The transition was challenging in the beginning, but leadership and the faculty team could work out, says Director

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, the Director of Jaipuria School of Business Dr Jitendra Kumar Mishra talks at length about the initiatives taken by the institute during the difficult times of Covid pandemic. He explains the transition to online education, assessment, workshops and seminars in detail. Though the lockdown was declared without any prior notice which eventually impacted the education system but Jaipuria School of Business managed to cope up with the situation in the best possible manner.

Read the complete interview below to have a better understanding of Jaipuria’s transition journey to online education

Q: How has today’s scenario of lockdown and global pandemic impacted your education system?

A: The Covid 19 pandemic was something unthought-of and the lockdown imposed by the Government was big destruction to the entire academic process. The students and faculty members had to stop coming to campus and there were no activities possible to be conducted in-person. However, the leadership team and the faculty members put their brains and work out a plan to leverage the digital infrastructure and also to further strengthen it to support online education. The transition was challenging in the beginning, however, the Institute put quickly rise to the occasion and started offering online classes, summer internships and later on the examination/assessment, and placement in online mode. Now the students, faculty and the entire team is well-versed with the process and have become well-accepted with this new teaching-learning process.

Q: What are some of the interesting initiatives your institute has taken to make it easy for your students and also contribute to the eradication of this pandemic?

A: Along with holding the classes and conducting academic activities in online mode, the faculty and students of Jaipuria School of Business participated in various campaigns to create awareness on maintaining social distance, hygiene, and also providing sanitizers, masks, and food to various needy people during the lockdown.

Q: How is the institute planning to conduct exams, evaluate and declare result online?

A: Institute has collaborated with organisations offering online solutions for conducting exams and has utilised the same for conducting components of continuous assessment, mid-term and end-term exams in online mode. The solution has proven very effective and Institute has been able to conduct all the exams as per the schedule and declare the result on time.

Q: How are the students responding to the new initiatives?

A: The response of the students was quite encouraging. They demonstrated a great amount of enthusiasm and excitement in experimenting with the new methods and interventions. They also co-operated wholeheartedly in the process of addressing challenges posed by the pandemic.

Q: What impact will it have on students’ interpersonal, team management skills?

A: The sudden evacuation of campus on account of lockdown during the pandemic created a big gap in face-to-face interaction among the students. The warmth and energy of in-person interaction remain missing throughout. However, the students created WhatsApp groups and through video interaction, they remained in touch for their group works and studies.

Q: What are the best practices that the college is adopting to ensure seamless online learning?

A: The Institute has adopted an efficient online learning platform and has organised training for the faculty members to effectively leverage this platform to ensure flawless teaching-learning during the pandemic. The Institute also conducted multiple rounds of an orientation programme to acquaint the students with these online learning platforms and their protocols. These training and orientation programmes have been very effective in ensuring a seamless transition to online learning methods.

Q: How will today’s situation revolutionise online learning in India and abroad?

A: The technological intervention in academic and online education was trying hard to find its way in India. It was being acknowledged for its strength but the acceptability was very slow. The pandemic has advanced the adoption of technology in academics and created an occasion wherein online education seamlessly became an integral part of the academic system. We believe that even after the situation turns out to be normal the online education will continue in some or other way depending upon the kind of institutions and nature of programmes. A blend of online and offline education will be the new normal.