Online Education: A Learner’s Perspective During COVID-19

Abstract

The global health disaster COVID-19 has imposed a self-refrainment from social gathering to contain the disease, because social distancing is the only shield from community spread. Home and work places are altogether giving an unanticipated, unpredicted and unpleasant milieu due to global spread of COVID-19. The teaching–learning process is no exception, with the closure of all educational institutions as a protective step to save lives. The teaching–learning process has been reflecting a very wide and deep impact of COVID-19. With all teachers and learners confined to their places of stay, learning has been impacted to a large extent, with a sense of uncertainty, insecurity and dilemma around effective learning. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the mission and rigour of teaching–learning out of gear. With all classrooms shut, the pandemic has exposed teachers and learners more towards the online learning mode, with no other option perceptible at this point of time. Though online education has always been embraced by academics as a supporting tool, switching over completely to the online mode of learning has raised some serious concerns pertaining to its efficacy and the reluctance of learners in embracing it as a substitute of the regular mode of learning. This study reveals the perception of 2,895 learners on the efficiency of online learning as a substitute of the regular mode of learning. The results show the acceptance of online learning only as a supporting tool to regular learning instead of as a substitute of the regular learning mode on the basis of various factors of effective learning, such as content, pedagogy, assessment and rigour.