The New ‘Normal’ in the Era of COVID-19: Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on E-Learning
Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 global pandemic and a lockdown of everyday life activities, forced a switch from school learning to e-learning. This study was conducted to know the perceptions of students and teachers towards e-learning.
Method: This was a cross-sectional Google Form-based online survey conducted over a period of 1 month (6/10/2020 to 8/11/2020). The study population was students and teachers across the state, central and ISCE board from cities, mainly from Gujarat. The difference in the proportions of responses among students and teachers was analysed using Chi-square.
Results: The survey participants included 753 students and 488 teachers. The majority (78.8%, 593/753) of the student respondents were from State Board. Nearly 83% (622/753) of students and 66.8% (326/488) of teachers agreed that e-learning kept them safe from the threat of COVID-19. Almost half of both the student and teacher respondents dedicated 3-5 hours exclusively to e-learning. Students were 2.3 times more likely than teachers, to use screens for other activities (OR 2.3; CI: 1.8 - 2.9).
Conclusions: The majority of students and two-thirds of teachers perceived online learning as a measure to keep them safe from the threat of COVID-19. Nearly 3-5 hours were dedicated to e-learning in a day by more than half of the students. There were several perceived advantages (in terms of studying in the comfort of home and less travel time) as well as disadvantages (in terms of decreased concentration and cost of gadgets) of e-learning.
How to cite this article:
Chauhan A, Chauhan B, Shah T, Baxi R, Kariya P, Shringarpure K. The New ‘Normal’ in the Era of COVID-19: Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on E-Learning. Postgrad J Pediatr Adol Med. 2022;1(2):3-9.
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