We need to achieve certain milestones before we can fully utilize the online classroom sessions: Bisharah, RBS
As we all are aware of the current coronavirus situation, businesses have already been affected all over the world and in several countries, analysts have already said that the economy will take a fall and it won’t be an easy recovery. If that is the case with the economy, let me provide my opinion on how the current situation will affect the education sector.
As a postgraduate student, the one thing I can tell you is that studying for an MBA or a PGDM programme is not a cheap process. You have to invest in a lot of money as tuition and hostel fees and there will be expenses once you start receiving assignments, projects, etc. The higher the reputation of the institution, the higher will be the fees. This is the situation in our country. There are lots of students who also travel abroad to study in foreign universities either for a technical or management degree. In their case, the tuition and living expenses will be even higher except for countries like Germany where tuition fees are free.
What I am trying to say is, with the economy plunging in every part of the world, the number of students travelling abroad studies are sure to go down. In the case of India, students might make a choice of skipping a year in order to make up for the money which has been lost or remained stagnant during the lockdown unless the universities decide to have some reduction in fees which is yet to be seen. This can take some time to return to the situation where things would be back to normal.
The question of whether online classrooms would be continued after the lockdown days still arises among various students and parents.
In my opinion, the colleges would not shift to online classrooms after lockdown, at least not full time. The reason why online classrooms were implemented during lockdown was because there was no other way in which students could receive the study material and attend classes.
Besides, online classrooms were the safest way to make it possible too. India is a developing country which has yet more miles to go. This would include creating a better network infrastructure and making sure that each and every educational institution has provisions for conducting smart classes.
In a country, where these techniques have not been completely implemented, it is pointless to shift from the traditional brick and mortar style of teaching to online classrooms. Of course, online classrooms are sustainable as students need not travel to classrooms thereby reducing dependence on transportation. Both professors and students have the provision to conduct and attend sessions from wherever they feel is appropriate. All they require is a suitable internet connection. Most importantly, the issue of classroom size does not arise in this case as the classroom is virtual. But like I said, we need to achieve certain milestones before we can fully utilize the online classroom sessions.
Of course, when the time for implementation of online classrooms actually arrives, students need not be worried about the shift as the traditional way of learning and clearing doubts can also be achieved here too. Even during the recent days, various institutions incorporated a feature through which students could clear the doubts with their professor then and there itself through a ‘’chat’’ or ‘’discuss’’ option. In the case of exams, students can be given the same amount of time which is normally given during the exams in the brick and mortar classrooms.
So, what I would conclude is that online classrooms are really a boon for the emerging generation of students but in order to make sure that the students benefit the most, it is necessary for us to lay a strong foundation upon which we can implement the technique of online classrooms.
About the Author:
Bisharah Saeed is a second-year Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) student at Rajagiri Business School. He has a Bachelor's degree in Automobile Engineering. Bisharah has over 10 months of work experience at Amazon.