Reconfiguration of the Indian University Classroom during the COVID-19 crisis.
Research project — ‘Online Education’ outline
The covid-19 pandemic has affected us all in varying ways. It has disrupted the industrial and economic sectors throughout the country and beyond. One of the affected sectors during the pandemic is the education sector [1].
In India, all schools and universities had to shut down immediately from March 2020 [2] and most of them are still not open in many states across the country [3]. In such a new condition, the universities did not have much clue on how to go about the academics of the students. Some universities started teaching on video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Google meet, Microsoft teams, WebEx, etc. Due to the lack of any framework or guidance, even the professors had to adapt to the situation on their own to deal with their academic responsibilities towards the students. The usual academic and technological support available to the professors from the respective universities was not there anymore.
How has the Indian government provided support for remote learning opportunities?
In the past few years, there has been a surge in digital education initiatives from the Indian government. Through the initiative of Digital India, the ministry of education has launched online platforms (MOOC) like SWAYAM. SWAYAM has a repository of online courses based on a particular subject, for example, NPTEL platform for engineering subjects.
The Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD, Government of India, recently released a report on digital adoption initiatives by various schools across the country to provide support for remote learning opportunities during the pandemic situation [5]. The report covers the adoption of platforms like DIKSHA and highlights the positive outcomes of digital education initiatives during the pandemic situation. However, the report misses out on presenting the case of what these platforms cannot provide or how they are not necessarily an alternative to classroom education.
How are we helping to make a difference?
At the UX Whale, we are using design research as a medium to understand the stakeholders (Students and Professors) to inform the HCI community of the context of the remote learning experience in India. We are questioning and analysing the current approaches being utilized in this field to understand the behaviours, challenges and motivations associated with them. By comparing and contrasting it with the traditional system we explore whether the new system can replace the traditional system or merge with it to bring forth a more diversified learning experience for future generations.
This is our first post in the Online Education series.
Stay tuned for more such posts in the future.
To read more about our work related to online education during the pandemic, Kindly refer to the article, ‘ Pandemic Reconfigurations: Recreating University Classroom Online in Indian Households’.
References
- Education: From disruption to recovery. (2021, February 09). https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse
- TOI-Online. (2020, March 16). Govt announces closure of all educational establishments across India till March 31 — times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/govt-announces-closure-of-all-educational-establishments-across-india-till-march-31/articleshow/74659627.cms
- Unlock 4.0: Full guidelines issued by different states. (2020, September 02). https://indianexpress.com/article/india/unlock-4-0-guidelines-here-is-whats-allowed-whats-not-6576059/
- Ma, L., & Lee, C. S. (2020). Drivers and barriers to MOOC ADOPTION: Perspectives FROM adopters And non-adopters. Online Information Review, 44(3), 671–684. doi:10.1108/oir-06–2019–0203
- NIC, L. (n.d.). Ministry of education. https://www.mhrd.gov.in/documents_reports
About
theUXWhale a Design and Research company that provides the design cum research expertise to start-ups, corporates, and other enterprises in designing technological solutions for the Indian market. We are a team with multi-disciplinary expertise in Design, Arts, Psychology, Cognition, Policymaking, Media, and Culture studies.
Team
Devanuj K. Balkrishan (Devanuj Balkrishan), Susmita Sharma, Pawan Singh, Shanu Shukla, Pranjal Jain (Pranjal Jain), Deepak Padhi, Anushri Ghode (Anushri Ghode), Syiam Dhingra (Syiam Dhingra)and Prashansa Rakesh (Prashansa Rakesh).
Please reach out to us at <contact@theuxwhale.com>.
