As much as 74.1% of students said in a survey that they received good support from their teachers and 88.2% said teachers were prepared well for online classes.
The survey was conducted by Auuro Educational Services among over 750 students of Classes 4 to 12 studying at private schools in Chennai, Chengalpattu, Dharmapuri, Hosur and Madurai. As much as 98% of the students who took the survey were from CBSE schools. Several CBSE schools across the State started online classes in June for the new academic year as institutions were closed in March owing to COVID-19.
While the results indicated that a majority of the students were satisfied with the support from and preparation by their teachers, 18.5% said teachers could make online classes a lot more interesting by interacting more, and 15.7% asked for more videos during their lessons.
“Even before the transition towards digital learning happened this year, many classrooms had the tendency to have less of an interaction between students and teachers, especially if the focus was on completing portions. This seems to have translated online in a few cases, and there are several interesting tools which can be used to make online learning engaging,” said K.R. Maalathi, founder, Auuro Educational Services.
The survey, she said, was carried out to understand the impact of the changes that have been brought about in remote teaching and learning and to gauge its sustainability. “While a majority of the students have indicated that they would prefer to learn through regular schooling in classrooms once schools reopen, the last few months has made them more open to embracing change. Many students responded positively to the use of technology in their daily learning and have now adapted themselves comfortably to remote learning,” Ms. Maalathi added. Based on the outcome of the survey, Auuro Educational Services is working on addressing the new paradigm shift and how this can be incorporated into teacher training.
As for the access to gadgets, around 25% of the respondents said they shared their gadgets with one other person at home. A large number — 80.4% of the respondents — said connectivity issues sometimes hampered their online classes.
The Tamil Nadu government is yet to make an announcement on when schools will be reopened. Private schools are planning to continue online classes for the third term.
“Even when schools reopen, institutions with a large student strength will be able to function only if they adopt a hybrid classroom model. They will need to schedule a mix of direct and online classes, given the safety aspects to be considered,” said Ashok Shankar, general secretary, CBSE Schools Management Association.
He said schools conducting online classes should focus on two important aspects — enhancing their classes with interesting and engaging tools available and beginning to focus on how they can carry out evaluations and assessments online.
