Papers by Rikisha Bhaumik
With the decline in cases of Covid-19 in India, schools reopened in September 2021 in a staggered... more With the decline in cases of Covid-19 in India, schools reopened in September 2021 in a staggered manner for grades 9 to 12. Teaching in physical mode with all Covid-19 protocols in place was quite challenging. Some schools adopted the HyFlex (Hybrid Flexible) mode, simultaneously teaching half the learners physically and half, online. A qualitative study was done to find out the experiences of postsecondary learners using the HyFlex mode in a Central government-run regular school in Delhi, India. An online questionnaire with five open-ended questions and one rating-type question was filled by 64 learners. Thematic content analysis of the data revealed that 67.2 percent of the learners in the sample found Hyflex to be extremely useful in the scenario immediately after the pandemic. Flexibility and accessibility in HyFlex mode emerged as the most valued feature in most of the responses indicating a preference of learners for openness in school education. The study presents significant findings which will help to improve the HyFlex experience of learners.
The COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 affected the Indian education system quite adversely, almost ... more The COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 affected the Indian education system quite adversely, almost bringing it to a standstill. Amid this crisis, the F2F education system adopted tools and technologies otherwise prevalent in distance education (DE). There is ample literature corroborating the widespread use of such tools by F2F education during the lockdown. However, there is a need to study how the existing distance education system in Asia and countries like India which uses printed selflearning materials, digital technology, and F2F counselling functioned during the same period. This study tries to identify the changes brought about in this system as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to find out the experiences of learners of a DE program, viz. M.A. in Distance Education (MADE) offered by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India which introduced emergency online interventions during the pandemic. A mixed-method approach was used to elicit responses from the learners regarding their psychological state, teaching-learning transaction, learner support and autonomy, and the role of technology. An online questionnaire comprising 21 Likert-type items and 4 open-ended questions was used to collect responses from 57 participants. The study found a positive response to the use of online synchronous tools for counselling with most of the participants desirous of continuation of such interventions even after the pandemic. The majority reported non-interruption in their DE studies and felt confident of completing the program owing to the flexibility of the system. The study affirmed DE's resilience to the effect of the pandemic upon its learners. The expectations from learners and institutions for enhanced use of online technology in the future raise a strong requirement for continuous professional development (CPD) of distance teachers. The findings hint toward further strengthening of DE in the country to increase the overall resilience of education.
Online learning has taken center stage in the times of COVID and is being lauded as a feasible al... more Online learning has taken center stage in the times of COVID and is being lauded as a feasible alternative for imparting education to learners. In many developing countries, the school education sector, which had rarely tried or tested the online mode, came at the forefront in rapidly adopting the online means for delivering instructions to learners. However, the question remains: Is all well with this swift adoption of online mode? Is educational access same as pre-COVID times or has it been impacted for worse? Educational access (through online schooling) largely depends on e-readiness of learners. Therefore, two fundamental points, viz. digital access and requisite digital skills among learners must be mooted before arriving at any conclusion vis-à-vis the quality and effectiveness of online schooling. It is feared that the already existing disparities in educational access will further exacerbate with the inability to access online schools. The chapter consists of a two-part stu...
In the backdrop of recent COVID-19 lockdown, the school learners across the country have had the ... more In the backdrop of recent COVID-19 lockdown, the school learners across the country have had the opportunity to experience online mode of learning. This study attempts to find out e-readiness of senior secondary school learners for transition to online learning along with their views on this mode of learning transaction. Quantitative descriptive survey method was used for the purpose of this study. A questionnaire comprising 20 Likert-type items covering four dimensions, viz. access, digital literacy and e-readiness, delivery of online learning, and online load, was administered on a 100-student sample from different schools of Delhi using non-probability sampling. Access to online learning and online load on learners were found to be high. The study also revealed that only 35.2% learners found online classes as effective as face-to-face classes. The delivery of online learning by teachers and digital skills of learners were found lacking. The geographical scope of the study is limi...
Asian Journal of Distance Education, 2021
The COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 affected the Indian education system quite adversely, almost ... more The COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 affected the Indian education system quite adversely, almost bringing it to a standstill. Amid this crisis, the F2F education system adopted tools and technologies otherwise prevalent in distance education (DE). There is ample literature corroborating the widespread use of such tools by F2F education during the lockdown. However, there is a need to study how the existing distance education system in Asia and countries like India which uses printed selflearning materials, digital technology, and F2F counselling functioned during the same period. This study tries to identify the changes brought about in this system as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to find out the experiences of learners of a DE program, viz. M.A. in Distance Education (MADE) offered by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India which introduced emergency online interventions during the pandemic. A mixed-method approach was used to elicit responses from the learners regarding their psychological state, teaching-learning transaction, learner support and autonomy, and the role of technology. An online questionnaire comprising 21 Likert-type items and 4 open-ended questions was used to collect responses from 57 participants. The study found a positive response to the use of online synchronous tools for counselling with most of the participants desirous of continuation of such interventions even after the pandemic. The majority reported non-interruption in their DE studies and felt confident of completing the program owing to the flexibility of the system. The study affirmed DE's resilience to the effect of the pandemic upon its learners. The expectations from learners and institutions for enhanced use of online technology in the future raise a strong requirement for continuous professional development (CPD) of distance teachers. The findings hint toward further strengthening of DE in the country to increase the overall resilience of education.
Proud Pen Limited, 2020
Online learning has taken center stage in the times of COVID and is being lauded as a feasible al... more Online learning has taken center stage in the times of COVID and is being lauded as a feasible alternative for imparting education to learners. In many developing countries, the school education sector, which had rarely tried or tested the online mode, came at the forefront in rapidly adopting the online means for delivering instructions to learners. However, the question remains: Is all well with this swift adoption of online mode? Is educational access same as pre-COVID times or has it been impacted for worse? Educational access (through online schooling) largely depends on e-readiness of learners. Therefore, two fundamental points, viz. digital access and requisite digital skills among learners must be mooted before arriving at any conclusion vis-à-vis the quality and effectiveness of online schooling. It is feared that the already existing disparities in educational access will further exacerbate with the inability to access online schools. The chapter consists of a two-part study. First part, a cursory analysis of a) how school-closure affects a large learners' segment, b) technology prerequisites of online schooling, c) pre-existing status of digital infrastructure and digital access, and d) the governments initiatives to bridge the digital divide in India to provide a background for the study of e-readiness among learners during the pandemic. Second part, a comparative study for finding out the e-readiness among the learners in three types of schools, viz. Kendriya Vidyalayas (under Ministry of Education, Government of India), the government schools run by respective states governments, and private schools managed by private entities. The study uses a quantitative descriptive survey method on a sample of 250 students from two regions (NCT-Delhi and Bihar). A questionnaire comprising of 8 Likert-type items was administered. The findings were used to extrapolate the extent of disparity in terms of access 10 0 137 The impact of COVID19 on the international education system to online education (impacting the overall educational access during COVID) between the learners of the three types of schools. The study indicates an urgent need for addressing the widening educational disparity due to an indefinitely prolonged pandemic.
Maktaba Jamia Ltd., 2020
A teacher's continuing professional development (CPD) is fundamentally important if he/she is to ... more A teacher's continuing professional development (CPD) is fundamentally important if he/she is to accomplish his/her task of guiding learners in an increasingly complex learning ecosystem. A CPD program is one which provides continuous, ongoing, work-embedded support to teachers throughout their career span. As a systematic and planned program, it helps teachers to continually acquire and document relevant knowledge and skills. The recent draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 also stresses the need of CPD of teachers and recommends online teacher development modules. However, the question is: Are teachers ready for such technology-led professional development? In the present study, a survey was conducted on 61 school teachers selected using nonprobability sampling method. A questionnaire comprising five objective-type questions and 10 Likert-type items was used for obtaining the data. The items were designed and categorized to collect information from teachers about awareness of CPD, sensitivity for professional development, and perception toward online CPD (oCPD). The results showed that senior secondary school teachers (78.9%) were better aware of CPD as compared to secondary (53.8%) and primary (62%) teachers participating in the survey. While unavailability of internet and digital devices was perceived as a hindrance to prevent oCPD, the convenience of anytime-anywhere learning was found to be a factor in favor of oCPD. A significant proportion of participants (62.2%) strongly agreed to the need of continuous upgrading of one's knowledge and skills. 44.3% of the participants were found agreeing in favor of an oCPD if it provided easy-to-use interface and relevant learning resources. However, only 11.47% felt that an online CPD program could be as effective as a face-to-face program. The findings of this study can have considerable implications for the organizations endeavoring to develop an effective oCPD program for school teachers. It will help researchers to replicate or further investigate other related dimensions of teacher professional development. The study will add to findings dealing with the role of CPD in enhancing teachers' quality for improved learning outcomes.
Asian Journal of Distance Education, 2020
In the backdrop of recent COVID-19 lockdown, the school learners across the country have had the ... more In the backdrop of recent COVID-19 lockdown, the school learners across the country have had the opportunity to experience online mode of learning. This study attempts to find out e-readiness of senior secondary school learners for transition to online learning along with their views on this mode of learning transaction. Quantitative descriptive survey method was used for the purpose of this study. A questionnaire comprising 20 Likert-type items covering four dimensions, viz. access, digital literacy and e-readiness, delivery of online learning, and online load, was administered on a 100-student sample from different schools of Delhi using non-probability sampling. Access to online learning and online load on learners were found to be high. The study also revealed that only 35.2% learners found online classes as effective as face-to-face classes. The delivery of online learning by teachers and digital skills of learners were found lacking. The geographical scope of the study is limited to National Capital Region of Delhi which has better smartphone penetration and internet access as compared to other states in India. The study concludes that online pedagogy and digital skills of teachers and learners need to be strengthened for a possible roadmap ahead. The study may provide useful insights into the challenges of online learning and areas for further improvement.
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Papers by Rikisha Bhaumik