INTRODUCTION:

The COVID 19 has made a global economic impact on the economies of all state industrial sectors. The fleeting loss of life and degradation of health outcomes, increasing the economic suffering through loss of jobs and other incomes in an exceedingly little or no over three months, quite 150,000 people have died and quite 2.1million are infected. As small and medium enterprises are hammered by the lockdowns, many workers have lost their jobs or are functioning on reduced work schedules. MSMEs will be the most vulnerable sector of COVID19 and its aftermath because these companies will not have enough cushion to overcome the long shut down and support the casual labour force.

There will be mass layoffs followed by shutdown of MSMEs. If the economic suffering is prolonged and as deep evidently, this might hurt people, especially the poor—in other ways additionally, like education, indebtedness, and nutrition. Governments are ramping up support schemes to promote economic packages to keep afloat in this global recession which have already started.

It's now an almost unanimous opinion that the globe economy will slip into a recession in 2020. As a result of the unprecedented sudden stop in global economic activity, 2020 is heading in the inevitable direction to witness the deepest global recession on a scale not seen since World War II. The IT sector in Kerala is one of the major big sectors which are and which will be being affected by the pandemic. Almost all the IT companies in Kerala opted for a model of Work From Home (WFH) which claims operational expenses per employee per seat are reduced but the actual indication of the impact and the losses will become evident in the next few months. The ground reality that there is a big loss in the future contracts of each IT company and the delayed payments affected by COVID 19 worldwide puts the sector in a huge crisis in the coming years. IT professionals need to be on the bench once the current project closes and digest the recession coming which is just 2 to 3 months on the way. Big companies with wide pockets have reserves to somehow overcome the impact but the medium-sized and small IT companies cannot afford to move along. The next few months will decide the fate of the 400 IT companies in the state-based at Technopark Trivandrum.

Travel and Tourism industry in Kerala seems to be the most affected sector. Even after the pandemic is controlled and settled, people may not prefer to travel, fear of the contagion being the foremost reason. There will be no next season, no chartered tour packages, no water tour packages, no resort nor ayurvedic packages anywhere in the coming future. There will be a cascading effect on the tourism workforce as the majority of them as local people and the industry will face difficulty to retain them when there is no next season in the near future. Moreover, the complete tourism ecosystem will get displaced and grounded. They were trying to revive just after the floods, but the situation became more challenging with the pandemic following the lockdown. The tourist spots are deserted from the last 3 months’ time with only a few shops selling essential items. The state tourism along with the private tourism players have taken up an unprecedented beating from the effect of the pandemic. The revenue generated from tourism was about 50 crore and right away it is washed out making a big void in the state economy. Serious actions need to be taken up by the government to revive the tourism industry which is a major source of revenue to the state economy.

The financial and company sectors are likely to suffer large scale deterioration. Markets have taken a vast hit, financial systems are under stress, and banks are likely to see huge pressures on their balance sheets. Private firms are being hurt by the collapse in demand. The likelihood of large-scale bankruptcies is rising. Rapidly increased risk aversion among investors has led to a sudden stop in capital flows to emerging markets. Agriculture and its allied activities will see a downfall due to the mandatory lockdown. But, with easing regulations, the agro-supply chain will slowly but steadily operate as each government will adopt measures for self-sufficiency as a top priority. Individuals may be even advised and also adopt kitchen and rooftop farming to ensure household self-sufficiency in terms of vegetables at least. The exports and imports of non-essential goods will fall steeply because of the border closures and the cessation of aviation and ships across the globe, except for bringing back citizens to their countries. Covid-19 will pile up unbearable load on the healthcare sector with most of the other ailments being reverted to a status that will be treated only if the individual is in serious suffering that could potentially his or her sustenance.

As this paper tussles with the multitude of problems that the pandemic throws at humankind, one vital sector that has come under its severe consequences is the education sector. Based on the report of UNESCO, almost 70% of the world’s learners have been affected because of the pandemic outbreak and its subsequent lockdown measures to curtail the spread of the same.

Impact on Higher Education:

All colleges and universities have been shut down to prevent the spread of the pandemic since the start of March. COVID 19 has entailed education disruption like never before and the coming days need to witness a dramatic restructuring of the general normal education system. The spread of the virus has forced the state government to shut down educational institutions as a precautionary measure to fight against the spread of disease. The structure of learning along with teaching and assessment methodology are the areas impacted as a result of the closure of colleges and Universities. Our state never expected this type of lockdown and closure of academic institutions neither our country too. The education sector was not completely prepared to meet a shift in the education system to overcome this pandemic. As far as the present education system is considered, the focus was on a face to face direct teaching-learning and evaluation methods. The method of chalk and board teaching shifted to technology-oriented learning platforms. This shift in the teaching-learning methodologies created a massive disruption in students, faculty, institutional operations and will be affecting the institutional finances too. Most of the colleges and Universities were able to switch to e-learning platforms. Currently, there are limitations to online learning support systems. The online platforms enable online teaching, assessment, sharing of lecture notes, but the real scenario is that different stakeholders in the education system do not have access to the online learning platforms. There are students who have missed the opportunity for online platforms. Bandwidth is a major concern of majority students especially residing in remote areas. A bigger concern of the aftermath of the pandemic is on the employment for the students. Because of the current situation, there are updates on the withdrawal of job offers from corporates. Students enrolling for full-time courses in the coming years will also be affected and reduced in bigger falls because of the switching plans due to the impact of the pandemic (Hoover, 2020). The lockdown in the education sector needs to address the uncertain future of students, facilitate aids to help teachers to conduct online classes with limited digital access and inadequate IT infrastructure.

India's major drivers for online/blended education include the phenomenal growth in Internet and smart phone penetration, the low cost of online education, the digital-friendly government policies, and the increased demand for continuing education by working professionals and students. India’s Budget 2020 also tapped the market for online education, priced at Rs 3,900 crore in 2019 and as a category; Ed-tech is imagined undergoing a series of disruptions. 15000 beta tapes of various video lectures are available with the University Grants Commission- Consortium for Educational Communication [UGC-CEC], a similar number of tapes are with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) and State Institutes of Educational Technology (SIETs) have also produced similarly voluminous video lectures and so has the National Institute of Open Schooling [NIOS].

A survey to examine the online learning characteristics was conducted where it included participation from 288 university/college administrators and 1200 students (graduate students, postgraduate students, and alumni of various online programs) responding to an online survey. Findings are presented in five categories: online learner demographics, online learning experience, online program marketing and recruitment, online program design and development, and online student satisfaction. The online learner’s demographics indicate that 71% of online students enroll in various programs in view of reaching their career and employment goals. The factors that are considered while selecting Online Learning include the Reputation of the institute (college) which is the prime concern of students (93%). A little more than half (57%) of students currently who are enrolled in an online degree or certificate program reported that they use recorded information more than two times. About half of online students (49%) report that their online classes have synchronous components. The primary sources of information for students thinking about online programs are contacting institutes directly (21%) and exploring the rankings of the website (19%). While considering learners who would repeat the online programs, they said they would “compare more programs” (29%) and “do more research about costs and financial aid” (31%). The Online Program Design and Development by online ed-tech providers make decisions on offering new online programs primarily based on the perceived demand from both employers (69%) and students (65%). “Marketing new online programs to prospective students and meeting recruitment goals” remains the top concern about launching a new program, according to 76% of administrators. Demand for online programs continues to be high with 99%.

Online learning characteristics were measured from the student perspective considering the four characteristics of online education namely Learner-content interaction, Learner-instructor interaction, Internet self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning. ‘Self-regulated Learning’ characteristic had the highest preference of 32% and the Learner-Instructor interactions had the next highest preference of 29%. The learner-content interactions and Internet self-efficacy characteristics had lower preferences of 21and and 18% respectively (Figure 1).

The Satisfaction of Online learning in the student perspective include the characteristics ‘Overall satisfaction’, ‘Contribution to educational development’, ‘Contribution to professional development’, and ‘Willingness to take the course in future’.

The study revealed that student satisfaction with online learning is high overall with 85% indicating ‘satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’ and 95% would recommend online education to others. Regarding ‘Contribution to educational development’ 95% had agreed and 80% agreed that online learning supports ‘Contribution to professional development’.

Access to digital learning platforms:

One immediate measure to have continuity in learning is to ensure that all the students under the corresponding University have access to the online learning solutions and steps to be taken to strengthen it. The privileged and the more economically enabled families can ensure access to online education through electronic gadgets, Internet Service Providers and a much more cocooned environment that shields the children of these families, the same can’t be unfortunately said for the children of the families that struggle to make ends meet in this multifaceted crisis. The Government should ensure that all students have access to digital learning platforms. Steps to be taken to develop inclusive learning solutions to the vulnerable and marginalized especially for those students who reside in remote areas. Steps to be taken to mobilize telecom service providers to upgrade and enhance internet connectivity and upgrade bandwidth for online education to serve all learners across the state especially remote learners. The total infrastructure of the state needs to be realigned to enable internet options with sufficient bandwidth.

Online Learning Infrastructure:

The faculty should be willing to take up the massive shift of going online by designing and delivering online classes. Steps to be taken to develop unified flexible and customizable methodologies to facilitate online education along with a monitoring and evaluation method of evaluating learning outcomes of students. Universities and colleges should develop a schedule of online classes and the learning along with the evaluation process should continue based on the course plan already developed and communicated. Based on the nature of the subject the faculty needs to design the lectures, tutorials, exercises, assignments, test papers, and the total evaluations subject to the time frame and syllabus. Bottom-up managed change processes can provide power to the respective faculty to create, design and implement online learning modules for the courses (Bohle Carbonell et al., 2013)

Education 4.0: Leveraging Technology:

Online education has been around for more than a decade, but it has not taken over the conventional education system in the pre-COVID time. It is clear that higher education has not converted or has a history in digital education and demands a massive shift in the COVID and Post COVID times. Subjects covered in classrooms need to be delivered online intermediary being a technology that requires a quantum of understanding and application of constructing digital pedagogy which should include content for diverse learner profiles. Education 4.0 will consider the developments in Industry 4.0 where people and machines align to create new possibilities. To take advantage of the opportunity of advanced technological applications, the education system should be revamped taking into consideration the need of industry to ensure the best experience to students through online learning modes. Reflexive learning needs to be promoted where learning goes inside the learners’ mind and it is all about the learning experience. Digital recordings of lectures are identified as a promising alternative to face to face interactions and text-based comments (Ryan et al., 2019). Computer‐Supported Collaborative Learning can play a vital role in shaping the collaboration between the facilitator and the learner as the effectiveness of the collaboration depends on how the facilitator design tasks, supports group work, and in providing guidance on the overall learning experience (Bower, 2019).

Shift Towards a breakthrough pedagogy:

Technology is changing the way to teach and also the way students learn. The 21st-century education should shift from didactic pedagogy to the new learning paradigm- the reflexive pedagogy (Cope and Kalantzis, 2017). This type of pedagogy is the current requirement where learning goes inside the learner's mind. The new learning paradigm will focus on ubiquitous learning- anywhere, anytime; anyhow, the learner will be the active knowledge producer and navigator with clear-cut learning analytics for getting prospective and constructive feedback. Collaborative intelligence works with peer to peer learning, sourcing social memory, and using available knowledge tools with multimodal knowledge representations. The new learning model will also focus on metacognition and presents differentiated learning which is flexible, self-expressive addressing each student according to their interests, self-identity, and needs.

Academic Online Learning Pedagogy:

The shift to online teaching mode was made in a very short notice and the shift pushes to move into an accelerated form of academic pedagogy. There is no one fit pedagogical model as a solution that goes with online teaching. The models should be an aggregated model that can address content, effective delivery of content, learners’ psychology, behaviour, and assessment of the progress along with final assessment. A customized digital pedagogy is required to fit into the needs of the learner and the environment. Online education systems may improve students' active thinking about the learning process and enhance student performance on a bigger scale (Hooshyar et al., 2019). To reap the benefits of transformational online learning, a Blended methodology of teaching and learning- a combination of classroom and online, should dramatically increase with online education being a strategic priority at every institution to be made available on a broader scale. Universities need to blend the two intellectually according to the content and content in the post COVID times. Pedagogy should be framed incorporating classroom learning with e-learning modes to build a unified system followed by quality assurance and quality benchmarks for online learning. The pedagogy should be able to develop skills that push productivity and creativity among students and finally drive into the employability aspect.

Disrupted classes and undisrupted learning:

The post-covid-19 education system will have a drastic impact due to factors like social distancing practices, increasing dependency on online platforms, and also on the need for new assessments. As the faculty are more acquainted with new teaching and learning tools, there are evolving pedagogical responses and strategies. Students should be equipped to be able to learn at different times and at different places. The system followed till recent times had a strong dichotomy that existed between classroom-based teaching, often augmented by technology, a learning management system, and digital tools, and fully online teaching, in which a whole course is delivered online. The faculty may record a lesson in the 'flipped' classroom and/or provide access to videos, readings, OERs, quizzes, and other tools that students work through before they come to class (Wright, 2018). Flipped classrooms to be encouraged facilitating the opportunity to learn theory outside the classroom and practical’s to be learned with face to face interactions. Classroom time is spent on student and instructor interaction, whether through discussion, problem-solving, case studies, practical exercises, or laboratory work. Sometimes, materials are planned to be used for study and assignments after training (Kintu et al., 2017). A schedule/ time table of the course delivery to be communicated in advance to the students enrolled for the course. Lecture Notes of the video sessions to be made available to students as a step to catch up with the students who have missed the video sessions accidentally or due to other concerns. Additional reference PPT notes for each module can be developed and shared with students. It includes a rethinking of teaching and learning methods and in response to emerging technical capacities, the teaching models for both classroom and online delivery must be reconsidered and recalibrated.

Figure 3: Key Elements in the online learning pedagogy

Experiential Learning includes a rethink of teaching and learning style, as well as classroom design because there is more contact between students, teachers, and external experts who participate in person or electronically. In response to emerging technical capacities, teaching models for both classroom and online delivery needs to be reconsidered and recalibrated. Experiential learning occurs when students are involved in practical interactions and centered thoughts in real-world environments and contexts. Often known as learning through experience, learning by doing, or learning by exploration, experiential learning can be an effective pedagogical resource in online courses. Higher education offers many forms of experiential learning including clinical training, fellowships, field research, internships, student teaching, study abroad, and service-learning. The emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking that is a hallmark of these kinds of experiential learning encourages students to go beyond mere memorization and rote learning that often occurs in lecture-based, textbook-dependent courses (Wurdinge and Allison, 2017). Recorded video sessions to be prepared by faculty for theory topics, which enables students for reflexive learning along with live video lectures and interactions for each practical application to be designed.

Digital media provides accessible educational tools in the form of short lectures, animations, simulations, virtual worlds, and many other formats, allowing instructors and students to access and apply information in a wide variety of ways. There are now thousands of examples of stand-alone, open educational resources that can be downloaded for educational use free of charge (Jefferies et al., 2017). Open Educational Resources may be offered as the core content of the course, or explicitly aimed at supporting students struggling to keep up or have not mastered key concepts or techniques entirely (Belsky, 2019). E-Textbooks can incorporate video and audio clips, animations, and rich graphics, as well as become more interactive, allowing both instructors and students to annotate, add or change material including evaluation exercises and feedback. Mobile learning through smart phones, tablets, and other apps is the basis of learning anywhere, supported by online learning at any time. The provision of material, quizzes, multimedia tools, and communications between students using mobile devices requires a new look at course design, material packaging, and consideration of data package limitations. Continuing research is an area about how best to incorporate mobile devices into course delivery and assessment (Blayone et al., 2017). A personalized online learning platform can also be encouraged to aid students to learn with their own capabilities. Students who have difficulty with a subject or with specific areas will get the opportunity to learn and practice more till they reach an acceptable and required level to be positively reinforced during the individual learning process.

Collaborative learning is the educational method of hiring communities to enhance learning by working together. Two or more student groups work together to solve problems, complete assignments, or learn new concepts. A collaborative learning community can be created that promotes collective collaboration to solve problems, prioritizes open communication, and offers people many opportunities to learn from and inform others and in which individuals will participate actively in collaborative learning. Online Virtual Collaboration includes new teaching and learning model, supporting intercultural skills growth through shared multicultural learning environments. It integrates the four basic dimensions of real virtual mobility by creative online pedagogies: a collective practice of teachers and students; the practical use of online technology and interaction; international aspects; and it is incorporated into the learning process (Schuster et al., 2017). Collaborative Group Activities range from informal discussions to collaborative, highly structured grouping. Collaborative group learning is one way in which learners can develop contact during the course with others. Online learning system researchers and practitioners primarily encourage the advantages of true communication through conversations and new knowledge sharing. Online learners experience interactive learning in well-designed learning environments, improve higher-order thought, and begin to build an eLearning culture where collaborative group activities are encouraged (Higley, 2018). Research suggests overwhelmingly that online peer assessments will promote a student-centered approach when evaluations are enforced by a peer-to-peer mutual contact, active engagement, and interactivities. The ability to deliver constructive feedback helps learners’ process new information that is not a naturally acquired eLearning skill. Learners participating in group evaluations and peer-to-peer interaction events are better prepared for conditions in the real world. Peer assessment includes students in evaluating each other's work, offering invaluable input that can be used in document revision and a better understanding of the issues. Problem-solving case studies as a qualitative eLearning analysis methodology can transform online learners into investigators so that they can solve the problem and show their information. It all starts with a case study or an example of a real world. Project-based learning is similar to case-based learning but appears to be longer and broader in nature, and with much greater student autonomy/responsibility in the sense of choosing sub-topics, arranging their work, and determining what strategies to use to carry out the project. Projects are typically focused on real-world concerns that offer a sense of accountability and control to students in their learning activities (Naomi Wahls, 2017). Students can exhibit their learning and growth creatively through various combinations of papers, audio/video, and/or presentations. Teachers can also predetermine what should be included in each portfolio and can use rubrics to test portfolios. Simulations challenge students to take up positions when conducting a problem-solving group's work. Government and political students, for instance, might take on the positions of business owners, city council members, and neighbourhood advocates in a zoning dispute (Wright, 2018). Learning management systems will enable instructors to use mechanisms to improve academic credibility while conducting Quizzes and Internal Assessments. Online proctoring refers to a digital assessment form that enables you to sit exams from any place. The program is used during online proctoring to enable students and participants in the course to sit exams at any place of their choosing. It must be accurate and free of fraud anywhere. Tracking software is used to track by video so the exam goes without fraud. Peer Assessment and Discussion Groups for each module can be developed based on the content and structure of the course. Assessment criteria and the scoring to be planned and communicated during the commencement of the course. Total Score on completion, of a course, is also designed based on the assessment criteria developed.

Open Source Education: The INDIA MODEL:

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, while the focus shifts to online means of education, it is also of paramount importance that students from lesser/underprivileged families are also given means of education. The Interact, Negotiate, Deliver, Inspect, Assimilate (INDIA) Model can be implemented by the Central/State/Local Self-governments to ensure that education is provided to the vast multitude of students who are not under the purview of any kind of digital grid.

Figure 4: Open source Education Model

Interact: The strategies by which the teacher would choose the channel of interaction with the students which can be ranging from Radio Classrooms which have 30-minute sessions over the radio where the students all over the city/town/state can tune in to a particular frequency to listen to a particular session of a particular subject. Subjects that require numerical calculations, however, pose a challenge to this mechanism, which can be overcome through the distribution of printed notes of that particular subject which is being aired over the radio. For this to be effective on a city/town/state scale, the local self-government, as well as the state governments, need to unify their strategy in the education sector. The printed notes could be distributed by the mode of ration shops or through newspaper vendors enabling its reach even to the most far-flung areas at least with some frequency. These printed notes will be accompanied by pre-recorded audio tapes to enhance the remote learning experience so that the students can listen to the lectures over and over again. Satellite TV channels or channels that can be accessed by the TV through a medium-strength antenna could augment the above strategy by adding the visual perspective to garner more content satisfaction and deliberation in the process of learning. These channels follow the same principle as that of the radio classrooms

Negotiate:

Here the teachers must be trained to help the students visualize the delivery of the class to make it effective. The teacher must be enthusiastic and energetic while delivering the topic in a short span of 20-minutes so that the students don’t lose attention. An effective plan for negotiating the topics in the subject/syllabus through live demonstration, Do-it-yourself sessions, step-by-step description as per the circulated printed notes to be created.

Deliver:

The class delivery is only the forefront part that actually would give importance but in a highly protracted manner. The backstage of the delivery acts as the strong foundation on which the entire class delivery will stand upright and unwavering. The delivery of the class can be modelled like a supply-chain. The pre-work that is initiated into the delivery of the classes should involve a great deal of thought and coordination which helps to ensure the radio/TV classrooms work in tandem with the circulated handouts. The delivery stage consists of supportive infrastructure; a piece of recording equipment such as a mobile phone would prove sufficient for having the audio component of the class. The audio component while being prepared can be shot as a video to help the efficacy of subjects that involve numerical calculations. These in tandem can be prepared for being aired over the radio as well as the TV. The radio and TV classrooms should be converted to a text format, to enable the students to see the literature that they are studying. The delivery of the audio and video components happens through the audio and TV channels. But the delivery of the notes can be facilitated through ration shops/newspaper vendors as per the requirements of the students. Thus the ration shop owner/newspaper vendor will be the point of contact for these students in the far-flung or under-privileged sections of the society. The prepared notes will be a bundle that is designed for a course that includes notebooks, pens, pencils and audiotapes for each course.

Inspect:

This is the assessment component in the model, whereby the students are tested for the courses that they have enrolled for. The main challenge would be the ethical aspect to ensure students do not resort to malpractices. The internal examinations at regular intervals, irrespective of the courses can be conducted at the nearby halls or community spaces strictly adhering to social distancing and ‘Break-the-Chain’ practices. These can be collected in coordination by the postal staff/ police force/ bank employees or government employees that can be spared for such duties as in the time of the national elections. Bette still, teachers who would actually be teaching these students can be deputed to implement and evaluate this phase of the INDIA model.

Assimilate:

The synergy of the above four components leads to the lesser-privileged children being assimilated into mainstream education. Advances in technology and prioritizing spending in the education sector will help to keep the model as an enabler of the lesser-privileged students. This mode of education has these children as its focal point of benefit. This, however, does not curtail the model to remote areas in terms of society or geography. This can also be applied to urban cities. This model will truly be an open-source education, where lectures from the best teachers can be accessed by the children living any part of the globe, provided the governments set up the infrastructure for the same. Else, this will remain as an island of localized effectiveness that caters to the interests and needs of the students in that locality.

Repository based knowledge dissemination:

Education is in the ‘concurrent list’ while the role and responsibility of the state remain largely unchanged. Based on the survey conducted by Kerala State Higher Education Council, the targeted Gross Enrolment Ratio(GER) of Kerala will be 48% by 2030 and seems it cannot be materialized due to the reasons which include the prevalence of traditional classroom-based learning, high cost of education and traditional student evaluation system. It is necessary to transform the current teaching-learning system in higher education to repository-based knowledge dissemination with wide access and updating of curriculum. All the state universities in Kerala should reach a consensus to share their resources so that the students can reap more benefits. A database or lecture repository with adequate curriculum and evaluation criteria may attract more candidates into the system, with state of the art facilities. The new pedagogy of learning could establish a blueprint for continuous lifelong learning to take up better decisions in society.

Faculty Data Repository for uninterrupted quality of education:

The situation demands to make a repository of faculty data across a geographical area. Such data will help to initiate a plan for the resource allocation of teachers. Just as any organization thrives on the judicious allocation of resources, it is vital that this repository sans the unreliable and unverified data be a benchmark for assessing the demographic and other variables of the teaching fraternity, while ensuring strict compliance with the global data protection laws. Designing such a repository will also enable the governments across the globe to customize training programs for faculty and enhance the quality of the delivery of classes. In a crisis, survival is the first instinct that comes to any individual’s mind. Likewise, teachers too need means of sustenance to pull through a crisis and not be clouded under the mirage of an unsure future. Studies have proven time and time again, that adequate compensation and job security act as great motivators for employees, and this should be given priority by the governments when they design development aid packages.

In a scenario with minimal or zero social movement outside one’s own home, the time spent at home could also serve as an opportunity for the faculty to enhance their knowledge, learn new skills, and be part of a community that thrives on continuous learning. Even the mere lack of awareness about online teaching platforms severs the flow of knowledge between the student and the teacher. Just as students transform into a digital platform to learn, teachers too can avail the same metamorphosis. Taking the current crisis as a reference, it is worth noting that many digital literacy courses and e-learning modules have been designed to be catered to the teaching fraternity. This shouldn’t simply be restricted to crisis-management tools that will be subject to cessation once the crisis ceases. Digital literacy should serve as a starting point for the teachers to learn to use the digital platform effectively to transform the teaching experience and enhance the learning experience for the students. The teacher-student relationship must be based on a human-centered approach to ensure the quality of teaching and learning isn’t compromised. Teachers use social media and the telephone to contact students to build and sustain the social network that is based on physical distancing in this crisis. Teachers could be assigned groups of students to whom the teachers act as mentors that help the students talk about their learning experience in this crisis. Feedback is vital to mold the quality of class delivery. Such networks also provide means of psychosocial support for both the teacher and the learner.

CONCLUSION:

The paper responds by understanding and analyzing the current education situation of the state opening up the possibility of effective online learning mechanisms to prevent disruption in the learning process. Designing a pedagogy for effective online teaching and learning may influence the learners in a social context promoting self-regulated learning. The students can get control over the learning environment and can shape the self-efficacy of a student for a reflexive type of learning. University and Institutional level research needs to focus on guiding higher education institutes to strategically adapt and implement online learning platforms for uninterrupted learning. While the ‘hard’ wheel of education has ground to a stop, higher education institutions can reinvent the class delivery in the form of a ‘digital’ wheel. But the effectiveness and efficiency of the class delivery borne by these nascent digital wheels need to be introspective and inspected especially in terms of its reach.

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Received on 22.05.2020 Modified on 13.06.2020

Asian Journal of Management. 2020;11(3):266-274.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2020.00041.4