Abstract:

The effectiveness of the traditional classroom learning environment has been tested and proven, since the beginning of educational institutions. However, one cannot deny the outreach and existence of the “massively open online courseware,” that are also in use for several years to extend relevant educational content towards the degree completion. These different mediums of teaching must find an overlap, in order to meet the demanding pandemic situation, where it’s no longer comfortable to be complacent. Remote learning can no longer be treated as convenience, but an essential requirement to support the traditional form of teaching. This paper highlights the student perceptions towards distance learning and its effect on their engagement with the course content, in comparison to the traditional face to face form of learning. This transformation requires significant infrastructure in terms of faculty training in delivery platforms like Zoom. Microsoft Teams, etc, as well as contingency plans to deal with the unexpected disappointments with the online delivery mediums. This study provides the insight on the irreplaceable nature of the traditional teaching format, but the beauty of enhancing it further by incorporating the online/ distance learning format. This incorporation, i.e., the traditional classroom teaching in combination with synchronous and asynchronous format of teaching involves considerable effort in the use of new, effective and appropriate technologies, implementing new teaching methodologies, as well as suitable assessment techniques for proper evaluation of student’s effort in their assignments. The transformation of the traditional education experience is inevitable and requires a tremendous training of the taskforce which includes faculty, students, lab technicians, teaching assistants, to facilitate smooth running of the coursework. This paper focuses on the faculty’s ability to combine the best of both traditional and online mode of instruction for offering the most attractive, engaging learning environment to the students.

Keywords:

Remote Learning, Distance Learning, Synchronous Learning, Asynchronous Learning, Face to Face learning, Transformational Teaching.