ABSTRACT
The spread of the novel coronavirus was an unprecedented bombshell to the global economies and it impacted lives all over the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus as pandemic on March 11, 2020. As a result, various governments locked down their economies so as to stop the spread of the infectious virus and the citizens were instructed to stay at home to avoid social gatherings and follow the social or physical distancing norms. Due to these preventive measures, educational institutions were shut down for an unspecified time period. The situation has challenged the entire education system all over the world, and the educators are forced to shift from traditional methods to online mode of teaching overnight. Educational Institutions are closed due to the lockdown of economies and the teachers are supposed to shift from their conventional teaching to the 120online teaching and adapt to the modern technologies without even getting the time to be prepared for such a challenge. The teachers from various age groups are busy in learning new skills required to teach online. Many educa- tional institutions and educators who were earlier reluctant to shift from their traditional methods are shifting to the online teaching as they have no alternate option left with them. In a situation where schools and colleges are shut the E-Learning resources have emerged like a ray of sun after a storm. The expeditious developments in science and technology have facilitated the distance mode education, and it has served as the only medium by which students are gaining knowledge from the comfort of their home. The rapid evolution of shift from classroom teaching to digital teaching or virtual classroom demands new pedagogical skills especially in the field of higher education. The teachers are learning new technologies and pedagogical skills to provide better teaching experience to their students. Not just educators, students are also facing problems in shifting to the online mode of learning. There is an infinite number of sources available to study online; the only thing one requires is a device and a good internet connection. The digital devices and gadgets are not just limited to the purpose of entertainment but they are playing the role of portable classrooms and creating opportunities for the students to learn and grow. Although e-learning and distance mode education existed in the pre-corona virus era but the COVID era has marked a significant increase in the use of e-resources. In response to this increasing demand of e-resources, the online learning platforms like Byju’s, Tencent classroom and Alibaba’s Dingtalk offered free access to their services to the learners. On one hand, E-Learning is helping a vast population of students to increase their knowledge and on the other hand, some students can’t access these resources due to the lack of infrastructure required to learn online. E-learning is a failure in rural areas where no infrastructural facility is avail- able. Although E-learning has emerged as a savior in these tough times but it cannot replace the classroom teaching where face to face interaction is possible and a lot of communication happens with the facial expressions itself which seems to be absent in the online mode. Moreover, large number of the students in the third world countries didn’t have access to laptops/ mobile phones and proper internet connection which are the basic require- ments to attend these virtual classes resulting in shift of students from regular mode of learning to distance mode. During the lockdown of economies, most of the students have admitted themselves to distance mode of education instead of regular mode considering that the distance mode is going to be the new normal way of learning until the deadly virus and its effect eradicates121 completely. One more reason for the shift of students from regular mode to distance mode is the financial problem which is faced by the majority of the population as a lot of people have lost their jobs. The students know very well that whether they take admission in a regular mode or a distance mode, they have to rely on digital medium or online sources to study, the students have opted to go for distance mode learning as it will help them to save huge amount of fees that is required in regular colleges. Also, exposure of students is going to be the same in both the modes as students have access to similar types of online resources to study. This might be the reason for the downfall of admission in many regular colleges and institutions and a rapid increase in the admission in institutions offering distance courses. This chapter discusses about the existing knowledge of COVID-19, conventional education, and higher education. This chapter will also discuss about virtual learning, the technological knowledge required for the transformation from conventional teaching to modern day teaching and the use of information and communication technology (ICT). This chapter is going to discuss the scope of online learning in higher education all over the world. The online education is full of opportunities but there are some challenges to overcome and it is not going to happen overnight and the higher education institutions, educators have to accept this challenge and need to continuously work on the skills required for online teaching-learning. This chapter will discuss the strategies and the pedagogical skills required to improve the distance and online teaching-learning experience; the infrastructural developments required to deliver education at the doorsteps of the students. There is a need to develop the infrastructure not just in the urban areas but also in the rural areas in order to provide equal educational opportunities to all the students. The chapter also focuses on the challenges and opportunities of E-learning and how it is going to improve the self-study practice of students. In conclu- sion, the chapter will discuss about the rise of E-learning in the time of pandemic and the role of ICT in digital learning and the future of E-learning in post-pandemic situation.
