and health problems for students and teachers alike; health issues have also been exacerbated by the extensive use of digital devices. Several studies [ 6 , 11 , 14 ] have been conducted to understand the effects of the COVID lockdown on digital access to education, students’ physical and emotional well-being, and the effectiveness of online education. However, only a few studies [ 13 , 15 – 17 ] have touched the issues that teachers faced due to COVID lockdown.

In this context, this study is trying to fill existing gaps and focuses on the upheavals that teachers went through to accommodate COVID restrictions and still impart education. It also provides an in-depth analysis of consequences for the quality of education imparted from the teachers’ perspective. It discusses geographical inequalities in access to the infrastructure required for successful implementation of online education. In particular, it addresses the following important questions: (1) how effectively have teachers adapted to the new virtual system? (2) How has online education affected the quality of teaching? (3) How has online education affected teachers’ overall health?

Because of lockdown restrictions, data collection for this study involved a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in the form of online surveys and telephonic interviews. A questionnaire for teachers was developed consisting of 41 items covering a variety of subjects: teaching styles, life-work balance, and how working online influences the mental and physical well-being of teachers. In the interviews, participants were asked about their experiences of online teaching during the pandemic, particularly in relation to physical and mental health issues. A pilot study was conducted with thirty respondents, and necessary changes to the items were made before the data collection. The survey tool was created using google forms and disseminated via email, Facebook, and WhatsApp. A total of 145 telephonic interviews were also conducted to obtain in-depth information from the respondents.

The data were collected between December 2020 and June 2021. The Research Advisory Committee on Codes of Ethics for Research of Aggrawal College, Ballabhgarh, Haryana, reviewed and approved this study. A statement included in the google survey form as a means of acquiring written consent from the participants. Information was gathered from 1,812 Indian teachers in six Indian states (Assam, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi, and Rajasthan) working in universities, schools, and coaching institutions. Nearly three-quarters of the total sample population was women. All participants were between the ages of 18 and 60, with an average age of 34 and a clear majority being 35 or younger. Nearly three-quarters of participants work in private institutions (25% in semi-government entities and the remainder in government entities). In terms of education, 52% of participants have a graduate degree, 34% a postgraduate degree, and 14% a doctorate. Table 1 summarizes the demographic characteristics of the participants.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.t001

Results & discussion

Upon analyzing the survey responses, three crucial areas were identified for a better understanding of the effect of COVID-19 on the Indian education system and its teachers: how effectively teachers have adapted, how effective teaching has been, and how teachers’ health has been affected.

1. How effectively have teachers adapted to the new virtual system?

The first research question concerns how willing teachers were to embrace the changes brought about by the online teaching system and how quickly they were able to adapt to online modes of instruction. This information was gathered from December 2020 to June 2021, at which point teachers had been dealing with school lockdowns for months and therefore had some time to become conversant with online teaching.

While 93.82% of respondents were involved in online teaching during the pandemic, only 16% had previously taught online. These results were typically different from the results of a similar study conducted in Jordon where most of the faculty (60%) had previous experience with online teaching and 68% of faculty had also received formal training [ 16 ]. Since the spread of COVID-19 was rapid and the implementation of the lockdown was sudden, government and educational institutions were not prepared for alternative modes of learning, and teachers needed some time for adjustment. Several other factors also affected the effectiveness of the transition to online education, namely access to different types of resources and training [ 18 ].

a. Access to smart devices.

Online teaching requires access to smart devices. A surprising number of teachers stated that they had internet access at home via laptops, smartphones, or tablets. A more pertinent question, however, was whether they had sole access to the smart device, or it was shared with family members. Only 37.25% of those surveyed had a device for their exclusive use while others shared a device with family members, due to lack of access to additional devices and affordability of new devices. During the lockdown, an increase in demand led to a scarcity of smart devices, so that even people who could afford to buy a device could not necessarily find one available for purchase. With children attending online classes, and family members working from home, households found it difficult to manage with only a few devices, and access to a personal digital device became an urgent matter for many. Respondents admitted to relying on their smartphones to teach courses since they lacked access to other devices. Teachers on independent-school rosters were significantly better equipped to access smart devices than those employed at other types of schools. The data also indicates that teachers in higher education and at coaching centers had relatively better access to laptops and desktop computers through their institutions, whereas teachers in elementary and secondary schools had to scramble for securing devices for their own use.

b. Internet access.

Internet access is crucial for effective delivery of online education. However, our survey shows that teachers often struggled to stay connected because of substantial differences between states in the availability of internet. Of the respondents, 52% reported that their internet was stable and reliable, 32% reported it to be satisfactory and the rest reported it to be poor. Internet connectivity was better in the states of Karnataka, New Delhi, and Rajasthan than in Assam, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh. Internet connectivity in Assam was particularly poor. Consequently, many teachers with access to advanced devices were unable to use them due to inadequate internet connection.

The following comments from a teacher in Assam capture relevant situational challenges: “I do not have an internet modem at home, and teaching over the phone is difficult. My internet connection is exhausted, and I am unable to see or hear the students.” Another teacher from Haryana reported similar difficulties: “During the lockdown, I moved to my hometown, and I do not have internet access here, so I go to a nearby village and send videos to students every three days.” Another teacher from Madhya Pradesh working at a premier institution reported experiencing somewhat different concerns: “I am teaching in one of the institute’s semi-smart classrooms, and while I have access to the internet, my students do not, making it difficult to hear what they are saying.”

These responses indicates clearly that it is not only teachers living in states where connectivity was poor who experienced difficulties in imparting education to students; even those who had good internet connectivity experiences problems caused by the poor internet connections of their students.

c. Tools for remote learning.

Teachers made use of a variety of remote learning tools, but access to these tools varied depending on the educator’s affiliation. Teachers at premier institutions and coaching centers routinely used the Zoom and Google Meet apps to conduct synchronous lessons. Teachers at state colleges used pre-recorded videos that were freely available on YouTube. Teachers in government schools used various platforms, including WhatsApp for prepared material and YouTube for pre-recorded videos. To deliver the content, private school teachers used pre-recorded lectures and Google Meet. In addition to curriculum classes, school teachers offered life skill classes (for example, cooking, gardening, and organizing) to help students become more independent and responsible in these difficult circumstances. In addition to online instruction, 16% of teachers visited their students’ homes to distribute books and other materials. Furthermore, of this 36% visited students’ homes once a week, 29% visited twice a week, 18% once every two weeks, and the rest once a month. Additionally, a survey done on 6435 respondents across six states in India reported that 21% teachers in schools conducted home visits for teaching children [ 19 ].

d. Knowledge and training for the use of information and communication technologies.

With the onset of the pandemic, information and communication technology (ICT) became a pivotal point for the viability of online education. The use of ICT can facilitate curriculum coverage, application of pedagogical practices and assessment, teacher’s professional development, and streamlining school organization [ 20 ]. However, the effective adoption and implementation of ICT necessitated delivery of appropriate training and prolonged practice. Also the manner in which teachers use ICT is crucial to successful implementation of online education [ 21 ]. While countries such as Germany, Japan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States recognized the importance of ICT by integrating it into their respective teacher training programmes [ 22 ], this has not been case in India. However, there are some training programmes available to teachers once they commence working. In accordance with our survey results, the vast majority of respondents (94%) lacked any ICT training or experience. In the absence of appropriate tools and support, these teachers self-experimented with online platforms, with equal chances of success and failure.

The transition from offline to online or remote learning was abrupt, and teachers had to adapt quickly to the new systems. Our data indicate that teachers in professional colleges and coaching centers received some training to help them adapt to the new online system, whereas teachers in urban areas primarily learned on their own from YouTube videos, and school teachers in rural areas received no support at all. Overall, teachers had insufficient training and support to adjust to this completely new situation. Policy research conducted on online and remote learning systems following COVID-19 has found similar results, namely that teachers implemented distance learning modalities from the start of the pandemic, often without adequate guidance, training, or resources [ 23 ]. Similar trends have been found in the Caribbean, where the unavailability of smart learning devices, lack of or poor internet access, and lack of prior training for teachers and students hampered online learning greatly. Furthermore, in many cases the curriculum was not designed for online teaching, which was a key concern for teachers [ 24 ]. Preparing online lectures as well as monitoring, supervising and providing remote support to students also led to stress and anxiety. Self-imposed perfectionism further exacerbated these issues while delivering online education [ 15 ]. A study conducted on 288 teachers from private and government schools in Delhi and National Capital Region area, also found that transition to online education has further widened the gap between pupils from government and private schools. It was more difficult to reach students from economically weaker sections of the society due to the digital divide in terms of access, usage, and skills gap. The study also found that even when teachers were digitally savvy, it did not mean that they know how to prepare for and take online classes [ 10 ].

2. How has online education affected the quality of teaching?

Once teachers had acquired some familiarity with the online system, new questions arose concerning how online education affected the quality of teaching in terms of learning and assessment, and how satisfied teachers were with this new mode of imparting education. To address these questions, specific questionnaire items about assessment and effectiveness of teaching has been included.

a. Effectiveness of online education.

Respondents agreed unanimously that online education impeded student-teacher bonding. They reported several concerns, including the inattentiveness of the majority of the students in the class, the physical absence of students (who at times logged in but then went elsewhere), the inability to engage students online, and the difficulty of carrying out any productive discussion given that only a few students were participating. Another significant concern was the difficulty in administrating online tests in light of widespread cheating. In the words of one teacher: “I was teaching a new class of students with whom I had never interacted in person. It was not easy because I could not remember the names of the students or relate to them. Students were irritated when I called out their names. It had a significant impact on my feedback. I would like us to return to class so I do not have to manage four screens and can focus on my students and on solving their problems.”

For these reasons, 85.65% of respondents stated that the quality of education had been significantly compromised in the online mode. As a result, only 33% reported being interested in continuing with online teaching after COVID-19. The results show slightly higher dissatisfaction in comparison to another study conducted in India that reported 67% of teachers feeling dissatisfied with online teaching [ 25 ]. Findings of this study were similar to the findings of a survey of lecturers in Ukraine assessing the effectiveness of online education. Lower quality student work was cited as the third most mentioned problem among the problems cited by instructors in their experience with online teaching, right behind unreliable internet connectivity and the issues related with software and hardware. Primary reasons for lower quality student work were drop in the number of assignments and work quality as well as cheating. Almost half (48.7%) of the participants expressed their disapproval of online work and would not like to teach online [ 26 ].

Due to the nature of the online mode, teachers were also unable to use creative methods to teach students. Some were accustomed to using physical objects and role-playing to engage students in the classroom, but they found it extremely difficult to make learning exciting and to engage their students in virtual space. Similar trends have been reported in Australia, where schoolteachers in outback areas did not find online education helpful or practical for children, a majority of whom came from low-income families. The teachers were used to employing innovative methods to keep the students engaged in the classroom. However, in online teaching, they could not connect with their students using those methods, which significantly hampered their students’ progress. Some teachers mentioned difficulties with online teaching caused by not being able to use physical and concrete objects to improve their instructions [ 27 ].

b. Online evaluation.

Of our respondents, 81% said that they had conducted online assessments of their students. Teachers used various online assessment methods, including proctored closed/open book exams and quizzes, assignment submissions, class exercises, and presentations. Teachers who chose not to administer online assessments graded their students’ performance based on participation in class and previous results.

Almost two-thirds of teachers who had administered online assessments were dissatisfied with the effectiveness and transparency of those assessments, given the high rates of cheating and internet connectivity issues. They also reported that family members had been helping students to cheat in exams because they wanted their children to get higher grades by any means necessary. In response, the teachers had tried to devise methods to discourage students and their families from cheating, but they still felt powerless to prevent widespread cheating.

As one respondent stated: “We are taking many precautions to stop cheating, such as asking to install a mirror behind the student and doing online proctoring, but students have their ways out for every matter. They disconnect the internet cable or turn it off and reconnect it later. When we question them, they have a connectivity reason ready”.

Teachers are also concerned about the effects of the digital skills gap on their creation of worksheets, assessments, and other teaching materials. As a result, some private companies have been putting together teacher training programs. The main challenge pertains to be implementation of a type of specialized education that many teachers are unfamiliar with and unwilling to adopt [ 28 ]. Because of the lack of effective and transparent online assessments, school teachers have reported that students were promoted to the next level regardless of their performance. Thus, only time will tell how successful online education has been in terms of its effects on the lives of learners.

3. How has online education affected teacher’s overall health?

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a situation that few people had experienced or even imagined living through. Governments and individuals tried their best to adjust to the new circumstances, but sudden lockdown, confinement to the household periphery, and working from home had adverse effects on the mental and physical health of many people, including educators and students. To clarify the effects of online education on teachers’ overall health, a number of questionnaire items were focused on respondents’ feelings during the lockdown, the physical and mental health issues they experienced, and their concerns about the future given the uncertainty of the present situation.

a. Physical health issues.

COVID-19 brought a multitude of changes to the lives of educators. Confinement to the household, working from home, and an increased burden of household and caregiving tasks due to the absence of paid domestic assistants increased physical workload and had corresponding adverse effects on the physical health of educators.

Of the study participants, 82% reported an increase in physical health issues since the lockdown ( Fig 1 ). Notably, 47% of those who were involved in digital mode of learning for less than 3 hours per day reported experiencing some physical discomfort daily, rising to 51% of teachers who worked online for 4–6 hours per day and 55% of teachers who worked more than 6 hours per day. Respondents reported a variety of physical health issues, including headaches, eye strain, back pain, and neck pain.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.g001

The number of hours worked showed a positive correlation with the physical discomfort or health issues experienced. A chi-square test was applied to determine the relationship between the number of online working hours and the frequency of physical issues experienced by the participants and found it to be significant at the 0.05 level ( Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.t002

As Fig 2 shows, 28% respondents’ complaint about experiencing giddiness, headaches; 59% complain of having neck and back pain. The majority of the participants had eye-strain problems most of the time; 32% faced eye problems sometimes, and 18% reported never having any eye issue. In addition, 49% had experienced two issues at the same time and 20% reported experiencing more than 2 physical issues at the same time.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.g002

The data in this study indicates a link between bodily distresses and hours worked. As working hours increased, so did reports of back and neck pain. 47% respondents reported back and neck pain after working for 3 hours or less, 60% after working for 3–6 hours, and nearly 70% after working for 6 hours or more.

The analysis also indicates link between physical issues experienced and the educator’s gender. Women experienced more physical discomfort than men, with 51% reporting frequent discomfort, compared to only 46% of men. Only 14% of female educators reported never experiencing physical discomfort, against 30% of male educators.

In terms of types of discomfort, 76% of female teachers and 51% of male teachers reported eye strain; 62% of female teacher and 43% of male teachers reported back and neck pain; 30% of female teachers and 18% of male teachers said they had experienced dizziness and headaches. The gender differences may be caused by the increase in household and childcare responsibilities falling disproportionately on female educators compared to their male counterparts. Several studies [ 17 , 29 – 31 ] have reported similar results, indicating that the gender gap widened during the pandemic period. The social expectations of women to take care of children increased the gender gap during the pandemic by putting greater responsibilities on women in comparison to men [ 29 ]. Women in academics were affected more in comparison to the men. Working from home burdened female educators with additional household duties and childcare responsibilities. A study done [ 32 ] in France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom discovered that women were immensely affected by lockdown in comparison to men. On top of this, women with children are affected more than women without children.

No effect of age on physical discomfort was observed in this study but increasing use of online tools (such as class websites) for content creation and delivery and extended working periods were major contributors to health problems.

b. Mental health issues.

The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemics have also proved difficult to manage. Being at home all day with limited social interaction, not to mention other pandemic-related sources of stress, affected the mental health of many people. The majority of the participants in this study admitted experiencing mental health issues including anxious feelings, low mood, restlessness, hopelessness, and loneliness. According to UNESCO [ 33 ], due to the sudden closure of schools and adaptability to new systems, teachers across the world are suffering from stress. Studies conducted in various parts of the world confirmed similar trends [ 34 , 35 ]. In Israel, teachers reported psychological stress due to online teaching. 30.4% teachers reported being stressed in comparison to 6.1% teachers in traditional classroom settings [ 34 ]. In Spain, teachers experienced various kinds of mental health issues like anxiety, stress, and depression [ 36 ]. An Arabian study found an increased number of cases related to anxiety, depression, and violence during the pandemic [ 37 ]. In New Zealand teachers in Higher education reported being overwhelmed due to the online teaching [ 15 ].

Online teaching appears to have negatively affected the mental health of all the study participants. Women (94%) reported more mental health issues than men (91%), as shown in Fig 3 . Nearly two-thirds of participants said they had been dealing with mental health issues regularly and a third occasionally; only 7% said they never dealt with them. Findings of this study are in line with other studies which found that female teachers had higher levels of stress and anxiety in comparison to men [ 36 ]. Studies conducted in China reported that teachers developed mental health issues due to online classes [ 37 , 38 ].

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.g003

Our analysis indicated a positive relationship between the number of working hours and the frequency of mental health issues. Of the respondents who worked online for less than 3 hours, 55% experienced some kind of mental health issue; this rose to 60% of participants who worked online for 3–6 hours, and 66% of those who worked more than 6 hours every day. A chi-square test was applied to determine the relationship between the number of online working hours and the frequency of mental issues experienced by the participants and found it to be significant at the 0.05 level ( Table 3 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.t003

In terms of types of mental health issues, respondents reported restlessness, anxious feelings, and a sense of powerlessness, along with feelings of hopelessness, low mood, and loneliness as shown in Fig 4 . The stress of adapting to a new online working environment, the extended hours of work required to prepare content in new formats, the trial-and-error nature of learning and adopting new practices, uncertainty caused by lockdown, and an overall feeling of having no control were some of the contributing factors.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282287.g004

Mental health issues were more common among those under the age of 35, with 64% reporting a problem most of the time compared to 53% of those over 35. It has been found that job uncertainty is one of the primary causes of a higher prevalence of mental health concerns among younger respondents than among older respondents. These findings are in line with other studies which found higher levels of stress among the young people in comparison to older one [ 36 , 39 ]. Feelings of loneliness and a sense of no control were reported by 30% of respondents under the age of 35, with these feelings occurring constantly or most of the time; only 12% of respondent over the age of 35 reported experiencing these feelings always or most of the time. Of respondents under 35 years of age 61% felt lonely at some point during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to only 40% of those age 35 or older.

This study also found gender-based differences in the frequency of mental health issues experienced, with 62% of male respondents and 52% of female respondents reporting that they had always experienced mental health issues. The types of issues also differed by gender, with men more likely to report restlessness and loneliness and women more likely to report feeling anxious or helpless. More female respondents reported feelings of hopelessness than male respondents (76% compared to 69%), and they were also more anxious (66%).

The uncertainty of the pandemic seems to have caused helplessness and anxious feelings for female teachers in particular, perhaps because a lack of paid domestic help increased the burden of household and caregiving tasks disproportionately for women at a time when the pressure to adapt to new online platforms was particularly acute. In some cases, respondents left their jobs to accommodate new family dynamics, since private employers offered no assistance or flexibility. Deterioration of mental health also led to the increased number of suicides in Japan during COVID-19 [ 39 ].

However, female teachers fared better than their male counterparts on some measures of mental health. Although half of the respondents (men and women equally) reported low mood during the pandemic, the men reported more restlessness (53%) and loneliness (59%) than the women (50% and 49%, respectively). Restrictions on eating and drinking outside the household may have had a disproportionate effect on male respondents, making them more likely to feel restless or lonely than their female counterparts, who may have handled COVID-related isolation better by being more involved in household work and caregiving.

Number of hours worked online was also a factor contributing to mental health issues. Just as respondents had more physical complaints (including eye strain, back and neck pain, and headaches) the more hours they worked online, respondents who worked longer hours online reported more mental health issues.

One of the major drawbacks of online education is the widespread occurrence of physical and mental health issues, and the results of this study corroborate concerns on this point. This study found that online teaching causes more mental and physical problems for teachers than another study, which only found that 52.7% of respondents had these problems [ 12 ].

A report by the University of Melbourne has also indicated that online teaching and learning have a negative effect on the physical and mental well-being of individuals. Teachers working from home, in particular, have reported isolation, excessive screen time, inability to cope with additional stress, and exhaustion due to increased workload; despite being wary of the risks of exposure to COVID-19, they were eager to return to the campus [ 27 ].

c. Support mechanisms.

In general, teachers experienced good support from family and colleagues during the pandemic, with 45.64% of teachers reported receiving strong support, 29.64 percent moderate support (although the remainder claimed to have received no or only occasional support from family and colleagues). 9.39% of male respondents reported that they have never received any support in comparison to 4.36% females. Female respondents reported receiving more support than male respondents perhaps because they have access to a more extensive network of family members and coworkers. Children, parents, and siblings were cited as the provider of a robust support system by most female respondents. For example, maternal relatives called or texted children to keep them engaged and helped them with homework, and female participants said their peers helped them to prepare lectures and materials. A link was also found between age and support; the older the respondent, the stronger the support system. A possible explanation for this difference is that older people have had time to develop stronger and longer-lasting professional and personal ties than younger people.

This study explored the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian education system and teachers working across six Indian states. The effectiveness of online education methods varied significantly by geographical location and demographics based on internet connectivity, access to smart devices, and teachers’ training. While premier higher education institutions and some private institutions had provided teachers with the necessary infrastructure and training to implement effective successful online learning with relatively few challenges, teachers at schools and community colleges have more often been left to adopt a trial-and-error approach to the transition to an online system. Further, it indicates that online education has had a significant effect on the quality of education imparted and the lives and wellbeing of teachers. While online learning has enabled teachers to reach out to students and maintain some normalcy during a time of uncertainty, it has also had negative consequences. Owing to the lack of in-person interaction with and among students in digital classes, the absence of creative learning tools in the online environment, glitches and interruptions in internet services, widespread cheating in exams, and lack of access to digital devices, online learning adversely affected the quality of education. Teachers experienced mounting physical and mental health issues due to stress of adjusting to online platforms without any or minimal ICT training and longer working hours to meet the demands of shifting responsibilities. A positive correlation was found between working hours and mental and physical health problems.

The long-term impact of COVID-19 pandemic on both the education system and the teachers would become clear only with time. Meanwhile, this study sheds light on some of the issues that teachers are facing and needs to be addressed without further ado. These findings will provide direction to the policy makers to develop sound strategies to address existing gaps for the successful implementation of digital learning. However, researchers should continue to investigate the longer-term effects of COVID pandemic on online education.

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Achieving $5 Trillion Economy of India pp 341–358 Cite as

A Study on Perception of Students Towards Online Classes in India

• L. Lavanya 4  
• Conference paper
• First Online: 02 February 2022

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Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

“eLearning doesn’t just “happen”! It requires careful planning and implementation” goes an anonymous quote. Unfortunately, the sudden shift to online teaching due to COVID-19 situation did not leave teachers and students a choice. The study was conducted in the wake of COVID-19 when colleges had to suddenly shift to online mode of teaching. Though teachers could get hold of teaching materials online, were the students comfortable to this shift? The call to shift gained more significance in some other aspects too—whether the students had the necessary accessories and connectivity to connect to the classes. Also, when they connected what were the challenges and how effective was the learning are some questions which opened up during these pandemic classes. The study was planned with this background, and the objectives of the study were:

To understand the purpose with which online classes started

To identify the understanding level of students

To bring out the issues felt by students

To analyse the differing requirements, if any, among different levels of study

To identify the preference of students towards online classes in future.

With this objective, data were collected from 123 students of UG and PG from arts and science colleges in Chennai. A structured questionnaire was prepared with 17 closed ended questions. Google Forms was used for data collection, and the students were reached through WhatsApp group and Email. Convenience and snowball sampling was used. A target of 100 students was planned, and by the cut-off date planned, 123 responses were received. As there were no missing data or information, all the samples collected were used for analysis with SPSS V.20. Frequency, chi-square, Friedman’s test, multiple response set, ANOVA and independent t-test have been used to analyse the data. The analysis revealed, inter alia, that

Majority of the respondents are girls and are in UG.

There is no association between demographic factors in the study and the variables of the study except gender.

There is significant difference in certain aspects like need for more e-contents and class notes being shared among different levels of year of study.

More than 20% of the respondents had at least 3 issues related to taking up online classes.

It is important to note that though many studies have been conducted across the globe amidst pandemic with respect to students’ perception towards online learning, it is significant that none of the studies focus on arts and science college students in Chennai, India. This study brings out the understanding of the problems faced by the students and the perception of the students to learn in a virtual environment. The scope of the study is limited to arts and science college students in Chennai and cannot be generalized to all streams of students. The data were collected in December 2020, and many changes in virtual platform have aroused interest in the mind of the researcher to do a follow-up study including the aspects of assessments, gamification in classroom and LMS which is not taken up in the present study. The practical implication of the study is that the college management should take into consideration the problems of the students and fine-tune the online classes accordingly.

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J. K. Nayak

Annexure I: A Study on Perception of Students Towards Online Classes in India

Dear Students,

Kindly fill this questionnaire based on your online classroom learning experience. This is for research purpose and will be strictly confidential.

Dr. Lavanya L.

Part I General Information

1. Male     2.     Female 3.     Other

Level of Course

1. UG     2. PG

Year of Study

1.I year     2. II year     3. III year

Mode of online class attended

1. Webex     2. Zoom     3. Google Meet     4. Other

Main purpose of attending online classes were for

1. Syllabus     2. Doubt Clarification     3. Knowledge Gaining

Do you feel any topic needed deeper explanation?

1. Yes     2. No     3. Maybe

If yes, did your provide your feedback to the faculty?

1. Yes     2. No

Part II Perception Towards Online Classes

Part III Problems in Online Classes

Did you face connection issues during the class?

1. Yes     2. No     3. Sometimes

Do you prefer audio classes or video classes?

1. Audio     2. Video     3. Either is OK

In your opinion, what are the main problems in online class? (you can choose more than one option)

Given a choice, what would be your preferred learning mode?

1. Traditional Classroom     2. Virtual Classroom     3. Blended

Thank you for your time!

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Lavanya, L. (2022). A Study on Perception of Students Towards Online Classes in India. In: Chandani, A., Divekar, R., Nayak, J.K. (eds) Achieving $5 Trillion Economy of India. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7818-9_17

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A study on perception of teachers and students toward online classes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District

Asian Association of Open Universities Journal

ISSN : 2414-6994

Article publication date: 29 October 2020

Issue publication date: 1 December 2020

The study aims at analyzing the perception of teachers and students about online classes. The work tries to explain the opinions of students as regards the impact of online courses, their comfortability in its usag, and the support received from teachers in online classes along with teachers' opinions on efficacy, teaching practice followed and training received for an online class.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis was carried out using the data collected through two separate structured questionnaires for students and teachers in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District in Karnataka. Data were recorded in SPSS and analyzed by using descriptive statistics.

The study reveals that students are comfortable with online classes and are getting enough support from teachers but they do not believe that online classes will replace traditional classroom teaching. It also finds that teachers are facing difficulties in conducting online classes due to a lack of proper training and development for doing online classes. Technical issues are the major problem for the effectiveness of the online classes.

Practical implications

Most of the colleges think of implementing online classes in their courses. Hence, it becomes essential to obtain the opinions of participants of online classes before applying for it. This study may help colleges to get a general view of online classes among teachers and students.

Originality/value

Internet and new technologies gained importance in all fields including the education sector which gave scope for online classes. In addition to this, the COVID pandemic worldwide has also added to the relevance of online classes. In this light, it is necessary to understand student–teacher perceptions regarding online classes.

• Online class
• Online tools

Kulal, A. and Nayak, A. (2020), "A study on perception of teachers and students toward online classes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District", Asian Association of Open Universities Journal , Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 285-296. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-07-2020-0047

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Abhinandan Kulal and Anupama Nayak

Published in the Asian Association of Open Universities Journal . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode .

1. Introduction

Change is constant and inevitable; therefore, anything in this world tends to be obsolete with every new advancement or development, and intelligence lies in the ability to adapt to change. E-learning is primarily referred to as the use of technology and network communication for teaching and learning. It is also referred to as a technology-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge to a large number of recipients ( Economic Times, 2020 ). It is one such fastest growing trend in the educational uses of technology ( Means et al. , 2013 ). The advent of the Internet and the world wide web has led educational institutions to change their learning techniques to meet the user demands in providing an ideal learning environment ( Xu and Ebojoh, 2007 ). An online class is a system where students can learn subjects, discuss issues with fellow students, clarify doubts with instructor and share material and check academic progress with help from internet-oriented technologies. Today, online classes are becoming so popular that they are likely to be expected in any formal education curriculum.

Moreover, increase in the COVID pandemic worldwide has also added to the importance of online classes. In India, there are more than 370m users are on the Internet and helping online education to grow at a fast pace. At present, more than 3bn users are using the e-learning platform ( Arora, 2017 ). Growing CAGR percentage of online education in India is approximately 19% by 2020 (Technavio's market research analyst prediction). According to the recent report of Coursera, one of the world's largest online education providers, out of 18m registered learners, 1.3m users are from India, making it the third-largest market for online learning after the US and China. Even though we witness rapid progress in e-learning, it remains at an early stage of development. In this scenario, the role played by teachers and students gains due importance as it is their perceptions and attitude, which is critical to motivation and learning ( Koohang and Durante, 2003 ). Ultimately it is the acceptance of students and teachers that helps in reaping the benefits of online classes. With this regard, the study tries to analyze the perceptions of teachers and students on the effectiveness of online courses over traditional classroom learning.

2. Objective of the study

The main objective of this study is to analyze the perception of teachers and students about online classes. This research tries to explain the opinions of students on the impact, comfortability and support of teachers in an online course, along with teachers' views on efficacy, teaching practice and training for an online class.

3. Literature review

The popularity of online classes in recent years leads to an increased number of online course offerings by schools and colleges ( Beatty and Ulasewicz, 2006 ; Li and Akins, 2005 ).In addition to this, technological advancement and student demand in online classes ( Bennett and Lockyer, 2004 ; Britt, 2006 ) have influenced colleges and universities to implement online classes along with the normal course. Here the noteworthy point is online classes are not compelled to schools to implement it but is considered as a modern tool for handling issues during the learning process ( Agustina and Cahyono, 2017 ).

Most of the universities are planning to invest in internet-based class and on recruiting and training faculty to teach online ( Floyd, 2003 ; Koehler et al. , 2004 ). One of the surveys suggests that online teachings will continue to increase significantly in educational as well as the corporate organization in future coming years ( Meyen et al. , 2002 ). Because of all these developments in education it is believed that online-based teaching is interactive ( Johnston et al. , 2005 ) and online teaching creates environments where students actively engage with the material and learn by practical activity ( Palloff and Pratt, 2013 ) and also refers to their understanding as they build new knowledge. Moreover, in the past decades, online classes are gaining so much importance all over the world, and it shifts the thought of colleges that “Online class is an Optional” to “Online class is necessary” ( Larreamendy-Joems and Leinhardt, 2006 ).

Many colleges implement online teaching in their course without proper planning, but they first introduced for faculty development program ( Abhinandan, 2018 ). The Internet has enabled the delivery of instruction at a lower cost than in face-to-face classroom teaching; thus, it provides more opportunities for learners to take courses ( Murday et al. , 2008 ). Many research was conducted to examine the behavior of teachers and students toward the online class. It observed that the main reasons for taking an online class by the students were “flexibility” and “self–control” within the learning environment, and they also perceived that online class would be a convenient method of teaching compared to traditional classroom learning. Here convenience based in terms “Price” and “self-directed learning” ( Armstrong, 2011 ) and students from the traditional method of schooling have feelings about the social aspects involved in online courses, but online students have had positive experiences – though the online courses have not always met their expectations in learning aspects and that both the learners perceive online learning as convenient though not necessarily conducive to their learning. Schools and colleges must consider the impact of online classes when online classes play an important role in the learning process ( Burns, 2013 ).

Even though students are the positive side of an online class, but other participants of an online class, i.e. teachers, have mixed opinions about online class. Teachers should analyze what is currently presented and what is the better way to present the way to subject to a complete understanding of course by examining “Faculty perceptions,” “training,” “mentoring,” and “best practices” ( Agustina and Cahyono, 2017 ; Dja'far et al. , 2016 ). Many faculties opined that through faculty development program one can became an effective online instructor and he/she can develop best career journey as mentorship ( Billings and Kowalski, 2008 ), and Conrad and Donaldson (2004) highlighted the importance of building a sense of community in online teaching from teachers' perspective. There is much research that supports the point of “Training and Development” for an effective conducting of online class ( DiPietro et al. , 2008 ). According to Ballew (2017) , 74% of the online instructor of K-12 opined that the promotion development program must be added to the school program to enhance the teaching ability of the instructor.

There are many researches explains that the limitations of online classes, which say that online classes are convenient, less costly and easy to access, so these factors made differences between online learning and face-to-face learning many students who are successful in the traditional classroom ( Kebritchi et al. , 2017 ) are not equally as successful in an online class ( Cheung and Kan, 2002 ; Tucker, 2001 ). In fact, students with a GPA score of less than 2.9 succeeded more in an online class than students with GPA scores of more than 2.9 ( Sugilar, 2017 ). Many students believed that degrees obtained through online classes are not valid as much as a traditional method of classroom teaching. This may affect the desire of students to enroll in online courses. So, there is a need for awareness programs regarding the importance of online learning ( Allen and Seaman, 2010 ; Bejerano, 2008 ).

For the effective conducting of an online class, there is a need of skills that students may need to handle online classes, such as: ability to learn revised learning practices, capacity to develop new vocabulary and ability to discuss with teacher in patience ( Eastmond, 1995 ; Gibbson, 1998 ; Kearsley, 2000 ). From all these reviews, it observed that there is a need for the study in the area of perception of teachers and students in online classes. After the outbreak of COVID 19 in the entire world, the online classes became compulsory for education institutions. Therefore, a survey was conducted to collect opinions of both tutor and pupil about online classes.

4. Research methodology

This study investigated the student–teachers' perception of an online class in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka. This study utilized a descriptive quantitative design to obtain the opinions of the respondents. The respondents of this study consisted of all the postgraduate and graduate students and teachers from different colleges in two districts. It identified that around 10,000 students are pursuing their course in these colleges. Teachers and students were selected for this study on a random basis. These students and teachers are from different academic fields like arts, science, commerce and humanities. The population also diversified in demographic profiles like age, gender and native place. Yates formula was used to select sample size from the total population. Simple random sampling techniques were used for the selection of the sample. The sample size consists of 68 teachers and 203 students from different colleges in the research area. This research study conducted two surveys; one is to the student population and the other to the teacher population.

Five-point Likert scale was used to collect the opinion of both teachers and students in the online class. Five-point Likert scale indicates with one being strongly disagreed and five being strongly agreed. After constructing a questionnaire, to know the feasibility of the questionnaire, a pilot study conducted and reviewed the questionnaire. A survey instrument with demographic questions for students, demographic questions for instructors, questions for students regarding perceptions of “Impact,” “Comfortability” and “Support from the teacher” and for instructors related to perceptions of “Teaching Practice,” “efficacy” and “Training and Development” was available. Questionnaires were distributed to participants by using Google form, and participants were informed that all opinions provided by them were kept confidential. The data were collected and recorded in a systematic way, later analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Collected data were categorized into demographic information, perception and tools used. Secondary sources are used for reviewing the concept and supporting the findings.

5. Demographic profile of the respondents

The demographic details of both teachers and students were collected to know their background like gender, education, number of years of offline and online teaching experience of teachers and gender, course pursuing, number of years in the online class of students. The following table explains the demographic background of the respondents.

Table 1 indicates the demographic profile of the respondents, which shows that females are major in respondents, i.e. teachers = 39(57.4%) and in students = 141(69.5%). Majority of the teachers (63.2%) are conducting online classes, and 73.9% of students are taking online courses. The majority of the teachers (45.7%) have a post graduation degree with NET qualification, and 60.9% of the respondents are young faculty having teaching experience less than five years. 80% of the teachers are conducting an online class for the first time because, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, it made most of the teachers start to take online classes. Responses were collected from the students of different fields of study where commerce students (56.6%) participated most in the survey. For making online classes, computer knowledge or Internet knowledge is essential. Therefore the researcher asked the students about the level of expertise in computer handling. The result showed that the majority of the students (67.9%) had a high level of computer knowledge.

6. Tools used for online class

There are enormous numbers of online class tools available in the market. Some of the tools are free, and some of the tools are premium. To know the popular tools used among participants, the researcher were asked to mention the tools they used for their online classes. For this question, participants can specify more than one option. The result of the matter are depicted in the following figure ( Figure 1 ).

From the above chart, we can quickly identify that among the many popular online tools available in India “Google classroom” is the most used ( N  = 107) and preferred tools for an online class in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada District. “Zoom App” is considered the second most popular ( N  = 86) and preferred tool for an online class. Even though Skype is the most popular online tool for communication, but here it is considered least using tools ( N  = 3). Here the interesting fact is that many academicians are using social network tools (WhatsApp) for online classes. This analysis explains that easy and convenient tools are used for online class irrespective of their purpose.

7. Students' perception of online class

It is students whose opinion matters most in the education system. Online classes may become a chunk of the future education system, but it cannot be carried for the future unless students accept it. Therefore, the survey asked students about comfortability, support from teachers and the impact of online class on their studies. To observe the selected variables, a questionnaire was constructed by asking statements on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to evaluate our survey instrument. We performed EFA separately for “Impact,” “Comfortability,” and “Support.” Using eigenvalues more significant than one as the criterion ( Hayton et al. , 2004 ), each of the variables suggests a one-factor solution. After that, we removed items with factor loadings below 0.50.

Next, internal reliability tests were conducted for each variable based on the final items retained ( Table 3 ). EFA explains what items represent selected factors, and it suggests the removal of non-representation items for the factor. Table 2 explains the percentage of variance defined by each item and communality value.

Initially, in the questionnaire, we asked five statements related to “Impact of Online Class,” Seven statements related to “Comfortability,” and six statements that represent “Support.” EFA was conducted to reduce the number of items that less explains the respective factors. While doing the analysis, it finds that in the “Impact” factor, three statements describe 90.062% of the factor; therefore, the researcher removed other items. Here the value of communality, which explains us the extent of variance is considered for extracted factor (If the communality value less than 0.5 it would be removed from the factor). In the case of “Comfortability” out of seven items, three items explain 72.679% of the factor with communality value more than 0.5, and in “Support from the teacher” out of seven items, three statements describe 88.184% of the element, after conducting an EFA researcher conducted to reliability test for selected items of factor. Reliability analysis was undertaken to know the consistency in opinions among scale data. If the Cronbach's alpha values more than 0.6, then it is considered as reliable data; otherwise, there is a need for improvisation of data either by transformation or collecting more data. Table 3 shows the result of the reliability test.

This table explains that the internal reliability of each selected item is more than the standard alpha value (0.6); therefore, it can say that the opinions from the respondents are reliable. Table 4 explains students' perception of the impact of an online class, comfortability and support from eachers for an online class. According to Eastmond (1995) , students' comprehension, mindset and attitude toward online classes are essential aspects for the success of online teaching. It is crucial to create an opportunity for outside interaction between faculty and students ( Levine, 2005 ) to increase the motivation of students to learn. On this behalf, the researcher identifies the perception of students on three critical questions like impact of online class on students, is online class comfortable to students and whether students get enough support from teachers.

Positive perception:

(2) Negative perception:

Negative statements like, “I cannot concentrate longer time for online classes” ( M  = 3.13), “I feel puzzled and frustrated with the content delivered in online classes” ( M  = 3.27) and “Teachers are facing difficulty in the retention of students” ( M  = 3.41) make negative perception. A combined mean of positive perception and negative perception ( Table 5 ) tells us students perceived online classes as positive with a mean value of 3.9017, which is higher than negative perception mean value ( M  = 2.7907). Therefore, overall, students have definite opinions about online classes. Still, when we consider individually, students have a great precise idea about “Impact” and “Support from the teacher” than “Comfortability” (See Table 4 ).

8. Teachers' perception of online class

The other important pillar of online teaching is teacher. Their interest and skills in handling online classes are essential aspects. How did teachers perceive online classes, whether teachers are capable of handling online classes, these are the questions that arise before implementing it because some of the faculty members may not always have the competency to teach courses online ( Sims et al. , 2002 ). A cultural background constructs a different perception among teachers ( Buddhini and Charlotte, 2016 ). Therefore, the researcher felt that it is not unfair to collect opinions of both the participants, i.e. students and teachers. In addition to demographic information, the survey asked about the teachers' perception of their teaching practices, their general self-efficacy in teaching and technology and the professional development they received and expected to win. The items like “Teaching Practice” “Training and Development” and “Efficacy” are collected through five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree. These items analyzed with detailed description are given by Lin and Zheng (2015) . After collecting data, the researcher conducted an internal reliability test that was done for seven items of “Teaching Practice,” 5 items of “Efficacy,” and six items of “Training and Support” variables, and elements of each variable showed Cronbach's value more than 0.6. As this questionnaire was well-constructed and verified in the previous research, Lin and Zheng (2015) , the researcher directly did the descriptive analysis. The result of the descriptive study is depicted in Table 6 .

From the results of the descriptive statistics, it appeared to us that teachers agree with the teaching practices they follow with a mean score of 3.6085, and they also believed that they have very much confidence in the effectiveness of online classes they conducted ( M  = 3.4093). But they are not satisfied with the training and support given by the institution. This result shows that teachers attended online classes without training or less training, and they are satisfied with their performance. Teachers communicating with their students regularly to engage them ( M  = 3.81) is the frequently used teaching practice along with “ I help students make connections between content and their lives,” which has a mean score of 3.63 ( N  = 43). For the effectiveness of an online class, most of the teachers set guidelines for communication and interaction ( M  = 4.07) so that no student misuse the online platform. Teachers rated average for professional development on organizing and structuring instructional content ( M  = 2.79) and professional development on online classroom management. By considering all statements for analysis, it was found that it can divide into positive perception and negative perception. The result of the combined mean of positive perception and negative perception are shown in Table 7 .

When considering the overall opinions of teachers about online class, it indicates that teachers have mixed opinions. The combined mean of negative perception ( M  = 3.3953) is more than the combined way of negative perception (3.2767). Even though the difference between the two is not significant, teachers have their reasons for disliking online classes. Some of the respondents expressed their opinion in the open-ended question, stating that they believe that “online class will increase unemployment or reduce the demand of teachers,” “Online class failed to fill the emotional attachment between teacher and student,” “Without providing proper infrastructure facility it is challenging to conduct online class” and they also opined that “It is challenging to conduct an online class for practical subjects.” Conclusively we can say that teachers are not supporting for implementing online classes without proper training and proper infrastructure facilities like network and computers.

9. Reasons for not conducting/preferring online class

However, online classes are value-added techniques for the modern education system and which has future prospectus. Many teachers and students do not believe in this aspect or not comfortable in an online class. Therefore, the survey asked reasons to teachers ( N  = 25) and students ( N  = 53) who were not conducting or preferring online classes.

Table 8 shows that the main reasons for teachers not conducting online classes are “Due to technical issues” and “Teacher believed that the Traditional Method of Teaching is a better method for effective teaching. In addition to this, some teachers also opined that they do not feel secure in private online tools like the Zoom app. They also believe that in an online class it is challenging to have an emotional attachment with students and vice versa.

Students' participation is an essential aspect of the successful implementation of online classes in the current education system. Many students believe that an online class has great transformation for the education system, and they prefer it because of its time and location flexibility and broad knowledge base. But some more students believe that online class cannot reach them, and they also stated reasons for rejection of online class. Table 9 explains the reasons for not taking online classes from the students' perspective.

Students opined that online class is not an effective method as classroom learning (82.4%), and they also have the opinion that it is complicated for them to grasp the online learning system. It observed from both teacher and students' views that lack of infrastructure for an online class like availability of smartphone or laptop and network issues are the major problem or reasons for the insignificance of online class among respondents.

10. Conclusion and recommendation

Online learning is an exciting new way to learn about almost anything. It has bought a positive impact on the lives of students as well as teachers. The increasing use of technology in the field of learning has improved the quality of education. Both students and teachers have optimistic views about online classes. However, there is always much room for improvement as far as online learning goes.

It is evident that online learning has more significant benefits like it fills the gap of literacy rate by reaching to the rural areas ( Ritimoni, 2018 ). Still, to effectively implement in a country like India, certain things have to be taken note of. This includes strengthening infrastructure facilities, improvement in Internet connectivity, development of rural areas, bringing changes in the attitude of students and teachers, etc. Colleges and other educational institutions are required to provide excellent training and support to both student and teachers regarding the usage of online classes that helps in increasing their comfortability. “No Smartphones or Laptop” is one of the major problems of rural students, and Network issues also add to the problem for rural teachers and students. One of the major problems faced by students from a rural area is teachers need to observe the transition in their roles, i.e. from merely being a transmitter of knowledge to the designer of the educational process. In traditional classroom learning, students are always said to be spoon-fed, but online classes necessitate a learner-centered environment that requires students to be self-motivated and self-directed. Colleges and teachers need to put any effort into changing the mindset of students. To achieve this goal, colleges or government has to take training and development programs to teachers as well as students regularly.

The study also proved that e-learning has a more significant role to play in the future, but it cannot be a replacement to traditional face-to-face classroom learning. A complete transition to online learning is quite tricky. However, we cannot ignore the benefits derived from e-learning. As such, there is a need to understand the obstacles that come in the way of accepting online learning and take corrective measures to overcome it.

Tools used for online class

Demographic profile of the respondents

Reliability analysis

Descriptive statistics of students' perception

Combined mean of positive and negative perception

Descriptive statistics for teaching practice, efficacy and training and support

Combined mean of positive and negative perception (teachers' perception)

Reasons for not conducting online class (Teachers' Perception)

Reasons for not preferring online class (students' perception)

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In recent years, India has witnessed a significant transformation in its educational landscape. This change is primarily driven by the rapid advancements in technology and increasing access to the internet across the nation. The rise of e-learning in India is reshaping the way we view education and heralds the dawn of a new era.

E-learning has emerged as a cost-effective, accessible, and scalable solution for millions of students throughout India, particularly those residing in rural or remote areas. In this digitally-connected age, online education provides countless opportunities for both learners and educators to engage in knowledge sharing on a global platform.

One of the key factors contributing to the growth of e-learning is government initiatives promoting digital literacy such as Digital India and Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA). These programs aim to transform India into a knowledge-driven society while bridging the rural-urban digital divide. Additionally, private sector investments have played an essential role in cultivating a thriving e-learning ecosystem in India.

With millions of students unable to access traditional classroom learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, online education took center stage. Educational institutions were compelled to shift towards virtual classrooms, thus accelerating e-learning adoption at an unprecedented rate. Experts speculate that this momentum will continue post-pandemic as well.

The future of online education in India looks promising, with several trends emerging that will shape its trajectory:

1. Hybrid learning: A blended approach that combines traditional classroom instruction with online resources will likely gain prominence. This model offers a best-of-both-worlds scenario where students can benefit from face-to-face interactions with teachers while leveraging digital tools for enhanced learning experiences.

2. Microlearning: Short, focused learning modules designed for quick consumption are becoming increasingly popular. As attention spans decrease and the demand for focused content grows, microlearning enables students to acquire new skills and knowledge in bite-sized, manageable portions.

3. Gamification: Integrating game mechanics into learning experiences can boost student engagement and retention. As more educational institutions explore how to incorporate gamification elements effectively, we can expect to see increased interest in this area.

4. Personalized learning: Customized content tailored to individual student needs and learning styles will become more prevalent. Technology-driven solutions like adaptive learning platforms and AI-supported tools will help educators curate educational experiences that cater specifically to students’ strengths and weaknesses.

5. Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR): The use of these immersive technologies can transform how complex subjects are taught and learned. As the availability of AR/VR-enabled devices grows, opportunities to incorporate these technologies within e-learning platforms will expand.

In conclusion, the rise of e-learning in India is a testament to the power of technology in revolutionizing education. As online education evolves, this will only strengthen its role in empowering individuals and shaping the nation’s future workforce. With innovative learning models and cutting-edge technologies on the horizon, India is well-positioned to be a global leader in the world of online education.

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Abstract

The $247 million e-learning industry in 2016 is grown to $1.96 billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 52%. The Covid-19 epidemic has given a boost to the e-learning market evolution. Online learning has become the dominant teaching platform, with schools, universities, and other educational institutions closed to avoid epidemics. The research objective is to study the impact of E-learning during Covid-19 in rural India. Understand the dimensions of digital adaptation and its impact on rural Indian education institutions. A systematic review is conducted by collecting and reviewing 110 research articles about E-learning. After carefully considering the articles discussing E-learning in rural India, 46 articles are reviewed to extract the meta-information about the e-learning adaptation, impact, and challenges faced in educational institutions in rural India. The research yielded ten themes related to the acceptance and challenges of E-learning in rural India. Impact and challenges in implementing and usability of E-learning platforms in rural India show more difficulties. The research has also discovered a limitation of parents’ knowledge and challenges in the cognitive abilities of students in accepting E-learning during the Covid-19 lockdowns. According to this review, many gaps exist between India’s e-learning development companies, governments, and educational institutions. Better E-learning platforms and business execution in remote rural India have expected if the three stakeholder groups establish a bridge. For a better understanding of e-learning in rural India, future research would include field surveys and interviews with all stakeholders.

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The Methodolgy is interestingly defined.

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Students' perception and preference for online education in India during COVID -19 pandemic

Affiliations.

• 1 Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 11001, India.
• 2 Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 11001, India.
• PMID: 34173507
• PMCID: PMC7836920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100101

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. However, in agricultural education system where many courses are practical oriented, shifting completely to online mode may not be possible and need to device a hybrid mode, the insights from this article can be helpful in designing the curriculum for the new normal.

Keywords: Content analysis; Online learning; Perception; Preferences; Readiness; TC, Total Count.

© 2020 The Authors.