How did Vivekanand Business School manage to cope up with Covid-19 pandemic?

The Covid Pandemic has unquestionably been the greatest economic disaster in history. Not only the business world but also the education sector, has suffered a huge setback. Admissions, placements, and physical classes have all been affected. However, this provided institutes with a new avenue to explore, namely the online platform. As soon as the nationwide lockdown was announced, all institutes switched to the online curriculum in order to avoid any academic loss for students. Dr Sachin Deshmukh, Dean of Vivekanand Business School, talks about their online journey in an interview with Shiksha.com.

Read the complete interview below.

Q: How has today’s scenario of lockdown and global pandemic impacted your education system?

A: The Government of India had declared lockdown from the third week of March 2020 stating that the schools and colleges shall remain closed for a certain period of time. As a precautionary measure, the lockdown was further extended from time to time either by the central government or the state government, ultimately leading to loss of a full academic year (2020-21). By the time this article gets published, we shall be entering into the next academic year, 2021–22 with no guarantee of when and how the new academic year would be operational; that is when it will start and whether it will online or classroom teaching. The Common Entrance Test for MBA and Postgraduate Diploma Courses in Management is yet to be conducted in the Maharashtra state which has ultimately delayed the admission process. With the delay in the start of the academic year 2021–22, the institutions shall be forced to cut down the duration of the semesters which may ultimately affect the delivery and the quality of the courses.

In the initial period of lockdown, there was a worry about the delivery of lectures at VES Business School, but we were able to quickly find a solution to this problem – Google Classroom. A workshop was conducted on Google Classroom for our faculty members and they were able to quickly adopt the new online teaching methodology. All the courses of the academic year 2020–21 were completed on time and the exams were conducted as per the schedule. But there was something lacking – the personal touch. This factor marks the difference between online and classroom teaching. A lecture delivered in the classroom makes a huge impact on students than a lecture that is conducted online. At VES Business School, we have adopted the pedagogy of ‘Flip Classroom’, which requires participation from the students. This was affected due to online teaching.

 All the Management courses focus on the personality development of students by way of case study discussion, presentations, live participation and flip classroom. Online education has affected the development of skills of the students. In classroom teaching, a faculty can gauge whether students are able to understand the concepts, or can sense if any change is required in the teaching style at that moment to explain the concept in a more simplified manner. Reading the facial expressions of the students in online teaching is difficult as one cannot see them on the screen. Most of the time students are found to avoid asking questions in the online sessions.

At VES Business School, we are continuously trying to overcome these problems to make online learning more effective. Our BSchool has successfully delivered regular courses and also in areas like data analytics and python programming to the satisfaction of our students.

Q: What are some of the interesting initiatives your institute has taken to make it easy for your students and also contribute to eradication of this pandemic?

A: Over the last year, a number of workshops and lectures were organised to teach stress management to our students. Also a number of such activities were conducted by AICTE to help students to control stress and anxiety. VES BSchool has organised a vaccination drive for its students and staff. A number of programmes will be arranged in the next academic year which will focus on strengthening protective factors for students’ mental health such as developing students’ life skills and resilience, fostering connectedness and belongingness and more importantly promoting help-seeking behaviour. Our workshops will help students to manage relationships, problem-solving, decision making and identifying and managing emotions during this crisis

Q: How is the institute planning to conduct exams, evaluate and declare results online?

A: In this pandemic, VES Business School is conducting online examinations which comprise of application-based questions, case study and multiple-choice questions. Currently, the institute is using examination facilities that are available in Google Classroom. Students can load their answer sheets with ease in Google Classroom which is then evaluated by faculty. The results of the examination based on multiple-choice questions are sent to students in real-time. Continuous evaluation of the students is based on project work, assignments and mid-term tests. Digital copies of results are sent to the students on their email id.

Q: How are students responding to new initiatives?

A: Feedback from the students about online learning reveals a number of facts. On one hand, students are happy to avoid travelling to the institute thus saving their time and energy. Another advantage is students can have access to the lectures from anywhere and anytime. All the lectures delivered by our faculty are recorded and made available to every student. Students who are unable to attend the regular lecture can view the recorded lecture at any time or day. In short a student hardly miss out on any lecture. The online format allows a dynamic interaction between the faculty and students and among the students themselves. Resources and ideas are shared, and continuous synergy is generated through the learning process. Students also respond to the course material and to the comments from other students.

Q: What impact will it have on students’ interpersonal, team management skills?

A: Due to online teaching, there is an impact on the development of students’ interpersonal skills and team management skills. A faculty delivering an online lecture is unable to track the involvement of the students. Our experience is students are hesitant to ask questions during a session. Students are found to read the content during their presentations. This will not help students to develop their communication skills and will lack in confidence.

Q: What are the best practices that the college is adopting to ensure seamless online learning?

A: Our faculty members were able to identify the above problems quickly. We have found that there are two basic challenges faced in online teaching:

1. To maintain students engagement throughout the session to ensure positive learning outcomes
2. To develop soft skills of the students

To overcome the above challenges, VES Business School has adopted the following practices

1. Team-Based Learning: A model called Team-Based Learning is used through which we try to ensure the development of soft skills and team management skills. Teams of students are formed and each team is assigned projects. The teams are then expected to make a presentation on the solutions developed by them. Such activities help students to understand group dynamics. More importantly, working in teams will help students to develop emotional intelligence.

2. E – Advising: Our faculty members engage in guidance sessions and help students in overcoming their problems. Faculty members are also available on phone and emails to explain the availability of additional resources and provide opportunities for students to ask questions related to the subject.
3. Additional Online Courses: Our faculty members also advise students to attend additional online courses like MOOCs or EdX. These online facilities offer a number of courses for students

Q: How will today’s situation revolutionize online learning in India and abroad?

A: Before pandemic, the online education was growing both, in India and abroad. In 2018, online education in India was valued at Rs 19,300 crores. Covid – 19 pandemics is causing ripples in e-learning space as students refrain from being physically present in the classrooms. Online learning is inevitably the only way to learn during times of quarantines and social distancing. Students are now looking at online education because of its flexibility, accessibility and cost-effectiveness. Students in India and abroad are now considering online learning as a viable option.

But whether an online MBA course will be effective to train future managers is a question that needs our attention.