There is no denying that COVID -19 has been responsible for creating a serious upheaval in the lives of most people across the globe. Apart from impacting the physical health of countless people, the pandemic has also affected the everyday lifestyle and working of a large percentage of the global population. The education sector is one of the worst-hit, with both the students and teachers adopting various online tools and technologies to ensure the continuation of the learning process. The problem is even more challenging in the niche of higher education, with the need to turn the traditional method of hands-on education into virtual learning.
Challenges Of Online Engineering Education
Like most other educational institutions across the globe, the best B. Tech. Colleges in Delhi adopted online teaching to ensure learning continuity for their students. However, these institutions faced a greater challenge in terms of helping the students understand the practical application of the topics and concepts being taught. This is especially in view of the fact that it is important for engineering students to understand and try the practical application of everything they have learned in a semester before moving to the next phase. In addition, the faculty members have been facing many difficulties in conducting and validating semester-end examinations, which are to be held every six months. The absence of a proper assessment of the academic progress of the engineering students greatly affects their progress with respect to the next stage of learning. Students who are awaiting their final term exams can face a significant delay in the completion of their education and start of their professional career.
Changes In The Teaching-Learning Process
In order to overcome the above-discussed challenges, colleges and institutions offering engineering education need to implement significant changes in their traditional ways of teaching and learning. In this context, implementing the following changes can help prove beneficial in making engineering education more comprehensive and efficient.
Greater Focus On Blended Education
Using a combination of both traditional and modern teaching tools can provide significant learning benefits for engineering students in the post-COVID world. The efforts made by the teaching staff of almost every B. Tech. college in Delhi in order to move the teaching content online will ensure better use of classroom time by creating a greater scope for discussion, debate, and guided practice with the students. Even though the various digital tools used in online education can never substitute the intimacy and immediacy of face-to-face learning, they can definitely help in enhancing the overall learning experience.
Increase In The Trend Of Learning By Doing
As mentioned before, teaching the practical application of the engineering concepts being taught online has emerged as one of the greatest challenges during the post-COVID era. This has enhanced the popularity of the trend of learning by doing among the engineering students. The inability of these students to access their college labs in order to test the practical applications of their learnings has been a greater motivator behind this trend. That is why considering the option of providing guided support to students interested in learning by doing things themselves in a safe setting is the best alternative at the moment.
Online Teaching Will Become More Commonplace
In the post-COVID era, online teaching is likely to become an integral part of the strategic planning of engineering education. In fact, there is a likelihood that online education will become the core of the institutional resilience and academic continuity of engineering students. Most engineering institutions are already facing the need for centralized online course development and distribution. This process should be based on careful consideration of institutional planning and cross-campus governance. Moreover, the management of online learning needs to be integrated into the existing learning processes and leadership structures of various engineering institutions.
Rethinking Existing And Potential OPM Partnerships
In the post-COVID era, engineering colleges will need to rethink their online program management (OPM) partnerships. Rather than outsourcing their core teaching and learning capabilities, such institutions should step up their own efforts to maximize the outcome of remote education. At the same time, they should benefit from the expertise of the OPM service providers in terms of market research and digital marketing strategies. This will help the institutions to ensure a smooth transition from in-campus learning to online training in a more effective manner. In the post-COVID world, engineering colleges need to distance themselves from the all-inclusive revenue-share models of OPM partnerships.
Online learning is the future. Hence, making the best out of the resources at hand, shall define our students’ stand in the post-Covid world.
