Indian Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 2 No. 2, July 2020

157

Communication

Challenges of Online Teaching in the Wake of Covid-19 
Pandemic
Suman Nehra

Principal, R. C. Institute of Technology, (Affiliated to GGS IP University), Najafgarh, 
New Delhi, Email: sumannehra@gmail.com

Schools and colleges have never 
been locked down nationwide in the 
past as it happened in present time 
due to deadly covid-19 pandemic. 
Under the circumstances, shifting 
from conventional instruction-based 
classroom teaching to online teaching is 
undoubtedly an obligation for teaching 
as well as learning. There are numerous 
online teaching technologies/software/
apps such as Skype, Zoom, WebEx-Cisco 
and Google meet etc. to adopt while 
moving on this new path during the 
gigantic educational crisis but it is not so 
easy to be well accustomed with these 
in a short span of time.

My hands-on experience

With an intent to provide effective 
learning experiences to my students, 
I have included many online tools and 
applications in my teaching pedagogy 
like use of audio-video clips in lectures, 
giving weekly assignments online or 
sharing of lessons on WhatsApp groups, 
e-mails or google drive for self-learning. 
It is my firm belief that the present 
adverse situation has not only provided 
us with many innovative ideas but 
also provided opportunity to build our 
professional competencies on digital 
platform.

Students’ feedback

The feedback was obtained from students 

while attending their classes online 
and after classes on google feedback 
form about e-learning. As expected, a 
larger number of students believe that 
online classes are very enriching for 
them. With more convenient timings 
of the classes, absence of the need of 
travelling, freedom to sit in a more 
comfortable and homely environment, 
overall is a good experience. However, 
a few other students faced difficulty in 
using this digital platform due to lack of 
resources. Also some students are not 
enough competent to use e-learning 
technologies. Still majority of the 
students are satisfied with this new way 
of learning.

On the other hand, my experiences on 
using technology while teaching acclaim 
that:
• This crisis has brought all teachers 

together and they work as a team 
instead of individuals to provide 
students the best support system.

• Education is not only about 
classroom teaching but it also 
involves interactions, free flow 
of ideas, open discussions and 
mentoring of students; so ample 
opportunities are provided on 
digital platform by organising 
debates, discussions etc.

• With academic growth it is also 
important to take care of affective 
and psychomotor domain 



Indian Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 2 No. 2, July 2020

158

therefore to connect emotionally 
with students along with digital 
connectivity, special weekly classes 
are organized for their well-being, 
where the students can discuss 
even about their anxiety and fear 
because of lockdown.

• To give students the feeling of a 
normal classroom, Socratic Method 
of dialogue should be used. Firstly, 
the content is explained for 15 to 
20 minutes, followed by students’ 
discussions and questions.

• Grounded on the student feedback 
and my own experiences as a 
teacher in using these technologies, 
I would like to make following 
observations reflecting challenges 
to the use of technology in our 
present education system.

• Students are from diverse economic 
background where every student 
does not have resources like laptop, 
tablet, Smartphone to attend online 
classes;

• Issues related to internet 
connectivity pose a hurdle in 
effective teaching;

• It is really a difficult task to keep 
students involved and keep a check 
on their distractions during teaching 
learning process; and

• Conducting internal assessment is 
another tedious task as students 
have to use their own devices and 
nobody is there to have an eye on 
them. 

In a nutshell, although online classes 
are need of the hour, but replacing 
the traditional classroom teaching is 
next to impossible. Therefore, in future 

we expect to return back to the same 
buildings of school or colleges for real 
teaching learning experiences.