Nearly 50% varsity teachers not comfortable with online teaching: Report

Even as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced schools and universities into digital learning, nearly half of the university teachers are uncomfortable with online teaching, according to a report.

The report, titled 'The use of Technology in Teaching and Learning in Indian Higher Education Institutes', is based on a survey conducted by TeamLease group company Schoolguru Eduserve, with over 1,200 teachers participating across the country from May-end till June-end.

Nearly 50 per cent of the university teachers participated in the survey said they are uncomfortable with online teaching, according to the report.

"We are all aware that in India, the shift to digital learning has not been driven by choice, but rather by coerced need. Hence, educators were not completely prepared — 89.92 per cent of teachers had never used technology at all before and 83 per cent of teachers had never delivered a virtual lecture. This strongly reiterates their discomfort with digital learning methods," Schoolguru Eduserve Founder and CEO Shantanu Rooj said.

Further, Rooj said the primary reason for the distress that teachers are facing is the skill gap.

"In fact, 82 per cent teachers have noted that colleges have not offered any training to them on online teaching tools and techniques," Rooj added.

He added that better preparedness is the need of the hour in the current situation. "Institutes should conduct continuous skilling and up-skilling programmes to assist the educators to effectively use digital tools for teaching, preparing course material, facilitating peer to peer engagement, conducting assessments and providing feedback."

The report further said it is not only the lack of teaching exposure among the educator community that is challenging, but most of the Indian higher education institutions have also never tried their hand at preparing online courseware.

While more than 92 per cent respondents believe that online teaching is different from physical classroom teaching, they have never created or have had an exposure towards creating courseware for online teaching.

Only 3 per cent of the respondents have had the experience of preparing online teaching content, it noted.

More than 69 per cent teachers interviewed said they have never used online platforms for assessments, the report added. PTI SM HRS