Analyzing the Underlying Structure of Online Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period: An Empirical Investigation of Issues of Students

Abstract

The aim of the study is to reveal the underlying structure of issues of university students taking online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The overall design of the study includes a review of contemporary literature and field survey for data collection and analysis. Discourse of literature coupled with expert opinion has been employed for identification of issues. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) is used for the determination of intra-issue relationships and analyzing the underlying structure. Cross impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC analysis) is used as a technique for classifying issues on the basis of driving–dependence power. Results of the literature show that there are 21 major issues faced by the students taking online classes. ISM shows that lack of institutional guidelines, lack of regulators’ guidelines, stress of pandemic situation, and abrupt (not planned) start of online classes are the most critical issues. MICMAC analysis reveals that there is no autonomous issue, 4 (i.e., connectivity issue, shy to use technology, lack of institutional guidelines, and stress of pandemic situation) are independent, 6 other issues are dependent, and the remaining 11 are linking. This is a valuable study having practical implications for regulators, students, parents, and society to understand the current problem. It is an original attempt that contributes toward literature in the form of a structural model and a diagram of classification of issues.