Maybe precariousness is not the right term. The uncertainty is more in our minds, in our expectations, and in our understanding (or lack of it) of the unfolding world. Classrooms have always been “precarious” spaces, volatile and uncertain combinations of hope, cynicism, anxiety and excitement, with some amount of apathy thrown in. The Indian Public University classroom is a particularly fraught space, comprised as it is of students with a diverse range of experience, socio-economic backgrounds, and varying degrees of privilege. At the best of times, it is a challenge to achieve the dynamic equilibrium between control and freedom that facilitates engaged learning for most, if not all, the participants. At the worst, it’s a crucible of resentments from multiple directions—from those who can’t get why you need to make it so simple, from those who are angry that you won’t make it simpler, and from those who just wish you would get on with it and let them leave.

Among the various courses I teach, the one I agonise over the most, and enjoy the most, is a basic writing course. And while the word “basic” is in the title, it is really far from that. It rides on the assumption that students entering a master’s programme in media and communication studies already have the “basic” skills; they know how to read, they know how to articulate ideas in speech and writing. But very early in my academic career I realized that these assumptions could not be evenly applied to all the students. There was great unevenness in ability to use language, huge differences in levels of exposure to good writing, and an even bigger problem: inequalities of many kinds that had stymied the ability to think independently, to be aware of and utilise their own agency.

Unlike “content” subjects, learning how to write—efficiently and effectively—draws on a student’s inner resources, including experience, self-awareness, ideas and perceptions, and of course the more mundane things like vocabulary and fluency in language. There is consequently a huge amount of work that needs to be done in the classroom (and outside too) before one can shore up and tap into these inner resources. One might argue that the advantages of articulation, independent thinking and such as just as crucial in other subjects too, that they frame not only a student’s classroom experience but also how they are positioned in relation to the teacher and other students—in their own minds and in the minds of others. It is in these relational dynamics that much of the learning and the unfolding of the self (in writing) occurs, along with the solitary and independent writing work that the student must do. Group activities help break some barriers and generate some empathy; continuous feedback from peers and the instructor encourages the development of a critical sensitivity to one’s own writing, and sharing ideas with a small audience kindles recognition of the potential of one’s voice. Some of this happens in the 2-hour block allocated within the time table, but a lot of it also happens in the interstices of other activities—an encounter in the hallway, conversations over chai in the corner stall, and sometimes, when the ice has been sufficiently broken, a pop-up chat window online.

What does all this have to do with the university in a post-Covid-19 time?

A recent discussion in The Boston Review opened with the observation (made in the US context) that “the coronavirus has taken a sledgehammer to higher education”.  The metaphor is powerful, both in the violence of its imagery and the implied consequence, that of a broken structure. While the analysis in the article focuses on the economic and financial aspects of the breakdown, there is no escaping the social and cultural consequences—which then have deep pedagogic effects. It’s become quite apparent to us since March 2020 that online education is as yet an imperfect and partial education mechanism.

A survey conducted by the University of Hyderabad showed that only a little over one-third of responding students had a level of access that would allow them to participate in online lectures/meetings. Questions of access apart, there are socio-cultural issues that further impact participation—those same discomforts and hesitations that prevent a marginalized student from speaking up in class are exacerbated in an online session. An IIT professor, taking stock of three months of going online, noted the “poor learning environment” that “simply cannot replace physical tutorials, recitations and even banter”. If this has been the experience in an elite institution that caters to the best and the brightest, those who are already primed to learn well, then it’s not hard to imagine that lesser institutions will experience  greater challenges.

I cannot at this point imagine how I might effect the unlearning that needs to happen in my writing class—the breaking of years of poor (or non-existent) habits of thought and articulation, the blunting of observational skills and narrowing of perception resulting from poor schooling. Yes, there are many online “master classes” for writing, but they target those who are already at an advantage. And yes, writing is a solitary activity that is best learned by doing—again and again—and reflecting on the process and the product. Yet there is something deeply social in the acquisition of the tools that allow such doing and reflection. There’s a take-off point that needs to be reached before the social can yield productively to the solitary. This is complicated by the fact that our secondary school system has not produced independent learners and online or distanced (not distance) learning is designed to cater to those who are self-motivated, self-directed, and self-critical.

All of this is not to say that it can’t be done. With the right infrastructure (both technological and human) and the right attitudes, we can produce an efficient teaching-learning system that produces measurable outcomes, pleasing the metrics-dominated establishment. Students, with access, will learn how to negotiate the online and demonstrate learning in ways that the system demands. If we work backwards and schools groom young people to be independent learners with all the skills one would expect of a secondary level student (in terms of real language and other literacies), such an online system can even go beyond efficiency and offer education. But whether it will produce confident writers who believe that they have something important to say and can carve out the space to say, whether it will replaces the social spaces where my students learn not only the words but also discover their true meanings—in encountering difference, in negotiating sharply varied world views, in cutting through sheets of prejudice and preconception…well, I’m not so sure.

What we are now looking at is not a model where the online complements the offline—that would to some extent allow us to draw at least partially on what we know about teaching and learning. But instead, we are possibly going to have to move entirely online in many cases—at least in the short term. In public universities, this has multiple implications. What we might gain in sterile efficiency, we will lose in the rich messiness of exposure that our campuses provide. The public university is of course a place where one comes to gain a degree and a path to employment, but it is much more than that, and in moving online, we lose that space of social, political and cultural discovery.

So then how can we—I—rethink my writing classroom in this post-Covid-19 semester that is rapidly approaching? How do I create cyberspaces that encourage sociality without it becoming a mere simulation that encourages pretense rather than participation? How do I not only break habits of thought but build connections between myself and my students but also among them? How do I get them to write not just with their minds, but with their hearts?

It’s not that these connections get built naturally in the physical classroom (which is why even that has its precarities) but over the years I’ve somewhat figured it out. We’ve worked out the borderlines of intimacy and distance, professionalism and personal interest, in ways that can draw students in without threatening them, in ways that challenge without defeating. There is body language and eye contact, group work and sharing, interruption and disruption. The classroom moves from being an unfamiliar to a familiar space, yet always retains a little bit of the new, so that students walk in one day to the next with that little frisson of excitement (I hope, I imagine) that mirrors my own.

The precarious classroom, in my imagination, is/was full of possibility (to paraphrase bell hooks) (hooks 2014), and while we consider ourselves to be in a state of precarity on multiple fronts (the economy, environment, security, institutional systems), online education in contrast seems to force a kind of certainty. There are few blurry edges that can lead to surprising and empowering discoveries of the sort that happen in the physical space of a classroom.

One part of me looks at this as an exciting pedagogic challenge that one needs to meet, another part of me cannot help feeling sadness at the loss of opportunities to meet and know those who speak less in words and more in silences, those who do not know how to interject themselves into the limited frame of an online chat room, those who recede into the shadows created by the cyber-savvy, English-fluent participants who will dominate the metrics and justify them.

References

hooks, b. (2014). Teaching to transgress. New York: Routledge.

Usha Raman is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad. Views expressed are personal.

This article is part of a series called New Directions in Higher Education in India after COVID-19. The remaining articles of the series can be found here.

Introduction

The physics curricula worldwide are split into lectures and laboratory experiments. Over the course of undergraduate and graduate programs, lectures cover a sequential series of courses and help students build an arsenal of sophisticated analytical tools to understand the world around them. The complimentary experiments, which are an essential part of any physicist’s training, help elucidate abstract concepts, introduce design principles, develop teamwork skills, and above all demonstrate the experimental nature of the subject [1]. At introductory undergraduate level these theoretical and experimental classes may easily have 50-100 students in a classroom working in close proximity. The emergence of Covid-19 now threatens this traditional structure of imparting physics and STEM education in general. The constraints of social distancing in a post-Covid era still allow online lectures delivered remotely, but no such effective strategy exists for laboratory training.

Computational physics has evolved as a third pillar of physics education and research after theoretical and experimental physics. A rise in computer-assisted data acquisition and simulations generates vast amount of data that can only be analyzed using scientific computing. With decreasing cost of computing power and storage, and increasing graphic rendering capabilities, detailed physical simulations can be run on laptops, tablets, and even on smartphones. Several initiatives have appeared in last two decades that utilize this opportunity to effectively communicate physical principles behind theory and experiments through physics-based applications and simulations run from an internet browser. We propose that a carefully curated collection of such interactive online resources can be used in conjunction with lectures where and when complimentary lab experiments are not possible.

Simulated virtual labs existed in rudimentary form for many decades, but have gained mainstream traction only recently [2]. In this article we introduce a number of open source computational physics resources that have been designed to supplement lectures and experiments. These resources emulate inner mechanics of several core concepts as well as laboratory experiments. Complemented with lectures these applets allow students to tune and visualize relationships between various control parameters of the underlying principles and see their physical effects immediately. Run as in-silico experiments these simulations can be used to generate data that can then be analyzed and reported by students using similar free online resources such as Google Drive.

1 ) PhET by University of Colorado, Boulder

PhET project was launched at University of Colorado, Boulder by Nobel Laureate Carl Weiman in 2002. Since then the project has added more than 150 interactive simulations that can be adapted for teaching experiments at school and university level. Though sometimes interacting with these simulations may give a feeling that you are playing a videogame, all the simulations are built on and aim to explain fundamental physical principles and concepts.

2) Open Source Physics – Singapore (OSP Singapore)

The OSP-Singapore page is maintained by Loo Kang Wee, and boasts of a large collection of simulations written in JAVA or Easyscript Java Simulations (EJS) [3]. The simulations can simply be run from a browser or can be downloaded and compiled locally. Quite a few simulations in this collection detail the use of various lab instruments. For example, simulations of Vernier calipers, micrometer screw gauges, among others, explain how to take measurements from these devices in presence of a tunable zero-error.

3) Open Source Physics (OSP)

The original OSP project started in 1998 and was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (USA), and Davidson College [4]. Originally it was introduced as a resource for teaching computational physics in JAVA through effective use of object-oriented programming paradigm, numerical programming libraries, and graphic libraries. Thanks to ease of deploying java-based scripts online the OSP evolved to be source of multiple online physics-based applets. One of the authors of this article (VY) co-taught a course based on OSP, where it was used as a platform to introduce advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate student to computational physics. Compared to PhET and OSP-Singapore, OSP requires a little more familiarity with computers, since one needs to download and compile the projects individually before interacting with them. On the brighter side, OSP also provides ample opportunity to build newer simulations by using other existing projects as a starting point.

Google Drive

Many of us already use Gmail for daily communications. An associated complimentary service included in Google Suite is Google Drive. It allows the user to remotely store and share up to 25 GB of data. It also provides free applications such as Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides which are similar to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint respectively and can be adapted for analyzing, reporting, and presenting lab work. Since the lockdown, both VY and AD have extensively used Google Suite in their virtual classrooms where students analyze, report, present data and complete assignments.

An Example Exercise

Young’s double slit experiment can easily be identified as one of the most influential experiments in the history of physics. In a traditional lab setting, available at an undergraduate-level laboratory, the experiment would require at least a monochromatic source of light, a screen, a few engraved double slits of varying slit-widths and slit-separations. This experiment is also usually performed in a dark room unless the light source is a laser. The students usually set up this experiment and measure the distance between bright and dark interference fringes on a screen while varying the slit width, the distance between the two slits, and the distance between the slits and the screen.

Fig 1. Screenshot of a virtual double-slit experiment conducted by the authors on the PhET website

A simulated version of this experiment is available in PhET and can be accessed here. At the beginning of the simulation, a student can choose the third option from the selection menu and launch simulation of a double-slit experiment. The interactive controls allow the user to change the wavelength and the amplitude of light in use. Another set of controls allows the student to vary the slit width and the distance between the slits. The distance between the slits and the screen can be changed by dragging the slits towards or away from the screen. Once the desired configurations are achieved, the green button on left turns on the light source. The resulting interference pattern can then be visualized by selecting the screen and intensity plot options (Fig. 1). The simulation also provides a set of onboard tools to measure distances, time, and to visualize the electric field. Students can execute this simulation to measure how the distance between the interference fringes changes with control parameters such as, slit width, distance between the screen and the slits, and the wavelength of light used. They can estimate the distance using the onboard tools and keep a track of their measurements in a Google Sheet. This data can be analyzed, fitted and compared against theoretical results, examined for errors and reported remotely while maintaining the safety of the students, the instructor, and the lab staff.

Instructors can access a set of virtual labs and exercises utilized by Boston University’s Introductory Physics program and use it as a template for designing a virtual lab.

Limitations and benefits of a virtual lab

Even the most detailed simulation cannot replace an actual experiment. The familiarity with an instrument, and its proper handling are skills developed and mastered in a laboratory environment. Students need to practice skills such as leveling a balance, zeroing an instrument, and treating a surface, to understand their impact on an experiment. Without such a rigorous training we cannot even hope to produce next generation of experimental physicists.

However, if Covid-19 and its consequences are long-term, then we need a backup strategy for teaching STEM courses with limited to no lab resources. Virtual experiments may be our only option in that situation. Even if a timely intervention in form of a vaccine helps contain the spread of Covid-19, virtual experiments should become integral part of teaching toolbox of any instructor. They can be used as interactive modules to explain concepts and solve numerical exercises, or to introduce experimental and computational physics to undergraduate students. The opportunity to tune a large number of parameter combinations impossible in a regular three-hour lab setting can lead to novel experiment designs, and enhance students’ confidence in their experimental ability.

The demand for virtual labs is bound to increase in future. While the lockdowns caused by global pandemic have made it more apparent and urgent, this change is also driven by an emergence of activity-based STEM learning [5]. To fulfill this demand, we need to develop more virtual labs that are compatible with Indian educational system and standards. Computational research groups, educational publication houses and startups are well poised to rise to this challenge. This crisis has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to reevaluate the prevalent educational practices and develop more efficient and effective teaching methodologies and strategies.

References

1. Natasha Holmes & Carl Wieman, “Introductory physics labs: We can do better,” Physics Today 71, 1, 38-42 (2018).
2. Jack M. Wilson, “Experimental simulation in the modern physics laboratory,” American Journal of Physics48:9, 701-704 (1980).
3. Garcia Clemente, Felix Jesus, Esquembre Martinez, Francisco Wee, Loo Kang, “Deployment of physics simulation apps using Easy JavaScript Simulations,” 2017 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), Athens, 2017, 1093-1096.
4. Tobochnik and H. Gould, “Teaching computational physics to undergraduates,” in Annual Review of Computational Physics IX, edited by D. Stauffer (World Scientific, Singapore, 2001), 275-323.
5. Angelo, C., Rutstein, D., Harris, C., Bernard, R., Borokhovski, E., Haertel, G. (2014). Simulations for STEM Learning: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Executive Summary). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Vikrant Yadav is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. Asya Darbinyan is a Postdoctoral Fellow in School of General Studies at Stockton University. Views expressed are personal.

This article is part of a series called New Directions in Higher Education in India after COVID-19. The remaining articles of the series can be found here.

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel, Socrates is reputed to have said at the advent of the Republic. The great philosopher was of the opinion that it was the responsibility of the state to educate citizens to contribute towards the progress of civilization rather than to serve as mules.  The prevailing education system in our country seems unaware of such ideals, and indeed seems unwilling to adapt to the changed times. It is important to note, though, that the fault lies more in the way it is being laid out for the benefit of students rather than on what is being taught.

This pandemic has the capability to give the Indian education system the jolt that is needed to modernize. Over the years our Universities while doing little to further actual innovation in education have perfected the process of rigid examinations throughout the year. How can one learn, adapt and evolve in an atmosphere such as this? We have long needed pedagogy based on experiential learning, allowing a student to educate her or himself by interacting with the world outside the classroom while keeping academic discipline in mind. This approach might not be possible to implement just now during the pandemic, but this might be just the revamping that our education system needs post COVID-19.

Teachers across India have been plunged into the uncharted and unfamiliar territory of online teaching. Although this mode has been viable technologically in our country for almost a decade, many professors of our universities did not really see the need to switch to online teaching from the usual format of classroom teaching. Opportunities were lost – even though there are several economic, political and geographical factors at play in creating an atmosphere convenient enough for online education. Not every student is socially and economically capable; many of us do not own personal computers with a decent internet connection. It would have served us all better if teachers had explored new pedagogic approaches before the crisis.

Practical issues in online education in India

In order for me to discuss the feasibility of online education in India, it is simplest for me to discuss practical issues from my own personal experience, namely in terms of the institution I am presently a student of.

• So far, the impact of moving online (since March 2020) has been minimal. Teachers have used Google Classrooms for the online submission of assignments and other tasks to be completed in order for internal assessment, but the completion of the term’s syllabus did not take place. This was mainly due to the fact that prior to the pandemic, the institution itself did not (could not?) take measures to educate the professors or students on the modalities of online education.
• There is no dedicated IT cell in the college to provide technical support. It would be useful if such a cell existed so that experts could create a centralized hub for students and teachers to visit in order to access notes, library books or resources of any sort. Even after two months of lockdown, there is no such expertise in College, and the situation in other institutions is likely to be no different.
• Even if the above could be taken care of, there is the matter of feasibility. It is simply not possible for all the students in a class to own personal computers or a smartphone.
• There is the related issue of proper internet connection. Students – including me – typically survive on a daily ration of 2 GB data or less. With online education this would be barely sufficient. Recharging or going for bigger data packs may be affordable for students from privileged backgrounds. This would affect students from economically weaker backgrounds since with the lockdown, many of these students’ parents could have lost their jobs, making it even more difficult for them.

Digital education may well be the way of the future, but that is a future where all the groundwork has been laid, and no student is negatively affected. In today’s India, online education is not really feasible, even if it is a measure adopted by the education system as a temporary method of coping with then pandemic.

Experiential learning: A solution?

Higher education in India has not changed since independence and still bears the colonial imprint. Although Indian society has changed with the times, it does not stand to reason that we still have to learn according to a curriculum set decades ago and not according to what the future demands. The 21st century is the stage for global pluralism and it is up to us to equip ourselves with the right tools to tackle the issues of a secular society.  The pandemic has provided us time to reflect on the best ways of moving forward.

Experiential learning has existed in India since the ancient times in the form of the gurukul system where the student benefits from partaking in various open activities, eventually learning through daily chores and lessons mediated by their teacher. This helped in a person of learning contributing to society in his own right. Although this may not be feasible in the present situation (or generation) the same concept was adapted by Rabindranath Tagore in the founding of Visva-Bharati University. Tagore abandoned the colonial education structure and created a curriculum based on the basic principle of harmony with all existence.

In the present situation, opting for an experiential mode of learning offers some advantages. Attending classes is not essential, and one can instead “work from home”. The teacher is not there to impart knowledge but more to direct the student from time to time, reducing the workload of the teacher while giving the student the liberty to choose his or her own path to reach their destination.

Paradoxically, examinations have always been a major barrier to learning. The question-answer mode is not the best way for grading every student: some are simply not able to display what they have learned in this format. There is a better chance of every student qualifying in their own right if the ‘One Size Fits All’ restriction is removed. Examinations need to be decentralized, with teachers given autonomy to frame syllabi that would be based on their experiences with the student body of their institutions, independent of the University Grants Commission (UGC). It is time the UGC realized that a centralized system of education cannot work, especially in the middle of a global crisis.

Truer words have not been spoken than by Albert Einstein, “learning is experience, everything else is just information”. The journey, the pursuit of knowledge, is built upon facts.  Experience helps one move along and build the way oneself: that is when it truly becomes a journey. Otherwise, it is all just a big block of information waiting to be decoded.

K. Prahalad is a BA History (3^rd Year) Student at the Madras Christian College. Views expressed are personal.

This article is part of a series called New Directions in Higher Education in India after COVID-19. The remaining articles of the series can be found here.

“It will change the way we live … things will never be the same  … we have to learn to live with it … it will change us as a species”. These are some of the reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The world has changed dramatically in the past six months as the SARS-CoV-2 virus has taken the world by storm, infecting over 5 million people. Primarily a health crisis, it has given a nightmarish challenge to policymakers to decide between closing down the state to save lives or keeping it open to save the economy. Although lockdown was an apt step to contain the disease, the conditions arising thereafter are unprecedented and serious. The pandemic is expected to have a gigantic impact on global education in general and Indian education system in particular.

Coping with the pandemic

With the announcement of lockdown in India on March 23, 2020, over 1.5 million schools were closed. The act of suspending educational activity has hit the annual academic calendar very hard: the tail end of the session from March to May is crucial, involving internal assessments, board/ University examinations, project submission etc. It also marks the time for roll outs for the new session: admissions, entrance tests of various universities, competitive examinations etc. Therefore, a halt in all these processes has been devastating and distressing.

Secondary schools in the country differ widely from each other in their standards and then COVID-19 pandemic has revealed profound disparities in children’s access to support and opportunities. During the lockdown, in Aligarh only a handful of private schools could adopt online teaching methods and could engage their wards all day in ‘homework’. However, it has caused disproportionately negative impact on the most vulnerable (economically backward) children by putting an economic burden on their parents to access the online resources. Teachers who were mostly accustomed to the physical classroom found it difficult to adopt new methods of e-teaching. As a result online education went on an untested trial scale which was mostly hit-and-miss; the online evaluation and assessment also had major errors and uncertainty.

On a positive note though, this pandemic acted as a catalyst, pushing many teachers to devise innovative solutions within a relatively short time. Learning material has been delivered using interactive apps, asynchronous online learning tools (Google Classroom) or synchronous face-to-face video instructions.

The pandemic exposed the inadequacies of India’s university system. Numerous organizations do not have e-teaching or e-learning facilities, and most Professors are not well versed with e-teaching methods. At Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), the move has been met with enthusiasm, and faculty have dealt with the challenges innovatively so as to minimize the loss. The University’s HRDC (Human Resource Development Centre) instantly launched an online Faculty Development Programme (FDP) for all teachers exclusively for management of online classes and research. Three other online courses were organized during lockdown period including one FDP on ‘Quality research and scholarly publications’ and another on ‘Disaster management and its mitigation’. Between synchronous video learning tools (ZOOM, WEBEX or TEAM etc.) and asynchronous online tools (Google Classroom, WhatsApp Groups, or e-mail), the latter mode of e-learning has been found to be more popular among teachers. A number of online courses and curricula for effective knowledge transfer such as SWAYAM, UG/PG MOOCs, e-PG-Pathshala or e-content modules, CEC-UGC YouTube channel, National Project on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), etc., have also been utilized by some faculty. The teachers have also been prompt to submit the weekly work report with details of course content covered.

Despite the availability of online resources, knowledge transfer has not been effective due to inequalities in the system. A vast majority of students in private or state colleges or universities of poor quality, with a dearth of qualified and motivated faculty; or come from disadvantaged families thus cannot afford continuous internet connections. Due to postponement of final exams of boards/ universities and entrance tests, it will be a major task for institutions to finish the entire admission process as early as possible. The disruption in research experiments and the destruction of the unattended research material due to unprecedented lockdown has also derailed the research outcome of researchers. By and large the limited usage of e-resources, ineffective delivery of course content and fluidity in examinations reflect that India has not been able to match up to other emerging countries during this crisis.

Educational and Socio-economic impact of lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the Indian society to a distressing halt and further exposed the inequalities. Our fight against this global crisis seems to drastically change our way of educating younger generation.

The pandemic’s serious impact on higher education sector will be a true determinant of a country’s economic future as millions have already lost daily wages, food and shelter. Introducing exclusive online system with the prevailing apathy and inertia of most educators, the effective changeover from offline to online medium of teaching and education is a challenging task. It will be hard to cope up for the vast majority of students who lose opportunities to learn and a further extension of lockdown may worsen the conditions thus translating into economic and social disadvantage. Unfortunately, the technology-based education is more straightforward and cannot help or groom students individually. Many graduating students are looking for job interviews, and those with offers are yet to receive the certificates and mark sheets before taking up their jobs. Due to economic slowdown the employment deficit can also affect the paying capacity in the private sector, which accommodates sizeable section of the students in the country. Shrinking employments indicate towards the possibility of a major recession in 2020. Universities may observe a delay in student internships and placements and student counselling programs will be affected. There is anxiety and helplessness among the students and parents due to almost unpredictable conditions. The students enrolling in universities abroad viz., US, UK, Australia and China, may face visa restrictions.

It is worth pondering whether post corona pandemic, we will be a transformed society. There are grave apprehensions about the post Covid-19 Higher Education system framework. As discussed, India’s slow progress in higher education is also due to disparity in resource access by the disadvantaged students and the limited investments in universities. The latest budget’s allocation towards higher education has been a mere 1.3% of the overall expenditure, the lowest since 2010-11. Due to paucity of funds, the hiring services of faculty may be halted affecting quality and excellence.  The impact will be reflected in societies with productivity affected. Therefore, educational disparities cause social and economic disparities thus creating the divide between the haves and the have-nots. The resulting impact in society will weaken confidence in democracy and promote unrest. The adverse effects of the pandemic reflect on the budgetary affairs and the future predictions. The low fee collection in institutes can create hurdles in managing the working capital. Income generated from the halls of residence, catering, conferences and sporting programs will be much less than expected due to closure of academic institutions. The level of the impact on higher education will depend largely on the duration of the outbreak.

Since the online mode has become the default delivery pattern of education during lockdown period and may well continue further. With the passage of time a stage will be reached when the best of faculty will be available to students across the globe.  The quality of education will be judged cumulatively by faculty’s subject knowledge and IT skills. It could happen that a student can study courses from any College/ University of the world based on quality of teacher and fee structure, and this may lead to faculty redundancy.

Role of Technology in post Covid-19 era 

Technology has, oddly enough, emerged as the lifesaver for maintaining social connections even as the COVID-19 pandemic crippled the world. This has motivated policymakers to support e-learning and to help lessen the digital divide. It is predicted that by 2024 the mobile internet may reach 85% households in India, and that may make online education more affordable and effective in the rural and backward areas of the country. Special funds should be allocated for digitization and to raise digital learning platforms besides supporting the marginalized students to lessen the digital divide.

Teaching in the field of biological sciences (which is my subject area) requires specialized equipment in the laboratory, and education in this domain involves face-to face instruction in traditional classrooms or laboratories. Many teachers find online education inferior, leading to decreased learning. This could be in part due to teachers lacking skills or support to teach online, so online courses and webinars have been organized at AMU during lockdown period to make the teachers familiar with online tools and methods. However, the nature of practical or laboratory work in most courses of biological sciences has been a challenging task when tried on a web format. Therefore, the exercises need to have integrated online component to convert it to hybrid format at least. Teachers have filmed their own demonstration or simulations can be utilized as a supplement. Virtual labs have also been recommended for demonstration of anatomy, physiology of animals especially due to scrapping of dissections by UGC and the advantage is that students can access asynchronously at their own convenience.

At AMU, due to the continued lockdown we replaced the lab project with a comprehensive review work on or a related theme. Students have been invited to discuss results, present seminars and take viva- voce exams on the web. The excursion tour report has been transformed into a virtual tour report by asking the students to survey the institutions on web. Remote instrumentation involving manipulation of scientific equipments like sensors, cameras, microscopes, chromatographs, thermal cycler etc. has been introduced. For lab exercises involving surveys, the collected data is to be shared and interpreted online. Some of the subjects like biodiversity or taxonomy involve more interactive surveys and observations on natural behaviour of organisms; hence online studies may not provide explicit information.

Conventional education dispensable or indispensable?

Our teaching methods do need to be updated and the pandemic may have given us an opportunity to do so. Face-to-face interaction has always been considered as the best form of communication and like most traditional universities in India AMU largely follows this practice. Although there is a lack institutional support and adequate platforms for online teaching, the lockdown has made us realize the value of online learning and the opportunities that it offers. This initial period has had a number of technical glitches in software and unreliable internet/power supply and there has been some apprehension in using several online teaching apps due to security concerns. We have had to rely on asynchronous tools like Google Classroom or sending the lectures through WhatsApp or e-mail. Some students in far flung, remote areas of country e.g., Kashmir or North-East, or those from adjoining countries like Afghanistan do not have continuous or high speed internet hence they have received the study material through e-mail. If all classes go fully online then it will be a problem to manage as all do not have unlimited data or a fast internet connections at home.

Further, shifting online is more than converting class-notes into PDFs or a collection of video lectures and e-books. Digitized learning content has to be contextualized and ‘byte-sized’ to make it crisp, engaging and understandable. Although there is no replacement of the field trips, social and cultural interactions during academic exchanges it may be possible to make the e-learning more user friendly through customization. Another important issue is that students may not devote full attention to online classes. Interpersonal communication, ethos and other social attributes will take a back seat in online education which also will affect the teachers’ support and help to the weaker students.

The most widely used assessment methodology at AMU is through assignments followed by quizzes, and going online for such assessment may not maintain the same quality and standard. Lab work/ practical – the vital component of any biology course – has not been effectively taken in online format. Handling animals or using equipment by oneself has more merits than virtually examining them; hence virtual lab will remain secondary in value to authentic lab and field experiences and majority of the current conventional exercises may appear nonconvertible to online mode.

We need to be guarded not to compromise on the quality and look for the best solutions available. That’s the reason, even in the post COVID-19 era, offline or conventional education models will not become obsolete. However, an integrated learning of classroom and online modes will be the best practice to follow by blending the two judiciously as per the context and the course content.

Impact on research and related activities

The pandemic has brought ongoing research to a standstill with uncertainty looming large about funding and career choices. It is likely to have a disproportionate impact on early-career researchers and those working on fixed term positions. Due to the lockdown fieldwork was suspended, and a large number of students, fellows, and visiting scientists returned to their homes without finishing their research tasks. Many projects including those collecting primary data on ecology, biodiversity and climate change requiring regular surveys and data recording have been put on hold. Projects involving seasonal parameters are likely to be delayed for a year or so due to loss of a season. Students carrying out experimental work in genetics, microbiology, molecular biology etc. have suffered the loss of time since all previously collected samples are in waiting or have been damaged.

My project on nematode diversity in natural and disturbed habitats has also been adversely affected from the point of losing crucial sampling months. Besides, the samples already collected needed to be analysed rapidly before being badly degraded. The cancellation of conferences has also been detrimental for students, post-docs and faculty for career development. 2020 had been declared the “Year for Biodiversity Policy and Planning” but this has received a serious disruption since several important meetings have had to be postponed.

The crisis has also created much apprehension about the future and it is not clear how long it will take to normalize. Although productivity during lockdown has not been very remarkable, nevertheless, the lockdown has reduced stress, improving mental and physical health, both of which are valuable. It is clear that we have to find new ways to continue doing science in the best possible way by thinking and focusing on those aspects which are going to be crucial in the immediate future.

Qudsia Tahseen is a Professor at the Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University. Views expressed are personal.

This article is part of a series called New Directions in Higher Education in India after COVID-19. The remaining articles of the series can be found here.