Introduction
Today word online became heart in every sector. In the education sector also 70% of education became online after COVID-19. The whole world is moving towards online. There are several benefits of online education like freedom, portability, reduced use of infrastructure, ease of access, etc. but it also has some demerits. Many universities, colleges, and even students also faced many problems while shifting to online education.
Although today there are many software available which made online education easy but we didn’t use them before. So it is a little tough for both universities and students to use it. This software covers every need of an educational institute like online classes, online exams yes you can take online exams of students, video conferences, online attendance, and much more. This software made online education easier or we can say that online education was not possible without such kind of software.
ConductExam is one of these online education software and is also used by many educational institutions. This software covered every need that one educational institution needs to run their institute online. More in this Zoom, Google Meet also played a vital role in COVID in the education sector. Two types of online education were provided by universities during COVID-19. Synchronous and Asynchronous. In synchronous professors directly interact with the students by zoom, google meet, etc and take lectures to complete term courses. While in asynchronous professors provide soft study materials to the students so they can easily access materials anytime.
Let us discuss the problems faced by universities while shifting online.
Online education has many demerits along with advantages. Problems faced by universities are listed below.
Network Problem
Distractions
Time Management
Demotivation
Lack of in-person communication
adopting new technology
Changed Environment
Network Problem
During the Online exam, one major problem faced by every educational institution and also by lots of students is a network issue. The network is not stable and during online classes, if the network is lost then the connection between professor and students is disconnected. It cannot predict when they both can reconnect. But according to human psychology once the concentration is lost then we can’t grasp the same as before. Sometimes voice becomes also unclear due to poor network and students can’t get exactly what the professor is teaching.
Same as professors also faced this issue due to poor network connection. They can’t present on screen what they want. This affects in course period in which the university or educational institution decided to complete one course. Because of poor connection course remains incomplete and takes more time to complete. This seems a normal problem but affects a lot during online education. Students cannot get professors properly and this leads to many doubts students have in their minds because they didn’t get it properly.
Distractions
Many professors face distractions while online lectures. There are many types of distractions such as external voice disturbance and environmental disturbance. Many teachers faced problems of lack of tools, loss of network, and mainly less interest of students from students. This can demotivate professors also. Because according to human psychology lack of interest among students also causes demotivation in professors. The use of mobile phones and laptops during online class occur distractions countless.
Voice disturbance is also there when you are attending or conducting online classes from home. So you have to set up yourself in a place where there is less disturbance. You can concentrate better when you have fewer distractions.
Time Management
Time management is one of the main factors that affect when professors are taking lectures from home or any other place rather than college. Because when you are at your home there are lots of other responsibilities there and you also can’t neglect them. So this affects somewhere when you work remotely. You cannot focus on your work as other family members disturb you or children making noise etc. So you have to fix yourself in such a place or a special room where you can work properly with concentration.
Having a special room or such a place for lectures can help both professors and students concentrate. This can make understanding better between professors and students. Students also face these problems when they are attending lectures online. So to manage your time according to you is very important. This helps you to manage other responsibilities at home.
Demotivation
Staying motivated during COVID-19 was one of the main challenges faced not just by only students or professors but faced by everyone. Everything was closed due to lockdown. But it covid spreads all over the world and so it was necessary to shut everything for the long term to maintain social distance. But it is not possible to shut schools and colleges in long term. So universities and boards decided to take lectures online. But taking lectures online was a little tough for professors and also for students to attend lectures online.
Students can’t get what exactly the teacher is explaining. So they are getting demotivated and this also affects professors. They are taking lectures from home and so they were not concentrating properly. Distractions, network error, and lack of communication with students all these factors are responsible for demotivation among professors and students. Many psychology specialists advised doing yoga to maintain mental health. Reading motivational books also helped people a lot to stay motivated and confident. Online camps are held to help people and reduce their stress.
Lack of In-Person Communication
According to human psychology social communication is very important. It affects directly your mind. During COVID-19 professors suffered from this a lot. Because till 2019 they were habitual to offline classes only where they interact physically with every student. But when universities shifted online there was a lack of social interaction between them. This affects them mentally because they can’t interact with their students properly and just because of this they are not getting better results.
To solve this problem colleges made some WhatsApp groups for all students per class. In this group, students share problems, and doubts and ask anything about their subject. This helped both professors and students to communicate with each other. This helped professors to get feedback from students on the topics they taught.
Adopting New Technology
Online education came into use from COVID-19. This gave an unexpected change in the education sector. Before COVID-19 very few were familiar with online education technology. But it became only a source for an education system in COVID. Thus it became very important to be familiar with this technology. Professors and Students using android phones didn’t take much time to learn online classes but professors who do not use android phones faced many difficulties to adopt this technology.
Although they have large experience in the teaching field they don’t have any idea about smartphones and online education. They also faced mental mindset issues because they didn’t teach like this before. They have the only experience to teach students face-to-face, no issue how many students are there. To overcome this problem universities arranged one seminar or training period in which everything related to conducting online exams is taught to every professor. How to conduct online classes, how to take online exams etc. So that professors came to know and can easily adopt this new technology.
Changed Environment
The environmental change also disturbs you in your work. Because when you study offline by going to schools and colleges, you get a proper environment to learn and you can focus well there. But when it comes to online education then you attend it from any place like home. So you can’t get that environment like college at home to study. There are lots of disturbances you have to face. Same way professors also face this problem while conducting online classes from home.
We have no options for this, so you have to set your mind according to the environment surrounding you. You can also create an environment like school or college if you have a personal room at your home. You have to manage your timetable according to it. You can stick some motivational thoughts on the wall which gives you some motivation.
Recommended for you: Why universities must consider the online mode of examination and how?
Conclusion:
We all are aware of the situation we faced with covid. Everything leads to closure approx one year to break the spread of the coronavirus. This leads to a shift in universities to online. Although it is tough for many to shift from offline to online but academic pressure forced them to do it and educational institutions, schools along with universities successfully shifted to online education. Many universities organized online camps to teach students and professors everything related to online education.
No doubt there were many problems faced by professors and students to shift online. Students may have little idea about it but the professors who don’t use smartphones and don’t have knowledge about the latest technologies faced many problems. But the cooperation of universities and students made everything easy and successful.
source: educationworld
These efforts of universities and boards handled the career of large numbers of students. It was not easy but their efforts made it easy and now education has another option for studies. Now also many universities are still conducting online classes along with offline. This helps those students who are far from college and not able to attend class offline, so they can attend class online. The online class became a flexible option for students and professors. This is a major step taken by universities and gave another touch to education.
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