E-Learning
The pandemic which has bought the world to a halt was first noted in India on January 27th in Kerala. By mid-march, the country was seething and the administration imposed stricter guidelines to handle the disease. Among the numerous lifestyle changes brought on by the pandemic was the problem of how to educate. With stricter guidelines, in-person schooling wasn’t even an avenue worth pursuing. E-learning was adopted and the government tried to implement it in their institutes and promote it as the new normal for the foreseeable future. A year later and e-learning is still normal. The first step to implementation was to educate the faculty on the efficient use of e-learning and to help the students to navigate and learn from an online school. However, before even reaching this step many hurdles had to be cleared.
The educational divide in India is closely linked with income disparities. And this pandemic only made it worse. It was virtually impossible to weather the pandemic without government aid if you weren’t financially secure. But in the long run, it gets worse, if you were trying to pursue an education from an unsecured background it would have been really difficult to keep up with school. To educate the underprivileged children and to provide them with the tools to access e-learning institutions should have been our priority as without aid their education had come to a stop. The implementation of e-learning in underfunded schools was equally difficult; teaching the faculty on its use and the resources to make effective learning opportunities was a mammoth task.
What if we assume its implementation was smooth, would it still be effective moreover a long-term solution?
We sought to answer this by a public survey in which 96 students participated to answer questions relating to e-learning and how they feel about it. Note ably it was a key formative year for a lot of children as is every other year for 10th and 12th graders and for them, this situation was apprehensive and unsure at best.
This survey tries to capture the thoughts of students who are undergoing e-school right now as to how they feel about it. In lieu of this to achieve honest responses, the student’s identity shall remain anonymous.
About 70% of the students agreed or were neutral about the simplicity of e-learning i.e., it was easy to navigate and straightforward. 65% agreed that they had a clear and understandable interaction with e-learning, in lieu of this 56% agreed that while they were using an e-learning platform they found it easy to find information and 21% strongly agreed that when they sought to find something on the platform, they found it easily. 46% were neutral on whether e-learning provided a wholistic experience and yielded a satisfiable outcome when it came to education and 30% agreed with this statement. 15% disagreed that using e-learning is good for their coursework. 62.5% rejected the idea of using e-learning in their daily life after time resumes normalcy which means that they are adjusting to the situation but it isn’t the preferred medium of education. However, 50% were neutral as to if they would return to e-learning after the pandemic slows down this was in view of the convenience that it provides. 50% however, agreed that they would come back to e-learning for course work.
E-learning, particularly in poor nations, has been underused in the past. The present COVID-19 epidemic, however, has compelled the whole globe to depend on it for education.
The majority of participants in this research highly agreed with e-perceived learning’s usefulness, perceived simplicity of use, and acceptability. Insufficient/unstable internet connection, inadequate computer laboratories, a shortage of computers/laptops, and technical issues were the most significant barriers to e-learning acceptance. all important factors in e-learning acceptability