Challenges of quality in online learning 
                     Challenges of quality in online learning
With online classes running seamlessly during lockdown 
restrictions, can school principals afford to sit back and 
relax? Are there any felt or expressed concerns regarding 
the effectiveness of online classes? How will the school 
heads address the challenges of the quality and 
effectiveness of online learning? Do they need to create new 
protocols of online curriculum transaction and monitor 
teachers’ performances?
Covid-19 struck us without a 
warning and left head of all 
educa t iona l i ns t i tu t ions 
scrambling to respond to its 
ex igenc ies. I t has a lso 
created a need to creatively 
deal with such unforeseen 
a n d o n c e - i n - a - c e n t u r y 
catastrophic events that are 
being predicted as the ‘new 
normal’. School principals 
deserve nothing less than a 
pat on their backs for a swift 
response to the pandemic 
amid the lockdown restrictions. Their alacrity has resulted in a 
spate of online classes for learners of every level ranging from 
scholastic subjects, co-scholastic areas such as fine and 
performing arts to mental wellness and physical fitness.
However, it would be overly simplistic to sit back and relax 
assuming the job to be well done. There are serious challenges 
to quality and effectiveness in online learning which largely 
remain unaddressed due to overflowing self-congratulatory and 
feel-good sentiments. Will the school leaders be willing to think 
out of their box to recognize, understand, and address these 
critical issues?
Challenges in Online Learning
Comparing face-to-face learning with online learning brings forth 
significant deficiencies in the online mode such as lack of human 
connect, absence of opportunities of collaborative learning, 
teacher supervision and the most glaring being lack of 
opportunities for hands-on learning in complex subjects such as 
science and mathematics. Besides, amid the rush of hosting 
online classes the best teaching practices such a addressing 
learners Multiples Intelligences (MI), VARK Learning Styles and 
providing a differentiated learning experience have been 
relegated to the back-burner.  So how does the head of a school 
address the challenges of quality learning in online mode and is it 
possible to harness technology to provide a rich, immersive and 
holistic learning experience to the students?
Quality On-line Learning
What is ‘quality’ in online learning?  The definition of  Quality 
education has undergone a metamorphosis in the online mode, 
and now it includes the ICT components that help overcome all 
the challenges have resulted due to the physical distance 
between the teacher and the learner. ICT has the power and 
potential to help the users overcome not only these challenges 
but also make some unexpected value additions to classes that 
could result in an improved teacher and learner performance, 
leading to an enhanced learning experience. Here are some ICT 
integrated teaching-learning strategies that can  ‘up the 
quality’ quotient of an online class.
Plan Active Learning
“It’s not a lecture classroom online,”. “It’s an active learning 
classroom online.” Conrad, a lecturer at the University of 
California in Berkley clarifies. It has been observed that 
sometimes to overcome the lack of their physical presence 
teachers go into long winding explanations of the concept in an 
online class, leaving learners passive, bored, and ultimately 
distracted. The online class should have a well-planned sequence 
of activities for  ‘active engagement’  that allows the leaners of 
opportunities for  interaction  and  hand-on, experiential 
learning.  The following strategies would help in creating 
opportunities for active learner engagement with content and 
peers.
Use IT Tools, Apps & Resources
Ormrod Jeanne Ellis, professor of educational psychology at the 
University of Northern Colorado, talks of four  basic learning 
needs  that form the basis of all major educational theories 
ranging from behaviorism to social cognitivism to constructivism. 
These are Arousal, Competence, Self-determination and 
Relatedness. (Ormrod, 2011). He says through gamification and 
technology a teacher can successfully meet most of these needs 
in an online class. Technology is a huge enabler, as it can be 
used to customise learning to learners’ level, interest, and 
academic and social needs. Rich texts, images, videos, audios, 
and games bring fun, excitement, collaboration, and challenge to 
learning. The learners, being digital natives, view online classes 
as  ‘edutainment than education’  and  continually set new 
learning goals for themselves.   It also allows learners to learn at 
their own pace, revisiting the lesson as many times as they wish 
before moving on to the next stage.
Give Learners a Choice
Traditional classes are teacher-driven and all the decisions 
regarding what, when, how, and how much are taken by the 
teacher. In an online class, the teacher can enhance learner 
motivation, interest, and involvement by allowing them to choose 
‘how to learn’. The choice of activities can range from audio/video 
podcasts, presentations, surveys, investigatory projects, quizzes, 
gamification, reports with illustrations and graphics, news-
reporting, producing a radio/TV show, etc. Depending upon the 
skills and sub-skills that need to be taught or reinforced the 
learners could be asked to choose and collaborate on the 
assignment
Collaborative Learning
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory illustrated that children learn 
when they observe and imitate others. Is it possible to create 
learning opportunities that enable Banduras four principles of 
Social Learning – attention, retention, reproduction, and 
motivation — to be replicated in an online class?   Yes, online 
peer-collaboration and peer-assessment could fill the gap created 
by physical distancing norms due to the viral outbreak.
A teacher could host their asynchronous assignments on these 
collaborative platforms such as Google Docs, Google Drive, 
Google Hangouts, MS Teams, SlideShare, Minecraft, Kahoot, 
Mural, Voice Thread, Edmodo, Skype, etc. for learners 
collaborate, discuss, listen to others, reflect, assess peers and 
make it an immersive learning experience.
Feedback Vs Feed-forward technique 
Feedback gives suggestions to improve the observed processes, 
in retrospect, by telling learners how they can improve the 
assignment that has been concluded. Research reveals that 
students hardly revisit their assignments to check teachers’ 
suggestions and comments.
Feed-forward model is future-focused and inculcates ideas about 
what a learner or teacher can do differently with the assignment 
on hand. Teachers share the assessment criteria and inform 
learners of what is expected and subsequently mark them 
accordingly. A valuable outcome of feed-forward technique is 
learners constantly reflect on their output and make self-
assessment.   Feed-forward process would ensure better learning 
outcomes in the online mode, as the teaching time for a teacher is 
at a premium.
Guide Teacher Performance
All schools are closed during the lockdown restrictions, relieving 
teachers of their sundry administrative duties and making them 
free to devote their undivided attention to creatively design their 
on-line learning plans. Awareness that classes are open to public 
and parental scrutiny has made the teachers conscious of 
delivering their best in online classes.
Nevertheless, switching over to the online mode of teaching is a 
huge challenge for teachers. They have managed to imbibe a 
number of hard and soft skills to be able to do it successfully to 
date.   However, regular observation of their classes and 
constructive and timely feedback would definitely help them 
improve their skills. A good strategy would also be to ask them 
what they need to learn and to organize focused interventions to 
help meet their learning gaps.
In Conclusion
While learners can’t wait to get back to the schools, this spell of 
online learning is going to leave principals and educators richer in 
terms of insights into what constitutes quality education and their 
own preparedness to deliver it. The challenges of quality online 
learning will be managed sooner than later due to the inherent 
transparency of this medium. However, the real challenge would 
be not to slip into our old ‘teacher-driven’ ways and to remember 
and apply the learnings of this phase to enrich our regular classes 
post lockdown restrictions! To overcome from the challenges that 
student face during online live classes, We at Appsquadz 
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