Nyt Reviewes of Department of Education Transfer Schools

Journal of Educational Engineering science Systems. 2020 Sep; 49(1): 5–22.

Online Learning: A Panacea in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis

Shivangi Dhawan

^aneDepartment of Commerce, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi, Republic of india

²Section of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Abstract

Educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities) in Bharat are currently based just on traditional methods of learning, that is, they follow the traditional set up of contiguous lectures in a classroom. Although many academic units have also started blended learning, still a lot of them are stuck with quondam procedures. The sudden outbreak of a deadly affliction called Covid-19 caused by a Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) shook the unabridged world. The World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic. This situation challenged the educational activity organisation across the globe and forced educators to shift to an online mode of education overnight. Many academic institutions that were before reluctant to change their traditional pedagogical approach had no option just to shift entirely to online teaching–learning. The commodity includes the importance of online learning and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Challenges (SWOC) analysis of e-learning modes in the time of crisis. This article also put some light on the growth of EdTech Start-ups during the time of pandemic and natural disasters and includes suggestions for academic institutions of how to deal with challenges associated with online learning.

Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, didactics, online learning, technology, EdTech

The deadly and infectious disease Corona Virus likewise known as Covid-19 has deeply afflicted the global economic system. This tragedy has likewise shaken up the education sector, and this fright is likely to resonate across the education sector globally. The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak forced many schools and colleges to remain closed temporarily. Several areas are affected worldwide and at that place is a fear of losing this whole ongoing semester or even more in the coming future. Diverse schools, colleges, and universities have discontinued in-person education. Every bit per the cess of the researchers, it is uncertain to get dorsum to normal teaching someday presently. Equally social distancing is preeminent at this stage, this will have negative effects on learning opportunities. Educational units are struggling to detect options to deal with this challenging situation. These circumstances make usa realize that scenario planning is an urgent need for academic institutions (Rieley, 2020). This is a situation that demands humanity and unity. There is an urgent need to protect and save our students, faculty, bookish staff, communities, societies, and the nation equally a whole.

Several arguments are associated with e-learning. Accessibility, affordability, flexibility, learning educational activity, life-long learning, and policy are some of the arguments related to online teaching. It is said that online mode of learning is easily accessible and can even reach to rural and remote areas. It is considered to be a relatively cheaper mode of didactics in terms of the lower cost of transportation, accommodation, and the overall toll of institution-based learning. Flexibility is another interesting aspect of online learning; a learner tin can schedule or program their time for completion of courses available online. Combining contiguous lectures with technology gives rising to blended learning and flipped classrooms; this type of learning environment can increment the learning potential of the students. Students tin can learn someday and anywhere, thereby developing new skills in the procedure leading to life-long learning. The government also recognizes the increasing importance of online learning in this dynamic globe.

The severe explosion of Corona Virus disease tin make united states of america add i more argument in terms of online learning, that is, online learning serves as a panacea in the time of crunch.

Literature Review

Online Learning or E-Learning

Rapid developments in technology have fabricated altitude instruction like shooting fish in a barrel (McBrien et al., 2009). "Near of the terms (online learning, open learning, web-based learning, figurer-mediated learning, blended learning, g-learning, for ex.) accept in common the ability to utilize a computer connected to a network, that offers the possibility to learn from anywhere, anytime, in whatever rhythm, with whatever means" (Cojocariu et al., 2014).Online learning tin can be termed as a tool that can make the instruction–learning process more pupil-centered, more than innovative, and fifty-fifty more flexible. Online learning is defined as "learning experiences in synchronous or asynchronous environments using different devices (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, etc.) with net access. In these environments, students tin be anywhere (independent) to learn and collaborate with instructors and other students" (Singh & Thurman, 2019). The synchronous learning surround is structured in the sense that students attend live lectures, there are real-time interactions between educators and learners, and there is a possibility of instant feedback, whereas asynchronous learning environments are not properly structured. In such a learning environment, learning content is not available in the form of alive lectures or classes; information technology is available at different learning systems and forums. Instant feedback and immediate response are not possible under such an surroundings (Littlefield, 2018). Synchronous learning can provide a lot of opportunities for social interaction (McBrien et al., 2009). Amid this deadly virus spread such online platforms are needed where (a) video conferencing with at to the lowest degree 40 to 50 students is possible, (b) discussions with students tin can be done to continue classes organic, (c) net connections are practiced, (d) lectures are accessible in mobile phones besides and non but laptops, (due east) possibility of watching already recorded lectures, and (f) instant feedback from students tin can be achieved and assignments tin be taken (Basilaia et al., 2020).

Online Teaching Is No More than an Pick, Information technology Is a Necessity

The major function of the world is on quarantine due to the serious outbreak of this global pandemic Covid-19 and therefore many cities accept turned into phantom cities and its effects can be seen in schools, colleges, and universities as well. Between all this online pedagogy and online learning tin can be termed as the panacea for the crisis. The Corona Virus has made institutions to go from offline fashion to online mode of pedagogy. This crisis will brand the institutions, which were before reluctant to change, to accept modern applied science. This catastrophe will prove us the lucrative side of online teaching and learning. With the help of online teaching modes, we can sermonize a big number of students at any time and in whatever part of the globe. All institutions must scramble unlike options of online pedagogical approaches and try to apply technology more aptly. Many universities around the globe take fully digitalized their operations understanding the dire need of this current situation. Online learning is emerging as a victor ludorum among this chaos. Therefore, the quality enhancement of online educational activity–learning is crucial at this stage. Online education in Chinese universities has increased exponentially after the Covid-xix outbreak. There was an overnight shift of normal classrooms into e-classrooms, that is, educators have shifted their entire pedagogical approach to tackle new market atmospheric condition and arrange to the changing situations. During this tough time, the business organisation is not most whether online educational activity–learning methods tin can provide quality education, it is rather how academic institutions will be able to adopt online learning in such a massive manner (Carey, 2020).

Resistance to change volition non help any educational unit of measurement across the world. They will be judged on their step to suit to the changes in such a short catamenia and their ability to maintain the quality. The reputation of educational units is on stake and under scrutiny. How well they behave and how well they maintain their quality of didactics amidst this crisis shows their adapting capabilities. The shift from face-to-face lectures to online classes is the only possible solution. Indeed, bookish institutions would not exist able to transform all of their college curricula into and online resources overnight. Distance, scale, and personalized teaching and learning are the three biggest challenges for online instruction. Innovative solutions by institutions tin can merely help us deal with this pandemic (Liguori & Winkler, 2020). There is a requirement of a quick shift to online learning mode; therefore, the products past Google can exist actually useful under such problematic situations; they are (a) Gmail, (b) Google Forms, (c) Calendars, (d) Grand-Drive, (e) Google Hangouts, (f) Google Jam board and Drawings, (k) Google Classroom, and (h) Open Board Software (not a Google product, helps in recording meetings in the grade of files). These tools can successfully exist used as an alternative for contiguous classes (Basilaia et al., 2020).

Problems Associated With Online Teaching and Learning

There are north number of technologies available for online instruction but sometimes they create a lot of difficulties. These difficulties and problems associated with mod technology range from downloading errors, problems with installation, login issues, problems with audio and video, then on. Sometimes student finds online teaching to be dull and unengaging. Online learning has then much of time and flexibility that students never find time to exercise it. Personal attention is also a huge outcome facing online learning. Students want two-mode interaction which sometimes gets difficult to implement. The learning process cannot attain its total potential until students practice what they acquire. Sometimes, online content is all theoretical and does not permit students exercise and learn finer. Mediocre course content is also a major consequence. Students feel that lack of community, technical bug, and difficulties in understanding instructional goals are the major barriers for online learning (Vocal et al., 2004). In a report, students were institute to be not sufficiently prepared for balancing their work, family, and social lives with their written report lives in an online learning environment. Students were also found to be poorly prepared for several e-learning competencies and academic-blazon competencies. Too, there is a low-level preparedness among the students apropos the usage of Learning Management Systems (Parkes et al., 2014).

Possible Solutions for Issues

A lot of issues are fastened to online teaching but nosotros cannot ignore the perks of it in times of such crisis. We can always have solutions to prepare these difficulties. Technical difficulties tin be solved through prerecording video lectures, testing the content, and always keeping Plan B ready so that the teaching–learning process cannot be hampered. Online courses should be made dynamic, interesting, and interactive. Teachers should ready time limits and reminders for students to brand them alert and attentive. Efforts should be made to humanize the learning process to the best extent possible. Personal attention should exist provided to students and then that they can easily adapt to this learning environment. Social media and various group forums can be used to communicate with students. Communication is the key when information technology gets difficult to endeavour reaching out to students via texts, various messaging apps, video calls, and so on—content should be such that enable students for practice and also hone their skills. The quality of the courses should be improved continuously and teachers must effort to requite their best. Online programs should be designed in such a mode that they are artistic, interactive, relevant, student-centered, and grouping-based (Partlow & Gibbs, 2003). Educators must spend a lot of time in making effective strategies for giving online instructions. Effective online instructions facilitate feedback from learners, make learners ask questions, and broaden the learner horizon for the grade content (Keeton, 2004). Institutions must focus on pedagogical issues and emphasize collaborative learning, case learning, and project-based learning through online instructions (Kim & Bonk, 2006).

The challenge to educational institutions is not simply finding new technology and using information technology but also reimagining its pedagogy, thereby helping students and academic staff who are seeking guidance for digital literacy.

Objectives of the Study

To explore the growth of EdTech Start-ups and online learning.
To conduct an Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Challenges (SWOC) analysis of online learning during the Corona Virus pandemic and natural disasters.
To give some suggestions and recommendations for the success of online manner of learning during a crisis-similar situation.

Inquiry Methodology

The study is descriptive and tries to understand the importance of online learning in the period of a crisis and pandemics such as the Covid-19. The problems associated with online learning and possible solutions were also identified based on previous studies. The SWOC assay was conducted to understand diverse strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges associated with online fashion of learning during this critical situation. The research tool used for analyzing the data which amassed from unlike sources for this written report is a content assay and the enquiry method is descriptive research. We accept taken into consideration the qualitative aspects of the research written report. This study is completely based on the secondary data. A systematic review was done in detail for the collected literature.

Secondary sources of data used are (a) journals, (b) reports, (c) search engines, (d) company websites and scholarly articles, (e) research papers, and other bookish publications.

EdTech Outset-ups in the Times of Corona

If we become back in history and see EdTech through the ages, we tin can find that writing slates were used in Indian schools during the 1100s. In the yr 1440, commencement printing press was invented by Johannes Guttenberg; in the 1600s, Abacus helped students in agreement fundamentals of Math; and in the yr 1913, Thomas Edison promoted pic clips as a replacement for teachers. In 1927, Sidney Pressy invented the starting time education machine famously called the MCQ machine. In the 1960s, online pedagogy originated at the University of Illinois and in 1994, India'southward EdTech journeying finally began in India with the launch of Educomp. Recently, around 2010, EdTechs start-ups entered the market intending to disrupt the education sector. A learning application Byju's became one of the almost valued EdTech companies in the year 2019. And from then many showtime-ups have come up to give tough competition to Byjus's. Li Kang, Ai English Executive Director said, "Online Learning is the future and if there was no virus, that realization would accept taken some other few years only this has accelerated the process."

EdTech Start-ups are tapping all the right opportunities past providing complimentary online courses to students amidst this crisis. UNESCO too suggested that these EdTech Start-ups and learning apps can help students during such difficult times. Digital payment companies, such every bit Paytm, Mobiwik, Tez, PhonePe, and and then on, grew speedily during and afterwards demonetization. At present, in this pandemic outbreak, EdTech start-ups are hoping for improved performance. EdTech starting time-ups are trying hard to make most out of this state of affairs by providing several free courses and e-resource to the students. Although the availability of electricity and a stable internet connection is still a bigger challenge in their way as a lot of Indian cities especially small cities still confront frequent electricity shortages. Equally per the reports, initiatives by these companies are already bringing them gains. Their customer base of operations is improving a lot, it might exist for a temporary menstruation but even if they can retain a few customers it is for their good but.

Educators or teachers in the course of facilitators confront a lot of trouble while working on these EdTech first-ups in the form of how to start using it when to use information technology, how to reduce distractions for students, how to hone students' skills via EdTech. The participation by students is not enough, educators must put considerable effort to increment pupil engagement, retain their attention, take feedbacks, and assess them in several ways. This volition create an constructive and meaningful learning environment. EdTech cannot replace a teacher but it tin can enhance didactics. During such tough times, when Covid-xix has forced schools and colleges to remain completely lockdown for few weeks due to the seriousness of the situation, EdTech companies can prove to be of bang-up assistance to students (Brianna et al., 2019). According to the reports by KPMG and Google, the EdTech sector will boom and is probable to reach effectually ii Billion Dollars by 2021. Some of the famous EdTech start-ups include Byju'southward, Adda247, Alolearning, AptusLearn, Asmakam, Board Infinity, ClassPlus, CyberVie, Egnify, Embibe, ExtraaEdge, iStar, Jungroo Learning, GlobalGyan, Lido Learning, Pesto, Vedantu, Edubrisk, ZOOM Classroom, ZOOM Business, Toppr, Unacademy, Coursera, Kahoot, Seesaw, Khan University, due east-pathshala, GuruQ, and the listing is long. SWAYAM portal is an interesting educational program that is initiated by the government of Republic of india to achieve three important objectives of our educational policy, that is, access, equity, and quality. The master objective of SWAYAM is to provide online learning and reduce the digital divide. It provides a large number of free courses for school, distance, graduate, and postgraduate instruction. During the Covid-19 crisis, SWAYAM is of great aid for students across the country.

SWOC Assay of Online Learning: During Corona Virus Pandemic and Other Crisis-Like Situation (Natural Disasters)

In the aftermath of some of the natural calamities such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, hurricanes, and so on, knowledge delivery becomes a challenging job. These hazards disrupt the educational processes in schools and colleges in several means. Sometimes, it leads to closure of schools and colleges which creates serious consequences for students and deprives them of their fundamental correct to education and poses them to future gamble. "100 meg children and immature people are afflicted past natural disasters every year. Nearly of them face disruption to their schooling" (World Vision). Situations of crisis and conflicts are the biggest hurdles in the path of education. Many students and teachers also face psychological problems during crunch—there is stress, fear, anxiety, low, and insomnia that lead to a lack of focus and concentration. Disasters create havoc in the lives of people (Di Pietro, 2017).

With changing weather patterns and rising global temperatures, an increasing number of extreme weather events take go the new norm. Such events caused varying amounts of loss to life and property. Table1 shows some of the natural disasters that caused huge disruption in educational processes. Large numbers of schools and colleges were destroyed and thousands of students were affected by these natural calamities. Their teaching got disrupted in midway. "Disruption of didactics tin can exit children at run a risk of kid labor, early spousal relationship, exploitation, and recruitment into military machine" (Baytiyeh, 2018). When disasters and crises (human-fabricated and natural) occur, schools and colleges need to be resilient and should observe new ways to go along with teaching–learning activities (Chang-Richards et al., 2013).

For instance, in 2016, Italy experienced iii violent and powerful earthquakes. This brought huge destruction in the number of areas. Nearly i,00,000 people became homeless, buildings and structures collapsed, and there was severe loss of life and property. The University of Camerino, one of the oldest universities in the world suffered a huge loss. The university was in crisis, its structure collapsed, a large number of students became homeless and some left the place. In such situations, students were deprived of educational activity and learning. It is rightly said, "It is hard to stick to the traditional road when the route itself has crumbled." This means that face-to-face instructions were not possible at that time; therefore, management and leaders came forward to devise some plans to keep the educational processes in continuation. Before the earthquake'southward destruction, eastward-learning at the University was cumbersome. But they were unstoppable, and to continue the teaching–learning processes, they used Webex (an online tool) by Cisco. Webex helped professors in designing their instructional programs and sharing notes and presentations with students. In almost 1 calendar month, the university was well-versed with east-learning strategies and techniques. They integrated themselves well in an due east-learning world. They believed that, of course, the value of the contiguous instruction method cannot be reduced, but east-learning can exist used together with the traditional methods to bring in efficiency, effectiveness, and competitive edge over other competitors by imparting quality education (Barboni, 2019).

In February 2011, a half-dozen.3 magnitude earthquake shook Christchurch and the Academy of Canterbury collapsed. Information technology and online learning helped the university to restart its operations and gave them a second life (Todorova & Bjorn-Andersen, 2011).

At New Orleans, Southern University converted itself into an e-learning campus later the violent hurricane created a Havoc. Several online courses were offered and mobiles were used to provide education to the displaced students (Omar et al., 2008).

And the most recent disaster is in the form of the Covid-19 which is spreading similar a forest fire around the globe. All of the schools, colleges, and universities are facing lockdowns in the most afflicted areas to curb further spread of the Corona Virus. Many academic institutions are, therefore, seeking the help of online learning so that educational activity and learning processes are not hampered. The SWOC Assay of Online Learning is shown in Figure 1.

In the last few years, e-learning has started gaining popularity in India. Many platforms provide affordable courses to students via Massive Open Online Courses. Still a lot of institutions in Republic of india were reluctant toward online teaching and learning. However, the challenges posed past the Corona Virus pandemic introduced anybody to a new world of online learning and remote teaching. Instructors indulged them in remote instruction via few flatforms such as Google Hangouts, Skype, Adobe Connect, Microsoft teams, and few more, though ZOOM emerged equally a clear winner. Also, to deport smooth teaching–learning programs, a list of online etiquettes was shared with students and proper instructions for attending classes were given to them (Saxena, 2020).

Tabular array 1.

Natural Disaster That Afflicted Teaching–Learning Badly.

Year	Natural disasters
2009	A violent convulsion in 9 the city of L'Aquila
2010	Floods in Islamic republic of pakistan
2011	Tropical tempest Washi in the Philippines
2011	A series of earthquakes in New Zealand
2013	Tropical tempest Haiyan in the Philippines
2015	Gorkha floods in Nepal
2017	Harvey and Irma Hurricanes in the Usa
2017	Floods in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India
2018	An convulsion in Papua New Guinea
2018	Earthquakes and tsunamis in Indonesia
2019	The typhoon Lekima in Prc
2019	The draft Hagibis in Nippon
2019	The tropical cyclone Idai in Southeastern Africa
2019	The heat wave in Bihar

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The SWOC Assay of Online Learning During Such Crises.Annotation. SWOC = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Challenges.

Strengths

E-learning methods and processes are really strong. These strengths of the online learning modes can rescue u.s. from these hard times. It is educatee-centered and offers a great bargain of flexibility in terms of time and location. The e-learning methods enable u.s.a. to customize our procedures and processes based on the needs of the learners. There are enough of online tools bachelor which is important for an effective and efficient learning environment. Educators can use a combo of sound, videos, and text to reach out to their students in this time of crisis to maintain a human affect to their lectures. This can assist in creating a collaborative and interactive learning environment where students can give their immediate feedback, ask queries, and learn interestingly. The Anywhere-Anytime feature of e-learning is beneficial in the times of crisis-like situation, for case, man-made disasters, natural disasters, or pandemics such equally Covid-nineteen. The closure of places and dangerous traveling by roads can create a lot of troubles but east-learning will at least not go along u.s. deprived of getting an education at our homes or workplaces.

Engineering provides innovative and resilient solutions at times of crunch to combat disruption and helps people to communicate and even work virtually without the need of face-to-face interaction. This leads to many system changes in organizations as they adopt new technology for interacting and working (Marker & Semaan, 2008).

Weaknesses

East-learning has certain weaknesses in the class that information technology tin can hamper the advice between the learner and the educator, that is, straight advice and human being touch are lost. Users can face many technical difficulties that hinder and slow-downwards the pedagogy–learning process (Favale et al., 2020). Time and location flexibility, though it is the forcefulness of online learning these aspects are frail and create problems. Educatee'south nonserious behavior in terms of time and flexibility tin cause a lot of issues. All students and learners are non the same, they vary in degrees of their capabilities and conviction level. Some do not experience comfortable while learning online, leading to increased frustration and defoliation. Inadequate compatibility between the design of the technology and component of psychology required by the learning procedure; and inadequate customization of learning processes can obstruct the teaching process and creates an imbalance.

Opportunities

Online learning generally has a lot of opportunities available simply this fourth dimension of crisis will allow online learning to blast as virtually academic institutions have switched to this model. Online Learning, Remote Working, and e-collaborations exploded during the outbreak of Corona Virus crisis (Favale et al., 2020). Now, bookish institutions tin grab this opportunity by making their teachers teach and students learn via online methodology. The people have ever been complacent and never tried some new modes of learning. This crisis will be a new phase for online learning and will allow people to look at the fruitful side of east-learning technologies. This is the time when at that place is a lot of telescopic in bringing out surprising innovations and digital developments. Already, EdTech companies are doing their bit by helping united states of america fighting the pandemic and not letting learning to be put at a halt. Teachers can practice engineering and tin pattern various flexible programs for students' better understanding. The usage of online learning will test both the educator and learners. It will enhance problem-solving skills, disquisitional thinking abilities, and adaptability amongst the students. In this critical situation, users of whatever age tin can access the online tools and reap the benefits of fourth dimension and location flexibility associated with online learning. Teachers tin can develop innovative pedagogical approaches in this panicky state of affairs, now likewise termed as Panicgogy. EdTech Outset-ups have plenty of opportunities to bring about radical transformations in nearly all the aspects associated with education ranging from, teaching, learning, evaluation, assessment, results, certification, degrees, then on. Besides, increasing market demand for e-learning is an amazing opportunity for EdTech start-ups to bring technological disruption in the education sector.

Challenges

Online learning faces many challenges ranging from learners' problems, educators' issues, and content issues. Information technology is a challenge for institutions to appoint students and make them participate in the education–learning process. Information technology is a claiming for teachers to motility from offline mode to online style, changing their pedagogy methodologies, and managing their fourth dimension. It is challenging to develop content which non only covers the curriculum just too engage the students (Kebritchi et al., 2017). The quality of due east-learning programs is a existent challenge. At that place is no articulate stipulation by the government in their educational policies about east-learning programs. At that place is a lack of standards for quality, quality control, development of e-resources, and e-content delivery. This problem needs to exist tackled immediately so that anybody tin can enjoy the benefits of quality instruction via e-learning (Cojocariu et al., 2014). One should not merely focus on the pros fastened to the adoption of online learning during the crises but should besides take account of developing and enhancing the quality of virtual courses delivered in such emergencies (Affouneh et al., 2020). A lot of time and cost is involved in eastward-learning. It is not as easy equally it seems, a considerable corporeality of investment is needed for getting the devices and equipment, maintaining the equipment, training the human resources, and developing the online content. Therefore, an effective and efficient educational system needs to be developed to impart education via online mode.

Ensuring digital disinterestedness is crucial in this tough time. Not all the teachers and students have access to all digital devices, net, and Wi-Fi. Unavailability of proper digital tools, no cyberspace connections, or iffy Wi-Fi connections can cause a lot of trouble due to which many students might lose out learning opportunities. Efforts should exist taken by institutions to ensure that every student and kinesthesia is having access to the required resources. They must besides ensure that all the educational apps work on mobile phones every bit well, in example students exercise not have laptops. Therefore, steps must be taken to reduce the digital split.

Practice makes a man perfect is a famous and very true maxim. Students and teachers beyond various universities take never really proficient due east-learning. Nearly of them are complacent and are stuck with traditional modes of educational activity. The Corona Virus outbreak is the risk to make out the best from the current state of affairs. We tin learn a lot in this challenging situation. A lot of tools are available, teachers are required to cull the best tool and implement it to impart educational activity to their students. A step-past-step guide can exist prepared by academic institutions that can guide the teachers and students on how to access and utilize diverse eastward-learning tools and how to embrace major curriculum content via these technologies thereby reducing the digital illiteracy. Teachers can present the curriculum in various formats, that is, they can apply videos, audios, and texts. It is beneficial if educators complement their lectures with video chats, virtual meetings, and so on to get immediate feedback and maintain a personal connection with the students.

Conclusions and Suggestions

Ayebi-Arthur (2017) conducted a case study of a college in New Zealand which was badly affected by seismic activities. In her report, she found that the higher became more resilient to online learning after that disastrous event. Technology helped them overcome the barriers in those difficult times. But they suggest that robust IT Infrastructure is a prerequisite for online learning. Infrastructure needs to be and then strong that it can provide unhindered services during and subsequently the crisis.

Equally per the World Economic Forum, the Covid-19 pandemic as well has changed the way how several people receive and impart educational activity. To find new solutions for our problems, we might bring in some much-needed innovations and change. Teachers have become habitual to traditional methods of teaching in the grade of contiguous lectures, and therefore, they hesitate in accepting whatever alter. Only amidst this crisis, we have no other alternative left other than adapting to the dynamic situation and accepting the alter. It will be beneficial for the education sector and could bring a lot of surprising innovations. We cannot ignore and forget the students who do non have access to all online technology. These students are less affluent and belong to less tech-savvy families with fiscal resources restrictions; therefore, they may lose out when classes occur online. They may lose out considering of the heavy costs associated with digital devices and internet information plans. This digital divide may widen the gaps of inequality.

This terrible time of fate has taught us that everything is unpredictable and we need to be ready to face challenges. Although this outbreak did non give us much time to program we should have a lesson from this that planning is the key. We should plan everything, no matter if plan A fails, nosotros should take plan B set. This can merely be done if nosotros exercise scenario planning. There is a need to prioritize all the critical and challenging situations which may occur and programme appropriately. This pandemic has as well taught us that students must possess sure skills such as skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, and most importantly adaptability to survive the crisis. Educational institutions must build resilience in their systems to ensure and prioritize the presence of these skills in their students.

"The cardinal lesson for others may be to embrace east-learning applied science before disaster strikes!" (Todorova & Bjorn-Andersen, 2011). Today, we are forced to practise online learning, things would have been different if nosotros have already mastered it. The fourth dimension we lost in learning the modes could have been spent on creating more content. But it is better late than never. This virus surely has accelerated the process of online learning. For case, this due east-application chosen ZOOM is making a lot of news considering of its viable features. It allows conducting alive online classes, web-conferencing, webinars, video chats, and live meetings. As most of the schools, colleges, universities, companies are closed due to lockdowns/curfews and most of the people are working from home, this app helped in keeping people connected via video conferencing. This application is trending on Google play store amidst the ongoing crisis. People are practicing social distancing so this application gave them a sigh of relief. ZOOM also allows conducting business meetings.

Disasters volition go on to occur and technologies will likely help us cope with them (Meyer & Wilson, 2011). Don Dippo, The Co-Primary Investigator at the Borderless College didactics for Refugees said that "We are in a earth where conflict and environmental destruction … are going to have lots of people, families, and communities, living in precarious contexts. The willingness of mail-secondary institutions to stride-up and appoint and provide opportunities for those people will never exist as large as the need. The only way we can even make a dent in this is to acquire to collaborate and cooperate beyond institutions and across time and spatial boundaries. The only way really to do that is to rely on technology to create weather to allow people to collaborate."

We need a high level of preparedness then that nosotros can quickly adapt to the changes in the environment and can suit ourselves to different delivery modes, for instance, remote learning or online learning in situations of pandemics such every bit Covid-nineteen. Institutions and organizations should ready contingency plans to deal with challenges such equally pandemics and natural disasters (Seville et al., 2012). Reliability and sufficient availability of Data Communication Applied science infrastructure, learning tools, digital learning resources in the form of Massive Open Online Courses, east-books, due east-notes, and so on are of utmost importance in such severe situations (Huang et al., 2020). Instruction, content, motivation, relationships, and mental health are the five important things that an educator must keep in mind while imparting online education (Martin, 2020). Some educational activity strategies (lectures, case-study, debates, discussions, experiential learning, brainstorming sessions, games, drills, etc.) can be used online to facilitate effective and efficient teaching and learning practices. In such panicky situations, where the lives of then many people are at pale, education and learning should be made interesting. This volition besides reduce the stress, fear, and anxiety levels of people. For this, proper technique and learning back up should be provided to teachers and students and government back up is too crucial at such stage. Pedagogical and technical competency of online educators is of utmost importance. Rigorous quality management programs and continuous improvement are pivotal for online learning success and making people ready for any crunch-like situation.

Natural disasters can stimulate our motivation for the adoption of highly innovative communication applied science and e-learning tools (Tull et al., 2017). To make e-learning constructive in such difficult times, we need to focus on the use of engineering more than efficiently, that is, the usage of that technology which has minimum procurement and maintenance costs merely can effectively facilitate educational processes. Before bringing in and adopting any east-learning tool or technology, its pros and cons need to be weighed. Institutions should acquit plenty of inquiry when bringing the right engineering for different educational initiatives. There should be proper clarity on the purpose and context of technology adoption. As several factors touch the pick of a particular technology such as security features, availability and condition of laboratories, internet speed, cyberspace access, digital literacy levels of the beneficiaries, and so on. E-learning can aid in providing inclusive pedagogy fifty-fifty at the time of crisis. Such systems need to be adult in educational institutions that make sure that no student is getting deprived of education due to their location, social grade, ethnicity, and so on. Online methods of teaching support and facilitate learning–educational activity activities, merely there is a dire need to weigh the pros and cons of technology and harness its potentials. Disasters and pandemic such equally Covid-xix can create a lot of chaos and tensions; therefore, in that location is an important demand to study the technology deeply and with due diligence to balance these fears and tensions amid such crisis.

Writer Biography

Shivangi Dhawan is an banana professor of Commerce at SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. Currently, she is pursuing MPhil from the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics. She is a graduate of SGTB Khalsa College and completed her Masters in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Academy of Delhi. Her expanse of specialization is Organizational Behaviour & Evolution and has work related to information technology to her credit. Ms. Dhawan has written several enquiry papers and presented them in various National & International Conferences.

Annunciation of Conflicting Interests

The writer declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the enquiry, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The writer received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this commodity.

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Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7308790/