The Impact of Online Education on the Learning Experiences of Tertiary Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Indian Case Study

Abstract

COVID-19 has shown its pandemic powers to the whole world. At times when many countries are forced to go for total lockdown of its economic activities, unusual economic crisis is inevitable. Amid all the crisis, the impact on education sector was also massive. In India also COVID-19 has resulted in a country-wide lockdown, which led to closure of schools and colleges. University Grant Commission, an apex educational body has come up with several guidelines for higher education institution. This study is an attempt to understand the perceptions of Indian tertiary students toward online teaching which has become the no-other-choice method of instruction for educational institutes during the pandemic. An online survey was conducted in October 2020, to collect information from the students through Google form about their perceptions and experiences with online learning. A total of 248 students completed the survey. Factor analysis has been applied on the collected data to understand the factors which most impacted the students. Results showed that “less effectiveness,” “stress and boredom” and “connectivity challenges” were among the major challenges faced by these students in their online learning experience. This study urges the need for an educational strategy to be set by policy makers to respond to the challenges encoutered during online learning.