Unmasking Students’ Learning Experiences during Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

Indian education system is consistently evolving since gurukul methods to blended modes, but most of the educational institutes from pre-primary to universities are still following the traditional methods of imparting knowledge. Professional education institutes have adopted blended teaching and learning methods by offering MOOCs through platforms like NPTEL, Coursera, Udemy, EdX and many more. Professors mostly from IITs and from few other institutes are creating these courses in India. A normal faculty from higher educational institute providing professional education is still not creating or delivering courses online. But online teaching remained the only option when educational institutes across globe were closed because of covid-19 pandemic impacting all stakeholders. Hence, it was a need of the time to understand students’ perceptions regarding online learning. A number of studies have been conducted on students’ perception on learning effectiveness in online teaching since Covid-19 closures of institutes, but very few of them have tried to capture the psychological aspects .The present study has tried to bridge this gap . It is performed in a technical educational institute in western Maharashtra.271 students from three programs participated in the study. A survey instrument designed by authors was used to collect the responses through Google forms. The article includes an analysis of the students’ perceptions and categorizes the benefits and drawbacks identified by the students. It is identified that online learning helps in improving the student’s regularity in attending the lectures and is more convenient than physical classrooms. The students perceive online learning creates physical stress. At the same time learning gets hampered by comparatively more distractions and technical difficulties. The insights developed will provide valuable information to faculties and administrators in improving the student learning