The pandemic COVID-19 has proven to be the most unusual event in the last two decades. It has forced humanity to several kinds of hermit, forcing them to find alternate solutions to the several academic circumstances they were forced into and resort to several other alternatives that were required.
It forced universities to close their doors, introducing distance education. The universities, globally, had been contemplating an all-inclusive shift to include the far-flung students of the third world, which could not work out. The Pandemic, however, forced universities globally to resort to it.
There came a new dimension to imparting education. With more unknown challenges and their detriments, students faced academic challenges finding ways to resolve them and moving on to study ahead in pandemic times discussed ahead.
This sudden shift from general classroom learning to full-time distance learning raised challenges that universities needed to tackle. Likewise, faculty members and students faced a bit of limitation. However, all had to take to the nuances of –learning online-only during the outbreak. And some are still coming to terms with it. The shift was overnight –to deal with a mammoth situation raised out of the blue.
Qualitative Analysis Indicated Academic Areas That Require Resolving:
Qualitative analysis of situations and measures undertaken to resolve them indicate that the most obvious challenge remained to handle technical issues; it remained the university’s profound concern.
To add to the depression, set in by the isolation, was the lack of in-person interaction and several distractions while studying outside the campus.
Difficulties in time management remained another concern. Students missed the traditional university environment most. In addition, they remained highly inconvenienced with the limited availability of the various digital devices that played havoc in lousy weather.
According To WHO – Health Updates, Pandemic Remains Far From Over, And Academic Challenges Need To Be Mitigated:
The disease originated in China by December 2019. It affected the other parts of the world by February 2020, well enough to be declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization subsequently. March 2020 saw 150 countries closing their academic institutions nationally, affecting nearly 82% of the student population worldwide. Several problems arose when colleges came to a grovelling halt.
Fallout Of College Campus Coming To A Grovelling Halt
All college campus activities came to a grovelling halt; workshops, sports, conferences, and several programmes reschedule by school management worldwide. Universities took recourse in an online delivery mode other than the face-to-face delivery of different courses.
Pandemic created an environment of a different sort, pressuring students to meet the challenges and the difficulties alongside. They looked for support from universities.
Undergraduate boys and girls, in this period, have been the most to suffer. Nevertheless, they remained accountable for their studies without assistance from any quarter and resorted to online assignment help as an alternative for online classes.
Some of the educational roadblocks while studying online was:
Students came across several concerns that were a stumbling block around their study schedule; some of the ones mentioning here remain:
-Students reported audio and video issues when they often faced cut-offs during synchronized lectures; due to internet fluctuations, interaction with professional help online proved difficult, hindering focus.
-Universities faced loading asynchronous dialogues from professors challenging as it took longer.
-Slow internet services constantly disrupt classes and continue to do so; students still rue. In addition, they have been a significant dampener in making online presentations during a test.
-Students also faced difficulties signing in to the Blackboard; most of the time, the university promoted Blackboard service remained inactive facing maintenance issues.
-Students also faced technical issues registering into learning platforms or accessing lecture classes, therefore, unable to understand teachers’ assignments uploaded.
-So much confusion raised technostress assignments to several students who came to terms with so much use of technology for studies the first time.
-The increase in demand for internet connectivity made networks unable to cope with the extra load that suddenly surged, and broadband speeds slowed down, supporting the sheer growing volume of internet users.
-The participants remained peeved with the disconnect because of no audio connection on their microphones and headsets needed extensively in that period.
-The in-person interaction decreased by 85%. The participants found it challenging to continue online the digital form of learning. They missed the traditional form of face-to-face interaction with professors and peers.
Finally, an issue that continues post-pandemic to date is the maintenance of computer issues. Did quarantine dissuade any movement, leading to enormous difficulties on the score? How to repair them?
-Missing interactive lessons led to several obstacles compared to traditional learning that promotes in-class discussions, questioning and receiving instant feedback.
Role Of Online Services in Educational Institutions
The service providers had already carved a niche teaching online. They came forward as a massive respite around the time, providing adequate academic assistance to scholars, where university assistance slackened. Women have turned out to be the maximum users of this initiative.
Studying alongside other responsibilities at home related to COVID-19 was a considerable encumbrance, with elderly family members turned patients, hospitalization and nursing sources were rationed, and domestic duties increased manifold.
Some Of The Suggestions Recommended In The Days Ahead Addressing Academic Challenges Are:
Provide Training, Using Manuals
Students need complete training using the user manual for detailed references to support online learning platforms using Blackboard learning.
Virtual Learning To Be More Interactive
The online learning process needs to be more interactive using visual and audio effects to overcome rigid educational processes by making it more exciting and interactive based on tools. Experts, who provide assignment help Australia, are readily available for academic assistance.
To Upgrade Technical Infrastructure In University
Improve server capacities for better platform learning so that the core aspect of teaching and learning does not remain hampered.
Bring In Changes In Rigid Examinations
Students are still concerned that the pandemic outbreak, in all likelihood, will affect their examination performance adversely.
Therefore, they request universities to set clear guidelines and recommendations regarding exams, assignments or projects for all examination related updates.
Introduce More Modes of Teaching
Students prefer either pre-recorded or live lectures or to be used simultaneously. Some prefer to have classes live, some recorded, depending on the degree of their other preoccupations. They think time limits cannot restrict them but provide systematic lecture schedules to improve reading skills.
More Use Of Office Hours Virtually
Faculty feel students should remain in touch with them through regular meetings on a suitable platform suited to both. In addition, meeting platforms would enable more people to join the course and communicate better for tests, pending assignments and project undertakings.
Conclusion
What has not come as a surprise, while discussing distance online learning promoted by Universities in the Pandemic, remains similar to those that online service providers have already been suffering.
So many academic challenges are rising, mainly during the quarantine followed by lockdown in the pandemic outbreak. What remains is how the universities will carry forward the studies Online further, as Pandemic, in all probability, is not over, and some mutant somewhere is waiting to explode. The explosive solutions are bound to bring respite.
