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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden shift to online teaching in almost all countries of the world. This paper examines the preparedness and professionalism of teachers for online teaching at a university in India during Lockdown-1 (April 2020) and Lockdown-2 (May 2021). The paper attempts to understand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers' preparedness and professionalism to adopt technology in classrooms. The data was collected through the semi-structured interviews of 12 teachers in April 2020 and May 2021. Online observation of teachers was also carried out to understand the preparedness and professionalism of teachers. The findings suggest that most teachers were not prepared for this rapid transition to an online mode of teaching both at the personal and contextual level. The paper finds a considerable improvement in the preparedness and professionalism of teachers after a year of online teaching. The results also highlight that universities need to devote a significant amount of resources for creating an enabling environment for effective online teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 onwards emergent demand of online classes has become worldwide prevalent. In the present era of pandemics along with advanced information and communication technology (ICT), institutions have shifted their pedagogy and are providing effective class room learning using web. Students are also joyful getting rid of class room constraints like modality, rigidity and inconveniency. The main objective of this research was to determine quality learning and students career growth as educational outcome via massive open online courses (MOOCS) as compared to that of traditional classes going physically offline and face to face (F2F). A total of 92 students of UG and PG level from different Indian universities and 8 countries including India were interviewed through questionnaire shared to achieve the objective. No significant difference was observed. In many research questions MOOCS were better proved than F2F. This paper will enrich the domain of distance learning, management and promote online learning using ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the current pandemic times, employing various tech-tools for making teaching interesting and engaging for students is essential. The unprecedented lockdown was a blessing in disguise for many teachers and it created ample room for teachers to explore alternative methods to teach and learn. Additionally, it has posed greater challenges in the field of education in general and teaching of English language in specific. A few challenging tasks include analyzing customized and user-friendly online tools, creating e-content, sharing learning materials, posting assignments, assessing as well as grading. Of these, the major problem for many teachers was teaching online i.e. adopting tech-tools, designing teaching content, delivering content online creatively and sensibly. The phases of lockdown period in India have opened doors for teachers to master many Web 2.0 tools. Moreover, it involved them in self-study, self-exploration and self-reflection for up-skilling and striving for their continuous professional development (CPD) along with integrating the desired tech tools in their teaching and learning process. Further, online teaching has become an integral part of all the teachers of English and consequently they have equipped themselves with necessary technical knowledge to keep abreast of the various tech-tools in synchronous and asynchronous modes of teaching. The aim of the paper is to share some of the user-friendly and free tech-tools for English language teachers. Apart from this, it presents benefits of teaching virtually employing selected online resources and the paper is concluded with research findings and suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When academic institutions in India closed abruptly in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, formal education moved online. This transition had a very uneven impact given the significant digital divide between rural and urban India and the unequal distribution of digital resources in different institutions. Access to resources varied substantially by individual, based on socioeconomic factors as well as gender. Institutional support to the academic community during this critical period was largely inadequate, which has had serious consequences on the teaching of physics and other subjects that require laboratory instruction. Educational institutions also provide safe and enabling learning spaces for women students; reduced access to such facilities undermined the work-and study-related dynamics for women because of the scarcity of resources such as devices, data and time. This paper reports on efforts made towards understanding such challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, and describes steps that were taken to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper traces as the prime objective, the students' perspective towards online studies amid COVID-19 pandemic outbreak which has turn out to be of utmost importance due to increased demand to opt for online learning as the only method of teaching and learning. It must also be addressed that the future of online learning is more promising and challenging as well. Overall rating for the acceptance towards online sessions, comfort level of students, ease of classes, access to and submission of the assignments and assessments, delivery of faculties, level of infrastructure available, existing technologies and internet connectivity of the students were recorded. Data was collected from the students of Department of Hospitality Management of a renowned deemed to be university in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India through questionnaire over eight weeks lockdown period through 84 respondents between April and May 2021. The sample was made up of the undergraduate students. The paper shares a conceptual framework of Students' Perspective towards Online Studies amid COVID-19 Outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over one billion students from 150 countries are impacted due to the COVID-19 driven lockdown and educational institution closure as per the report shared by UNESCO. Innumerous efforts have been put up by the Governments of every country to control the impact of the COVID-19 but unfortunately, there is no vaccine available till now so social distancing is the only way to have an upper hand on it. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the educational systems worldwide and led to the widespread closures of Educational Institutions across the globe. Numerous educational reformers have long-held out the expectation that information and computer technologies (ICTs) will play a crucial and integral role in bringing the long-needed revolution to teaching and learning pedagogies. The situation which took place due to COVID-19, the Online Education Systems and Platforms (OESP) are playing an important role to continue with the teaching processes in the educational institutions during the worldwide closure. Statistical analysis of the covid situation on the teaching-learning process has been depicted in this paper. The present paper focuses on the change of action in the education system and the exponential growth that happened in the Online Education Segment in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was the in-depth examination of the effects of a computer information technology (IT) training curriculum delivered entirely online sector personnel in India. The paper also focuses on studying the impact of online training on self-efficacy of the employees working in IT industry. The results show that online training had a great impact on the efficiency of the employees. The planning performance of employees has also increased considerably. Online training helped the employees to be more creative and innovative and online training has also compelled the employees to make more efforts in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented and Virtual Reality simulation technologies are among the fast-growing consumer-level intelligent simulation technologies and have been great solutions to enhance the user experience (UX) and interactivity. Many studies have shown that these technologies do help in virtual educational applications, but a discussion and comparison of their effects on students' eLearning is quite limited. This experimental study focuses on evaluating the potential of AR and VR applications specially designed for eLearning purposes and tests the effects of intelligent simulations used in an e-learning virtual environment. This was done by presenting an online lecture both in VR and AR to two different groups of learners. The study was conducted among the students of multimedia in a reputed private university in India. The simulation technologies were compared in terms of participants' test scores, engagement, excitement, and level of distraction. Scores of both the groups were compared and reported along with the participant's perception of each simulation technology. Quantitative and Qualitative data acquired from both groups have been analyzed and the results indicate that AR works best when incorporated into e-learning. This is one of the first conceptual studies of comparison between VR and AR for interactive online teaching. Further, this paper discusses the inevitability of making new tools to enable instructors to become creators of AR/VR experiences in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about COVID – 19's impact on student's literacy due to their Parents' unemployment. It describes the Unemployment rate in India, and describes the way people can manage to give educational impartment to their children. Since March of 1616, the Schools and Colleges have been closed as a precautionary measure to bridle the Corona virus. Because of that many schools and colleges have started the concept of E-Learning and it has become a part of the teaching. Though E-Learning is a good concept; multiple students in India can't afford it due to their poverty and lack of resources like Internet Connection and other electronic devices. The study's aim is to explore the concern of the parents' during the lockdown and their perspective on the concept of E-learning or Online learning. This study adopted Qualitative research design. For data collection, structured questionnaire was used, responses were collected from the head of the family [either with father or mother] [N=30]. Findings of the study describe; the new episodes of Corona virus had drastically affected all the sectors of people starting from the higher section to the lower ones. Closure of all the work area was made people to be unemployed for more than 3 months. Unemployment was made them stressful; get into depression and other psychological issues. The finding concerns about the future students and the parent's inability in paying the fees. Participants said that their income was reduced to half the amount due to the virus destruction, thus they can't manage the situation with one person's income in a family. Opportunities to find a better remedy for the participants were given in the suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]