Lecture Notes in Educational Technology

Deepanjali Mishra
Yuangshan Chuang   Editors

Learning
How to Learn
Using
Multimedia
Lecture Notes in Educational Technology

Series Editors
Ronghuai Huang, Smart Learning Institute, Beijing Normal University, Beijing,
China
Kinshuk, College of Information, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
Mohamed Jemni, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
Nian-Shing Chen, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliu,
Taiwan
J. Michael Spector, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
The series Lecture Notes in Educational Technology (LNET), has established itself
as a medium for the publication of new developments in the research and practice of
educational policy, pedagogy, learning science, learning environment, learning
resources etc. in information and knowledge age, – quickly, informally, and at a
high level.
Abstracted/Indexed in:
Scopus, Web of Science Book Citation Index

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11777

Deepanjali Mishra · Yuangshan Chuang
Editors

Learning How to Learn

Using Multimedia
Editors
Deepanjali Mishra Yuangshan Chuang
School of Humanities International Lions University
KIIT University Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
Bhubaneswar, India

ISSN 2196-4963 ISSN 2196-4971 (electronic)

Lecture Notes in Educational Technology
ISBN 978-981-16-1783-6 ISBN 978-981-16-1784-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my institution, KIIT University for

providing me a platform to pursue my journey to contribute to this volume. I express
my thankfulness to the KIIT Central Library for conducting the plagiarism check of
all the manuscripts before being sent to review. I sincerely thank the reviewing team
for their tireless efforts and their whole hearted contribution and taking maximum
care to suggest revision and generate responsible decision. Last but not the least, I
owe my gratitude to Prof. Satyajeet Arya, Assistant Professor, Sri Sri University, and
the entire team for the sincere dedication and the enormous efforts in making this
book possible.

v
Introduction

The quixotic educational philosophy revolving around ‘learning to learn’ has stimu-
lated considerable debates in both theoretical and practical fields of education being
a very strident and accountable process to develop reading, comprehension, expres-
sion, curriculum, instruction and assessment. Relatively, the principle inherent in
comprehending various processes of learning styles and strategies on the basis of
learners’ autonomy has become equally important for the teachers and the learners
as well. Research shows that the learning strategies of our learners today display
puny extension in some essential skills like note-taking, note-making, idea orga-
nizing, etc., resulting in abysmal performance. The theory of experiential learning
according to Kolb has its intellectual origins in Dewey’s philosophical pragmatism,
Lewin’s social psychology and Piaget’s cognitive developmental genetic episte-
mology [David, 1984]. However, the last decade’s surge in the study of learning
styles and strategies lending for cognitive strategies has retained enormous discre-
tionary power that eventually led to a ray of positive hope in the fairness of the
education system. The ultimate intention of making aware of the learning styles and
strategies is to enable students to encounter the problems they face both academically
and non-academically.
Hence, the exposition of the special individual potentiality is the key factor
demanding a serious, substantive, contextual and conducive atmosphere. The peda-
gogic perception of language as skill, as a matter of socialization, is no more a
matter of fact memorizing or information collecting from various sources, rather an
understanding of the learners’ characteristics congruously. A system of burdened and
impulsive education without learner’s own interest, style and plan doesn’t awaken
the mind and the dormant intelligence in it but stuffs it mechanically creating some
chaos and conflicts hemorrhaging the talent. It is a common acceptance that different
learners have different attitudes to learning for their individual differences. More-
over, these differences determine their responses to different teaching methods and
techniques and those shouldn’t be unheeded. These differences include a learner’s
motivation, personality, language level, learning style, learning strategies and age and
past language experiences. (TKT course [Spratt, 2011]. The discussions of learning
styles, strategies, practical implementations, teachers’ role and the current findings
is the theory of learning style as debunk, comparison of styles and strategies.
vii
viii Introduction

Computer technology and multimedia have long been used in classes in the field of
education. It was usually used by faculties of engineering and science because of its
benefits. A series of studies conducted have analysed that using digital methodology
of teaching can make a class much more interesting compared to the traditional
methodology. There are so many learners with so many diversities and needs, e-
learning could be one of the innovative techniques to impart education to the, It is
not to be considered that only students need to study through e-learning, rather the
teachers too need this technology to impart education which sums up that e-learning
is an important technique for the students as well as teachers. Sometimes when a
teacher needs to take a class through distance mode, he or she could easily conduct
classes through a digital classroom.
The concept of education imparting has undergone sea changes. It is no longer
restricted to classroom teaching where a teacher would come to the class and give
lecture on a topic by using a chalkboard for giving illustrations. With the advancement
of technology, a new methodology has started to develop and students have been
using them quite conveniently. The internet has been responsible for generating
a new trend of education through various mediums like computerized electronic
learning, online learning and internet learning. The courses are delivered online
through the internet in order to facilitate the learners. they get an environment which
is unconventional that makes learning more easier and comfortable. This course
cannot be imparted through a CD or a DVD player. One of the approaches is e-
learning where learning does not involve showing something on a DVD or a CD, but
on the other hand, the sessions that are delivered online are much more interactive
and a student is able to communicate with the professor who is delivering the class,
with another student who is also a learner and from the other place in the world.
The sessions can be delivered live where a participant can raise questions through
clicking the button and get the query answered whereas in some cases, lectures are
pre-recorded and shown to the students. But at the same time, a coordinator would
be there who would be handling the sessions who is a professor or a faculty. He
or She would be interacting with the participants and evaluating the performance.
verify assignments and conducting tests. This methodology of imparting education
through e-learning is evolving as a growing mode which imparts education and
has succeeded in becoming the most sought after method for many young learners.
Fletcher and Kulik have re-emphasized that a student can grasp more while giving
education through technology-based learning instead of conventional methodology
[Kulik, 1994]. Brandon Hall has tried to explain that accessing knowledge which is
imparted through digital mode is more informative and more intellectual in nature,
The processes are new and innovative [Hall, 2001]. A variety of subjects could be
possible through digital mode like English literature, Language, History Science to
name a few. It is a well-known fact that learners who are children and learners who
are adults do not have same choices in methodology and requirement that is used in
teaching. For instance, if there is any attempt to summarize a text, adult learners are
expected to be more curious to understand the logic behind performing the activity,
while a young learner would perform without asking any question. Adult learners are
more practical in nature therefore they use to solve a problem through application
Introduction ix

by accessing their real-life experience and using it in their learning methodology,

while a young learner is sensitive, not experienced and hence uses theoretical mode
while solving problems. For adults, there is a relationship between trial and error
and levels of satisfaction during the learning process which affects their ability to
maintain ongoing levels of motivation.
Therefore, this volume has vast resources of research outcome of academicians,
researchers that are related to e-learning and teaching and learning through multi-
media. Apart from these topics, it also contains topics related to copyrights, teaching
artefacts and teaching through social media. It is expected to be an attempt to start
with an introduction of the concept of multimedia, and how multimedia technology
could be implemented to impart digital education to university students.

Deepanjali Mishra

References
David K. (1984). Experimental Learning Experience as the Source of Learning and Development,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.
Fletcher, J. D., & Tobias, S. (2000) (Eds.). Training and retraining; A handbook for business,
industry, government, and the military, New York: Macmillan.
Hall, B. (2001). Learning management and Knowledge Management. Is the holy grail of integration
close at hand? Retrieved November 4, 2020, http://www.brandonhall.com.
Kulik, J. A. (1994). Meta-analytic studies of findings on computer-based instruction. In E.L. Baker,
and H.F. O’Neil, Jr. (Eds.). Technology assessment in education and training. Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). Introduction. In The TKT Course Modules 1, 2
and 3 (TKT Course, pp. 1-4). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO978
1139062398.001
Contents

E-Learning Artifacts and Their Impingement on the Learning

Management System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Sandhya Satyarthi, Dhirendra Pandey, Virendra Singh, and Vandana Dubey
Examining the Factors That Affect Online Learning Engagement:
A Micro-qualitative Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Wei Che Hsu, Vasistha Bhargavi Garimella, and Liza Lee
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Meetali Chauhan and Sita Rani
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms for Online Education
in COVID-19 Pandemic in India: A Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Satyajeet Arya, Amit Kumar Bundela, Sunidhi Thakur,
Pinaki Chattopadhyay, Pallavi Chattopadhyay, Ajay Kumar Mishra,
and Krishna Pratap Singh
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching–learning at the Crossroads
of Crisis in India and Digital Humanities as the Way Forward . . . . . . . . . 63
Sapna Kumari
Corpus Analysis for Literary Studies: Application and Relevance . . . . . . 85
Shahila Zafar and Zaved Ahmed Khan
E-learning as an Aid to Face Challenges of Koreans to Learn
English as a Second Language in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Deepanjali Mishra and Minhyeong Lee
Research Contribution to the Progress of Digital Learning in India . . . . . 103
Mahender Reddy Gavinolla, Sampada Kumar Swain, and Agita Livina
Computer-Based Multimedia in Teaching Listening: A Review . . . . . . . . 123
Z. W. Adanech

xi
xii Contents

Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning?

A Review of Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Zahid Hussain Bhat
Digital Humanity for Nepali University Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Eak Prasad Duwadi
Improvement of Teaching Quality in Open and Distance Learning
Through Peer Mentoring: A Case Study on Bangladesh Open
University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Sodip Roy and Santosh Kumar Behera
Learning to Online Learning: Techniques, Challenges
and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Upagya Rai, Anurag Upadhyay, and Richa Singh
Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development:
A Psycho-social Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Manju Singh and Praveen Singh
E-Learning Artifacts and Their
Impingement on the Learning
Management System

Sandhya Satyarthi, Dhirendra Pandey, Virendra Singh,

and Vandana Dubey

Abstract Technology can transform the traditional education system into an

improved education system for that e-learning acts as a mediator to link and provide
education to various learners of any age group either a child or adult, anytime and
anywhere all over the world. E-learning is a combination of content and instructional
methods on a computer intended to outline knowledge and skills to the individual
for achieving learning goals and organizational performance. The development of
computational technologies plays a vigorous role in modern learning which primarily
contemplates the use of information technology and communication (ICT) to the
management of both teaching and learning activities and provides a medium to
adapt and accelerate the existing learning management system. Learning Manage-
ment System (LMS) is capable of organizing, delivering, managing, and tracking
the learning contents and also monitoring the learning activities performed for better
interaction and effective e-learning. In this chapter, we will discuss the impact of
learning artifacts and also the factors that influence the proficiency of e-learning for
both individual and the organization.

Keywords Learning Management System (LMS) · E-learning · Artifacts ·

Information Technology and Communication (ICT) · Teaching · Learning activities

1 Introduction

The immediate elevation of Information Technology and Communication (ICT)

infrastructures in various educational organizations relies on making use of the
Internet as an interacting medium for the students, teachers, and organizations to

S. Satyarthi · D. Pandey · V. Singh (B)

Department of Information Technology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow,
India
V. Dubey
Department of Computer Application, Integral University Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh,
India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_1
2 S. Satyarthi et al.

provide better learning and teaching practices (El-Seoud et. al., 2014). An inter-
esting and collaborative learning environment created using multimedia, computer-
assisted instruction, the internet, and other technologies for the students to interact
and improve the excellence of the teaching and learning system. The importance of
e-learning increases as it enhances the access to learning materials, the concepts,
and the methodologies of technology-based learning more efficiently (Waterhouse,
2005). There are many evolving opportunities in the field of e-learning that aims to
improve the experience of learning and endorsing higher-order thinking skills and
practices to optimize learning outcomes as well as promise high-quality learning
design and instruction. E-learning provides a platform for learners to improve their
ability to practice and understand logic anywhere anytime and also allows learners
to a spontaneous understanding of intellectual knowledge.
Learning Management system (LMS) assists the organization to deliver and track
the learning content provided, course enrolment, subject knowledge, course sched-
ules, small quiz, test, and self-assessment, encouraging students for more collabora-
tive tasks and activities to evaluate the efficiency of the computer-assisted instruction
learning and improving the student interest toward learning. The functions of LMS
depend on the objectives of a particular organization that means it may be different
for others as the requirements vary from person to person and organization to organi-
zation. LMS facilitates online training and learning initiatives for remote learners to
easily access the information and relevant data regarding their study or a particular
subject through e-learning tools anywhere. LMS allows the student to sight online
lectures, communicate with educators, and interact with each other in study-related
groups, download and access course work, online quizzes, putting queries, submit
assignments, and classwork. The content was updated and upgraded for various
mobile and computational devices to smoothly run the processes and improving the
interaction among learners and teachers to communicate with each other without any
interruption.
In Sect. 1 of the chapter, we go through the literature survey to have a deep
insight into the topic by exploring various author researches and their views. In
Sect. 2, we will focus on the artifacts and factors that influence the e-learning process
management in detail, and moving further we focus on main areas that can impact
the learning management system from the learner’s perspective; then in Sect. 3, we
conclude our study and analysis on artifacts that are discussed also suggesting further
enhancements needed in the e-learning management system and implementation.

2 Literature Study

E-learning facilitates information and knowledge by the approach of global connec-

tivity, and it can be used as an effective resource for implementing knowledge-based
systems. A lot of authors define various factors and their researches in the field of
e-learning system management to enhance traditional learning and availability of
learning resources to everyone.
E-Learning Artifacts and Their Impingement … 3

In 2020, the authors Jaroslav Kacetla et al. have written a paper on “Reflection on
blended learning and e-learning—case study” that describes the research results that
show how the roles of both educator and learner may transform by e-learning as it is
more fascinating than usual learning process and it also improves the transparency
of instructions as well as course reliability and also individualization of the learning
practices and feedback (Kacetla & Semradova, 2020).
In 2019, the authors Mayleen Dorcas B. Castro et al. have written the paper on
“literature review: efficacy of online learning courses for higher education institution
using meta-analysis” which defines the significance of instructional design and the
vigorous role of institutions by providing support to the structures for educators and
students and also to designing and developing Online Learning Courses using the
ADDIE framework by identification of various processes and activities (Castro &
Tumibay, 2019).
In 2017, the authors Tasha Maddison, C. Doi et al. published a paper that concluded
that online instruction delivery in specific teaching and active learning techniques
are used to sustain student engagement with the learning and material provided can
improve their understanding of the facts and preserving the vital information for
future perspective (Maddison et al., 2017).
In 2016, the authors Mousazadeh Somayeh et al. have written a literature review
on the topic: ‘The effectiveness of E-learning in learning: A review of the literature”
that describes the results of studies suggested that inspiring effects of e-learning on
education by improving interaction and building the required grounds for students
to improve their understanding and learning outcomes.
In 2013, the author Nor AzuraAdzharuddin has written an article on “Learning
Management System (LMS) among University Students: Does It Work?” which
gives insights into Learning Management System (LMS) various impacts and
implementation on the traditional learning approaches.
In 2012, the author Lori S. Mestre wrote a paper on “Student preference for
tutorial design: a usability study”, this paper provides a comprehensive list of best
practices for online tutorials based on a well-designed usability study to analyze its
impact on student preferences and learning that includes the use of multimedia in an
appropriate manner to improve learning practices, information, and chunks transfer
(Mestre, 2012).
Learning management systems are extremely influenced by learning approaches
and teaching–learning practices. In the study, we concluded that an enhancement in
the e-learning management system artifacts can improve the learning activities and
learning outcome. As we did a brief analysis of artifacts and factors of e-learning
because learning artifacts are basic building blocks for LMS to focus on how effective
learning will be achieved. So, it is important to focus on these artifacts to increase the
efficiency of the LMS and learners’ interest toward their regarding course or subject.
4 S. Satyarthi et al.

3 Artifacts of E-learning

Artifacts can be understood as human-made objects, tools, or activity especially with

a vision to subsequent use to define the character of the process or a product. In the
perspective of the learning management system, the artifacts may consist of teacher
plans, learning tools, or learning elements and teaching practices. However, factors
are features or elements contributing to the consequence of a particular process or
situation.
A variety of e-learning platforms are developed to improve the student interaction
and interest in learning and understanding of the subject for efficient e-learning
management; we will briefly discuss the artifacts and the factors that affect e-learning.
The analysis is based on examining the literature survey to map out factors related
to the e-Learning practices and methodologies for the effectiveness of E-Learning
(Noesgaard & Ørngreen, 2015). Figure 1 shows the various factors and artifacts of
e-learning that have a huge impact on improving the e-learning environment.

3.1 Perception of Learning

Perception is the ability of the sensory systems to respond to stimuli and also a process
by which we receive and interpret information from our surroundings. It is a critical
part of understanding behavior through the experience and sensory interaction with
the environments or practicing specific sensory tasks. In terms of e-learning percep-
tion of using things in early stages and understand things is very crucial because
perception about LMS, e-learning tools, access tools makes learning more effective
to the learners.

3.2 Learners Characteristics

Learners’ characteristics are essential to building a dynamic learning environment

for the user to create and interact with technology and surroundings in a collaborative
manner. The learner is capable to understand the value of creativity, adapting changes,
collaboration, and utilization of organization skills to enhance learning and critical
thinking. For effective online learning and understanding, a learner is enthusiastic
and capable of effectively communicating with others using a variety of media and
technology.
E-Learning Artifacts and Their Impingement … 5

Fig. 1 E-Learning artifacts

3.3 Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

Synchronous learning is real-time-based learning like online, digital, or distance

learning that has schedules, instructions, and login time. In synchronous learning,
the learner and educator both present at the same time in the same medium to
be connected and interact efficiently, students usually go through the instructions
accompanied by their instructors or teachers who are capable to provide support
while students are completing tasks and activities like live classes, small group
meetings, etc. Besides this asynchronous, learning is student-centered and needs
no real-time interaction. The content is available online for learners, so they can
access it anytime. But some deadlines for the submission of assignments and tasks
are given by the instructors. The balance between synchronous and asynchronous
learning is important to make e-learning more operational and useful.
6 S. Satyarthi et al.

3.4 Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based Learning is an effective approach to conveying education in a lucid

and integrated manner that provides numerous advantages over traditional teaching-
learning strategies. In PBL, learners or group of learners uses the problem instance
or issues to analyze and illustrate their learning objectives to increase knowledge
and understanding about particular problem or subject. For an interactive learning
management system, problem-based learning is very important as it keeps learners
critically engaged in finding the solutions to a given problem or task that makes
them more creative and develop some skills like a critical evaluation of problems,
knowledge application, self-directed learning, resources usability, and collaborative
learning.

3.5 Communication

E-learning often has the challenge of mostly one-way communication, so it is essen-

tial to construct the right tools in the sequence to ensure the learner is learning and
has sufficient prospects for a response. For any collaborative learning or teaching
activity, communication is the basis to stay connected and interact with each other to
discuss some real-time problems and solutions, providing content and then commu-
nicating them in a way that the learner understands and eventually capable to apply
that knowledge. Communication plays a crucial role in engaging learners with some
critical and meaningful tasks and learners able to give feedback in a manner to
improve the learning management system.

3.6 Cognitive Load

It is a scientific approach to design the human brain to process and store informa-
tion. According to various authors, the human brain is functioned by two types of
memories: the first one is working memory and another one is long-term memory.
Working memory is a cognitive power that has dedicated to rapid perceptual, and
linguistic processing has limited capacity. After additional processing, the informa-
tion is discarded or stored in long-term memory. However, in long-term memory
information is stored in the form of schemas. Working memory responds to informa-
tion through sensory memory and then stores it in long-term memory, the schemas
organize this information according to how you use it and also help in understanding
the scenario based on this stored information. For better processing of the brain, it
is important to do some strategic practices, using some interactive media and taking
some small break sessions. The e-learning experiences in the learning management
E-Learning Artifacts and Their Impingement … 7

system are should be designed to reduce cognitive load and providing a better under-
standing that must be helped in improving learning outcomes and indorse schema
acquisition (Vanitha et. al., 2019).

3.7 Accessibility and Interaction

Accessibility means making content, applications, and platforms serviceable to

people of all abilities and disabilities employing making it easier for them to recog-
nize, understand, navigate, interact, and contribute to the information and function-
ality that need from an e-learning platform. This might include someone with old
computer hardware, any operating system, a device with a slow internet connection,
or a person of any age (child, adult, or old) who can access the information. The
e-learning course material and the e-learning platform ought to be manageable to
be operative and also accessible; various tools are used to evaluate how successful
they have been in helping teachers in education and training by providing e-content,
practices, and online training. Although an interaction is often promoted as a note-
worthy component of successful online learning, Learner-instructor interaction refers
to exchanges of information and responses between learners and the teacher in a way
to motivate and develop the interest of the learner toward that particular subject
or course. E-learning management tools also provide a mechanism for feedback
allowing clarification of misunderstandings. Interaction in online learning platforms
allows students to share their thoughts and information on various subjects with each
other and with an educator that typically motivate deeper understanding and interest
in course concepts.

3.8 Usability and Resource Availability in e-Learning

Usability is an elementary constraint for the assessment of e-learning management

systems and technologies. Usability means placing the users and their real needs as
the main objective with quality improvement. Therefore examination of usability and
its contribution to the learning management process is valuable. The major dimen-
sions of usability are effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of users or learners.
The effectiveness can be measured in terms of the ability to achieving specific
goals and efficient use of the available resources to provide user satisfaction and
improved learning outcomes. The availability of technological resources is an impor-
tant element of an arrangement of online learning, e-content, and digital libraries’
accessibility. It is important to assure that the available educational resources meet
standards of quality, reliability, and accuracy, and also they are capable of running on
any platform, on any device, anywhere, and for anyone (also students with disabil-
ities). Resource availability plays a vital role in the method of e-learning as it is
important for leaner’s to have devices, connectivity to reach the information they
8 S. Satyarthi et al.

want to access. The variety of online learning resources (learning content and learning
tools) facilitates learners to build a learning environment that is most suitable for their
personal learning needs and preferences.

3.9 Outcome Analysis and Progress Report

A learning outcome is a quite broad testimonial of the overall intended result of an

educational program that displays student or learner results according to standards,
objectives, and outcomes that are important for the curriculum. The report provides
a summary and drill-down features, for easy browsing of assessment data. The
educational institute or course provider identifies learning outcomes as the expected
outcomes from a learner that provides evidence for improvement analysis on results.
A progress report is maintained based on the participation of the learner in particular
from starting to the end and considering the exam results via interview, questionnaire,
exam to test the capability of a learner to grasp the knowledge, and understanding
of a particular subject or course at the end and also to ensure the areas or subjects
where more efforts and training needed to improve results and understanding of the
subject.

3.9.1 Motivation and Support

Motivation in process of learning makes the learner more encouraged and enthusiastic
about the goals; motivated learners are more capable of undertaking any challenges,
facing hurdles, and adopting technical changes in a very proficient manner. Thus,
we can say motivation enhance learners to actively participate in critical learning
activities and adopt a deep approach to learning and exhibit enhanced performance,
dedication, and creativity. To develop motivation in the teaching-learning process, the
organization must design the course content by using a range of educational strategies
to acknowledge the complexity and variety of learning methods of education to the
learners (Wheeler, 2012). However, the assessments provided to learners in analyzing
their active participation and increased performance.
The need for technical support and assessment in learning management systems
is important in the earlier stages of studies so it is essential to develop an environment
that assists students to learn “how to learn” (zheng et. al., 2015). They understand and
continuously approach better performance by supporting the technologies provided
by the organization or e-learning platform. This is the responsibility of the LMS
tools to support and facilitate learner needs to make learning more interactive and
effective.
E-Learning Artifacts and Their Impingement … 9

4 Conclusion

As we are moving toward a new way of the digitalized learning environment to make
education accessible and useful for people of any age, anytime, and anywhere. E-
learning is recognized as an automated network that assists the transmission of tech-
nical skills and knowledge and distributes education to a large number of receivers at
the same or different intervals in a variety of environments and tracking the perfor-
mance. The consequence of this interpretation of e-learning is a challenge that we are
not able to use it as effectively as it should be for more developments and improve-
ments Therefore, for more appropriate use of the e-learning management system,
we must know about the artifacts and factors that influence the learning process
more operational for better understanding and implementation of various strategies
of e-learning to providing access to learners and teachers. Hence, for collabora-
tive interaction, it is important to focus on the basic factors to accelerate e-learning
practices more persuasively.

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Examining the Factors That Affect
Online Learning Engagement:
A Micro-qualitative Approach

Wei Che Hsu , Vasistha Bhargavi Garimella , and Liza Lee

Abstract This paper presents an overview of the perceived learning engagement of

MOOCs supported by various platforms and presents a preliminary examination of
the factors that affect the learners’ engagement, which in turn results in persistence.
This research provides a qualitative study that uses micro-approach to examine the
perceived cognitive and behavioral factors that underlie in the successful completion
of MOOC courses. This paper is a study on learners’ who attended at least three
online MOOCs in the fields of Language, Science, Arts, and Humanities. For the
data analysis, 115 motivated participants who attended the MOOCs agreed to reflect
on the survey questionnaire. The results indicate that the following five factors,
interactive, in-ferential, integrative, instruction, and involvement, had a significant
effect on learning engagement in MOOCs. The core issues pertaining to each factor
are also discussed in the paper that will be worthwhile for further validation.

Keywords MOOCs · Perceived cognitive factors · Perceived behavioral factors ·

Learning engagement and persistence · Learner autonomy

1 Introduction

A well-designed eLearning course will provide learners with a series of possible

learning outcomes; probably these are the teaching objectives for instructors that a
learner should describe in detail what he/she would gain from completing the course.
Neil Morris (2013) identified it as a well-written online learning outcome that should
be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Focused, and Time-Focused.
According to him, these can be parameters for learners to assess, if the course is
suitable for them and for parts of the course, they want to (or need to) spend the most
time on. These parameters should help them to plan their learning journey through
the course (Belshaw, 2011; Brown, 2017).

W. C. Hsu · V. B. Garimella (B) · L. Lee

Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
W. C. Hsu
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 11
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_2
12 W. C. Hsu et al.

In line with the above studies, the flexibility of e-Learning is, if at any stage,
the learner decides the course isn’t what he/she is looking for, no need to be afraid
to leave and look for a more suitable one. At learners’ flexibility, one can listen to
any part of the course and gain insights into the syllabus. Thus MOOCs have been
very flexible pedagogical substitutes to regular classrooms and designed to improve
Learner Autonomy (LA) Brown and Duguid (2017). Not only that, MOOCs can
be the greatest way in sharing and fostering collaborations within Higher education
(HE) and thus paves way for its Internationalization (Devgun, 2013 and Grainger,
2013). As MOOCs’ course administrators upload all the content to learn on a weekly
basis, students may tend to complete them without paying enough attention to each
individual session. This kind of learning engagement with MOOCs does not appear to
fit the traditional learning model. The majority of MOOC users approach accessing
the content and materials at a time and in a method that suits them, with only a
committed minority intending to earn a completion certificate. For attending MOOCs
through well-known platforms, signature tracking is available at $ 49. This also serves
as a potential form of income to help maintain and therefore sustain MOOC offerings
in the future (MOOC report 2013), Allen and Seaman (2014/15), Mohapatra and
Mohanty (2017).
Devgun (2013) and Sarkar et al. (2016) have discussed models that help in over-
coming challenges while adopting technology in HE. Chimalakonda (2010) in his
study observed that the digital opportunities that are currently available and evolving
through e-Learning can ensure and expand the reach and quality of literacy in India.
Enhancement of learning experience that leads to quality of MOOCs will create
more flexible pedagogies (Conole, 2013). In line with this, the Government of India
has launched Swayam, India’s official MOOC platform (Class Central, 2014) has
collaborated with World-class Universities, to bring quality through these flexible
pedagogical pathways in education. Czerniewicz, Laura (2014) identified the possi-
bilities of integrating MOOCs within an institutional landscape of educational provi-
sion for course creation, use, and adaptation. Dabbagh’s (2012) study showed how
the Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) can serve as platforms for integrating
both formal and informal learning and also to fostering self-regulated learning in
HE contexts. Zimmerman and Kitsantas (1997) observed the effects of goal-oriented
learning while monitoring during self-regulated practice for acquiring a complex
motoric skill. He created a model used by many researchers to assess self-efficacy
of learners. In addition, three distinct types of motivational factors were identified
and hypothesized by Xiong and Li et al. (2015). In accordance with these previous
studies, our study reports the perceived factors that affect the successful completion
of MOOCs.

2 Theoretical Background

The average completion rate of MOOCs was 3.2–6.5% (Jordan, 2014; Pursel et al.,
2016). Many factors influence this completion rate. The recent studies have shifted
Examining the Factors That Affect Online Learning … 13

to understand the factors that influence learners’ engagement and persistence in

completing MOOCs. Davis (1989) derived the user’s ease in accepting new techno-
logical methods in complementary to the traditional methods. During the process of
this radical shift, routine learning methods and systems are challenged, and hence it
is important to analyze the educational structures that objectify the learner. Hence,
this study follows the micro-qualitative approach (Merkel et al., 2019) in analyzing
the cognitive and behavioral factors. Kim (2005) opined that these all depend on
the knowledge and experience of using technology. But learners’ perceptions of the
usefulness of MOOC courses have a significant effect on their engagement (Ross
et al., 2014). This is one of the main reasons to integrate certain MOOCs into
academic performance for earning credits. Many researchers have supported this
and identified that perceived usefulness has improved the rate of participation and
dedication to complete MOOC courses (Liang et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2015; and
Wu and Chen, 2017). In line with the above studies, we focus to map the perceived
cognitive and behavioral factors that have a significant effect on learners’ engage-
ment which further affects learners’ commitment to complete the MOOC courses
they are pursuing.

3 The Research Questions Posed

The subjects of the study attended a mix of the MOOC courses that were supported
by different platforms on English Language, Computer Programming Languages,
Medical Humanities, Physics, and Multidisciplinary. The re-searchers have devel-
oped a survey questionnaire including the items related to five key constructs,
namely, interactive, inferential, integrative, instruction, and involvement (5I). This
was designed for the participants who attended at least one MOOC completely for
the duration of four to eight weeks. The course completed should have learning activ-
ities, weekly assessments, and discussion forums. The study reflects on the following
research questions:
1. Does the 5I’s have an effect on the learning engagement and successful
completion of MOOC courses?
2. Who is actively engaged and what is affecting one to be active and inactive in
a self-paced learning environment?
3. What are the cognitive and behavioral factors that affect the persistence of online
learning?

3.1 The Details of the Research Method

To assist learners’ in higher education and encouraging the faculty/instructors to

adopt technology in scaffolding students in improving their self-efficacy, self-
learning, and making an independent learner, the analysis of participants’ responses
14 W. C. Hsu et al.

in Open and MOOC based Learning (Sun and Rueda, 2012). We developed an anal-
ysis on the levels of interactivity of the participants (115 Out of 150 responses are
taken). Dabbagh and Reo used Gibson’s ‘Theory of Affordance’ (1977) to argue
how activating social media possess features in users “enable the degree of inter-
action and sharing desired and/or required for learning” (p. 13). The goal of this
study is to address the factors that affect the learners’ engagement and persistence
while attending a MOOC. The success of any learning depends on various cogni-
tive and behavioral factors that form around learner and instructor (Sun and Rueda,
2012). Thus, it proposes adopting a holistic learning approach by integrating learner,
instructor, and infrastructure. MOOCs would become an effective flexible pedagog-
ical tool that affects students’ cognitive processes in addition to serving as vehicles
for formal learning in an informal way (Turker and Zingel, 2008).
This research follows: (a) integrates the data collected through survey question-
naire and analysis; (b) advances conceptual analysis of qualitative data through
research theories; and (c) validates the qualitative research as scientific inquiry.
The research was carried for the MOOCs participants, and for four to eight weeks,
involving participants from different places and levels. The empirical data was
collected and analyzed respecting all ethical requirements, anonymity, and data confi-
dentiality. Empirical data (inviting to a survey) was guided based on validated scripts,
which participants had access to before and after attending any MOOC.

3.2 Data Collection

To map the variables that influence learning engagement and persistence, we iden-
tify that the following are the five key variables based on the learners’ perception.
We aim to verify the cognitive aspects (infer, interact, involve) of learners with
the perceived behavioral aspects (integrate and instruction). The behavioral aspects
include openness and willingness to learn complex topics in standard curriculum,
skills, dissemination, and generation of new ideas (integrate), methods, stability to
reciprocate views, questions, (while instruction) (Ross et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2015;
Hew, 2016).
For this, the study conducted a survey questionnaire by inviting motivated partici-
pants from various MOOC platforms. For this, we have approached the social media
pages, exclusively meant for the MOOC participants. Among 150 participants who
completed the survey we could use 115 responses by eliminating the duplicate data
(5), people attending for earning credits (20), and those who attended less than four
weeks (10). There would be a difference between those who are conditioned to earn
credits and those who were not (You, 2011). The model posits that the participants
may hold cognitive and behavioral issues. They were measured on a five point Likert
scale with one indicating the statement ‘not very’ and five ‘very much’.
Examining the Factors That Affect Online Learning … 15

3.3 Measures and Variables

The following are the key operational variables in this study:

C1 is an interactive environment in MOOCs (You and Song, 2013)
C2 is an inferential capacity of MOOCs materials (Firmin et al., 2014)
C3 is the ability to integrate MOOCs with syllabi (Ross et al., 2014)
C4 is the instructors and institutions in MOOCs (Ross et al., 2014)
C5 is the self-involvement to attend MOOCs (Hew and Cheung, 2014).
Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were conducted to analyze the data
collected from 115 participants who attended at least one complete course from any
MOOC platforms for about four weeks. NCSS 2020 statistical analysis software is
used for the responses recorded under each variable. The Wilcoxon sign rank tests
for all five variables reveal that each variable is statistically significant since their
corresponding p-value is less than 0.05 and the assumption test also shows that the
Wilcoxon test is not normally distributed which clearly indicates it as a nonparametric
test.

4 Data Analysis

The survey results are assimilated from Table 1 data into 5I, a designation based on
the outer domain first letters, ‘Interactive’, ‘Inferential’, ‘Integrative’, ‘Instruction’,
and ‘Involving’ (Table 1). The 5I are the key variables, and the items under each
domain are explained in the table below. This provides a primary framework for
supporting informed and critical discussions about cognitive and behavioral aspects
of learners attending MOOC courses (Hew, 2016; Pursel et al., 2016). Thus the
research questions are addressed by integrating these key variables. It is therefore an
exploratory study that aims to integrate cognitive factors related to the educational
structure that affect learning. Each domain has seven categories, which are the core
issues to reflect upon the external domain. The outer domains serve as transversal
reference points for building a narrative when discussing each variable or descriptor.
This is based on the participant’s perception of their learning engagement in the
MOOCs they have attended.
The above framework is prepared by including the items under each of the core
factors that affect learner’s engagement and persistence in MOOCs. Further, all the
items included under each factor are designed based on the basic issues at the various
institutional and social level that impede the progress in online learning with a view
that most of the Higher Educational institutes consist more of constant and fluid
elements alike and mapping of these elements would open up their relationship with
educational transformation (Table 2).
The interactive platforms used in the MOOCs attended are statistically significant,
and participants are quite satisfied with the discussions and frequent communication
16 W. C. Hsu et al.

Table 1 The Key variables and items

Learners’ cognitive factors and behavioural factors
Interactive Inferring Involving Integrating Instruction
Collaborative Activities Self-regulated Digital Existing
within the participation Capabilities/competencies syllabi
content of Teacher and Learner
Educators Assignments Meeting Various tools service Provide
profile and tasks deadlines providers. Credits to
learners’
profile
Digital The Identifying Wi-Fi Encourage
communication complexity of Specific needs Power supply innovative
competence content Supporting hardware and subjects
software
Ethics of Continuation Self-readiness Materials for future Interactive
responding, courses to acquire reference
reciprocation complex
content
Asking Result Overcoming World -wide audience Leadership
questions oriented obstacles and which
interruptions integrates
online, open
learning
within 21st
century skills
Participating in Materials Willingness to All sections of people Initiating
discussions complete Discussions
Generation of New Liaison with International recognition Designing and
ideas knowledge instructors organization
of materials

Table 2 Response variable—C1

Descriptive statistics
Variable Count Mean Standard Deviation Standard Error
C1 115 4.41739 0.964115 0.08990427
Wilcoxon Signed-rank test
Sum of Mean of W Std. Dev of Number of Number of Multiplicity Factor
ranks (W) W zeros sets of ties
6669 3334.5 345.8907 1 4 420330
Test type Alternative Z-Value Prob. Level Reject H0 at
hypothesis = 0.050?
Exact* Median = 0
Normal approximation Median = 0 9.6403 0.00000 Yes
Normal approx. with C.C. Median = 0 9.6389 0.00000 Yes
*The Exact Test is provided only when there are no ties
Examining the Factors That Affect Online Learning … 17

Table 3 Response variable—C2

Descriptive statistics
Variable Count Mean Standard deviation Standard error
C2 115 4.4 1.024267 0.09551339
Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Sum of Mean of W Std. dev of Number of Number of Multiplicity Factor
Ranks (W) W zeros sets of ties
6670 3335 344.063 0 5 480870
Test type Alternative Z-value Prob. level Reject H0 at
hypothesis = 0.050?
Exact* Median =0
Normal approximation Median =0 9.6930 0.00000 Yes
Normal approx. with C.C. Median =0 9.6915 0.00000 Yes
*The Exact Test is provided only when there are no ties

methods used during and after the course (Peters et al., 2012). The Wilcoxon signed-
rank test shows that the variable is highly significant as the p value is less than 0.050.
This has significance in learners’ engagement and persistence in MOOCs. Students
from various countries and backgrounds would be shy to start mutual dialogues.
Instructors can lead them into interaction by asking various questions around the
course. It builds a healthy interactive environment among the online learning plat-
forms. The participants in these courses have felt mutual learning engagement by
sharing their views and experiences in the discussion forum. For some courses, they
have post-course links to join online social media groups which will open up a
learning community to dig deep into the content. (Veletsianos et al., 2015). Most of
the online content is pre-recorded, and many queries also are answered by software
(Table 3).
C2 is an inferential capacity of MOOCs’ materials. This is also statistically signif-
icant (p > 0.050). Through this, we can understand that the participants are able to
involve with the materials, which is an important aspect of learning engagement.
Students expressed that they could infer the new learning, started exploring the
content and search engines shared during the course. If students fail to meet the
deadlines due to difficulty in processing, the new skills would lead them to drop
from the course (Firmin et al., 2014). This also will become an impediment to retain
the self-motivation and resilience to complete the course on time (Table 4).
C3 is designated to assess the ability to integrate MOOCs with standard syllabi.
It is significant as it analyses the participants’ engagement that better fits into their
academic or skill development (Oztok, 2013). As various MOOC platforms offer a
number of courses with similar titles, course structure, by aiming at similar outcomes,
creates a huge choice and challenge for the learners in selecting appropriate courses.
Thus the participants in our study showed significant knowledge in choosing their
MOOCs and opined that it is very relevant in their participation in the courses they
have joined. Most of the HE institutions are choosing to integrate MOOCs into the
18 W. C. Hsu et al.

Table 4 Response variable—C3

Descriptive statistics
Variable Count Standard mean Standard error
C3 115 4.165217 1.016793 0.0948164
Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Sum of Mean of W Std. dev of Number of Number of Sets of ties Multiplicity
ranks (W) W zeros sets factor
6670 3335 351.8842 0 5 219600
Test type Alternative Z-value Prob. Level Reject H0 at
hypothesis α = 0.050?
Exact* Median =0
Normal approximation Median =0 9.4775 0.00000 Yes
Normal approx. with C.C. Median =0 9.4761 0.00000 Yes
*The Exact Test is provided only when there are no ties

regular syllabi to afford access to technological resources at a time (EklavyaParv,

2014; Buyuk et al., 2017). Sometimes these courses are offered in a compulsive
mode. Most of the students may not be self-motivated to imbibe the course contents
which affect the success of the learner and MOOC as well (Table 5).
C5 is on assessing the self-involvement of the participants to attend MOOCs. This
is a very key factor that affects the success of any online course. All the participants
in this survey opined that self-motivation flips the success rate of MOOCs. This is an
internal cognitive factor and is associated with various issues. There is a statistical
significance for the relation between the factors and item. The success of any learning
is depended more on self-involvement. It is the responsibility of the HE institutions

Table 5 Response variable—C4

Descriptive statistics
Variable Count Mean Standard deviation Standard error
C5 115 3.182609 1.472452 0.1373069
Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Sum of Mean of W Std. Dev of Number of Number of Multiplicity Factor
ranks (W) W zeros sets of ties
6642 3321 356.0058 7 5 77874
Test type Alternative Z-value Prob. Level Reject H0 at
hypothesis α = 0.050?
Exact* Median =0
Normal approximation Median =0 9.3285 0.00000 Yes
Normal approx. with C.C. Median =0 9.3271 0.00000 Yes
*The Exact Test is provided only when there are no ties
Examining the Factors That Affect Online Learning … 19

to create an appropriate environment and intelligent atmosphere to keep the learners’

involvement with the resources they come in touch with.

4.1 Feedback from the Learners

A detailed observation of the MOOCs attended by the participants gives many

insights into considering its success. The respondents who attended online courses,
including Cambridge English Assessment and British Council’s ‘Inside IELTS’,
‘Professional Practices for English Teaching’, saw a range of completion rates for
its MOOCs. The participant’s observation reflected on the attendance records that by
the end of Week seventh to eight, people were still adding to the first-week discussion
board. Here the number of comments includes moderator feedback, which, logically,
seemed to take place only for the first week’s comments, as the moderators moved
on when the next week’s discussions opened. The other course by the University of
Southampton, “Developing your Research Project”, got 50–100 comments but 98%
of the comments are positive.
However, learners responded that the above factors are very much affecting their
engagement in the courses they have registered for. For a small questionnaire at the
end of the survey, participants reflected on eAccreditation of MOOC courses that
will enable them to make a better choice as the eLearning is flooded with many
options. Responding to a question on “How do you think about the difficulty of
evaluation methods”, most of the participants felt that they have attempted multiple-
choice questions which have an option to take three times. Each time the order of the
questions is shuffled but not the questions. If someone gets 90% in the first attempt,
another one can get the same percentage in their third attempt. So percentages or
grades in the evaluation also does not fit to consider for improvement in learning.

5 Discussion and Conclusion

MOOCs have brought a tremendous change in Higher Education Pedagogies by

integrating 21st-century skills among learners. However, though ICT has opened a
possibility to access abundant resources at our own pace, all this possibility is greatly
affected by one’s cognitive and behavioral tendencies (Ramesh et al., 2013) which act
as predictors for learning engagement. First drawing on the literature on these factors,
the study observed various cognitive and behavioral issues viz. 5 is that contributing to
crafting a committed online learning space. These 5I factors are significant predictors
in making online learning effective and are more integrative to address the research
questions posed. We measured perceived aspects of the participants who intended to
attend respective courses only for acquiring knowledge and skills (not for credits),
one in four intend to complete before they started the course, but while taking the
course a few of them expressed the situational obstacles impeding their progress and
20 W. C. Hsu et al.

so they backlog two to three weeks course (Milligan et al., 2013). After the completion
of all modules, the percentage of students who join slowed down and by then already
people who intend to complete have finished, by then discussions, responses to the
opinions, sharing of information would also gradually slow down. This makes the
new join and halfway participants think that no one is present and active. Further, in
our study, we have identified that other than the core 5Is and the items in it, there
are other factors like involvement in group tasks, initiating cooperation in reviewing;
collaborating in activities subject to the stipulated time duration of the course will
make them involved with enthusiasm.
This exploratory study intended to identify and map the perceived cognitive and
behavioral factors that affect learning engagement. It raises many questions in future
research on cognitive issues like focused attention, instilling thoughts, and creativity
in youngsters who are prone to digital environments. Further online learning compe-
tence and gender with respect to educational qualifications will be explored in our
future research.

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Wei-Che Hsu is currently a Lecturer in the colleague of Humanities and Social Sciences at
Chaoyang University of Technology in Taichung city, Taiwan. Mr. Hsu received his undergraduate
degree from College of Journalism and Communications at Shih Hsin University, Taiwan, and his
MA degree in Film and TV Production at University of Bristol, UK. He also had studied PhD
program in media policy at University of Lincoln, UK, before his present teaching position. His
research interests focus on the digital media production, broadcasting journalism and the globe
media policy making. He is looking at the new approach in digital media application in school
since he started a new research project in E-Learning that funding by the Ministry of Education
in 2018.

Vasistha Bhargavi Garimella, Ph.D is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Chaoyang University of

Technology. She has been working on the areas that bridge the gap between Science and Humani-
ties. Her research interests are Computational Linguistics, Gender in STEM, Language and Liter-
ature and interdisciplinary areas to Humanities. Currently she is doing research on Cognition &
Music; Synesthesia & Linguistics; Education & E Learning.

Liza Lee is a Professor and the Dean of College of Humanities & Social Sciences of Chaoyang
University of Technology. She received her Ph.D. in Music & Music Education from Columbia
University. Her current research projects focus on Music Education and Music Therapy for Young
Children. She has been acting as coordinator for ETEN. She also serves as Director of Research
Center of Holistic Development for Young Children & Holistic Music Educational Approach for
Young Children. Liza also been acting as Consultant for the Center for the Study of Music and
Culture at the New York Institute for Social Research, CYUT’s Affiliated Kindergarten and The
Early Intervention Center of Taiwan Fund for Children and Families, ECO—ETEN coordinator
of Chaoyang University of Technology.
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field
of Education in India

Meetali Chauhan and Sita Rani

Abstract Education performs a very significant role in the progress of a nation. In

a developing country like India, where the literacy rate is 69.1%, education has a
significant impact on the upliftment of the society. But, because of Covid-19, along
with other sectors, education too went into a stand still mode as schools, colleges and
universities were temporarily shut down as a precautionary measure in our country.
Not only in India, but the education sector is being affected badly by Covid-19
across the globe, but it could not cease the zeal of learning among the students. A
new technological revolution has been observed in the education sector to impart
knowledge through online mode in this pandemic time. So in this chapter, firstly
the impact of Covid-19 in the field of education is presented. Along with negative
impacts, the various online platforms which gave a new dimension to education are
discussed in detail along with their features. The various schemes and initiatives
taken by our Government to promote online education are also discussed in detail.
At last, a case study is done and discussed to highlight the viewpoint of the learners
about the technology-equipped education.

Keywords Covid-19 · Educators · Government Schemes · Learners · Online

Education · Online Platforms · Society · Technology

1 Introduction

Education plays an important role in contributing to society. Firstly, it adds to

the growth of the country economically. Educated people will contribute as high
taxpayers with honesty as they have high qualification and stability in terms of
sources of income.
Secondly, people become more independent in designing innovative ideas.
Students who are considered to be the backbones of developing nations incul-
cate learning skills and confidence to set up their own businesses and startups if

M. Chauhan · S. Rani (B)

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Gulzar Group of Institutes, Khanna 141401,
Punjab, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 23
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_3
24 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

guided well by their educators. Education is the key factor which develops skills and
improves marketing strategies to attract much better business opportunities. This
leads to the expansion of business ventures. Good quality education reduces burdens
on finances and crime rates in countries.
Figure 1 shows important key factors related to the impact of education on society.
Both online and offline methods educate humans to become productive and
responsible citizens of society (Chen, 2020). Though it cannot be guaranteed which
educational mode gives 100% results. It depends on the availability of resources and
individual requirements. The best method is to opt best of both and provide society
with its combination. In short, a blended approach can be opted (Guan et al., 2015).
Figure 2 depicts an overview of offline and online modes of the education system.

Fig.1 Impact of education in society

Fig. 2 Impact of Covid-19 on the education sector world wide

Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 25

It also describes a relationship between educators and students for imparting quality
education.
The pandemic disturbance caused by Covid-19 mass-spread has disrupted human
life and existence in all sectors including education. Considering the health status
of students, educational institutions have to be forcibly shut down. Millions of chil-
dren across the globe comprising approximately 191 countries are sufferers due to
this virus spread (Gupta et al., 2020). Due to this pandemic, most of the countries
have flipped to online classrooms. Summer vacation trips have been cancelled by
institutions (COVID-19 and higher education: Today and tomorrow Impact analysis,
policy responses and recommendations (IELASC, 2020).
All companies, educators, parents and students have shown cooperation to digital
platforms in coordination to flip to virtual classrooms considering it as a need of the
hour for students who are at learning stages of their lives (El-seoud et al., 2009).
Virtual classrooms have been created by major countries on a priority basis consid-
ering the need for the internet and networking for accessing all kinds of technologies
(Jadhav et al., 2020). Many initiatives have been taken for the smooth conduction
of online classes to avoid challenges (Dawadi et al., 2020). Online classes have
engaged the students with a routine developed for virtual classrooms (Policy Brief
2020).Covid-19 has a huge impact on the education system as discussed below.

1.1 Positive Impacts

Lockdown due to Covid-19 in India and other countries has compelled to use virtual
classrooms (Verma & Trivedi, 2019). Below mentioned key factors are considered
as ray of hope in the improvement of the education sector.

1.1.1 Blended Type of Learning

Covid-19 has left no option but to adopt digital model and virtual classrooms
for education. Online education has motivated educators and students to be more
connected with technologies. New methodologies have been opted for teaching
pedagogy (Lone, 2017).

1.1.2 Reduced Paper Work

During lockdown pandemic days, it was not feasible for students to submit hard
copies for their assignments and homework. Online classes have developed a habit
among educators and students to maintain records of all educational content via soft
copies. Also, it has reduced paperwork.
26 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

1.1.3 Online Expert Talks/Meetings

Covid-19 has increased online expert talks and faculty development programs which
were relatively less practiced in past. As most of the people worked from home, the
trend of online meetings increased exponentially (City & Province, 2020).

1.1.4 Improvement in Information Sharing

It has provided ease for educators and students to share study material and resolve
queries. Queries get resolved through video calls, WhatsApp, and screen sharing
features in various apps (Hou & Xia, 2009).

1.1.5 Improved Attendance

As no travelling is required for attending online classes, travelling expenses have

been reduced. It has a positive impact on the attendance of the students as students
can now attend the classes from their homes (Note & Systems, 2020).

1.2 Negative Impacts

Although during Covid-19, the education sector evolved in a new direction with the
incorporation and additional use of technology, still it has affected this domain too
(Wadhwa, 2020).

1.2.1 Lack of Training of Educators/Students for Online Education

Due to the sudden crisis over the globe of Covid-19, schools and colleges have
to shut down across many countries. Extension of lockdown forced to flip to the
online education system. But it is very difficult for educators from non-technical
backgrounds to access so many technologies and apps for conducting classes. In
addition, there was no time for initiating training sessions for online education for
educators and students.

1.2.2 Impact on Health and Nutrition of the Students

Various governmental schemes for student’s health and nutrition are also incorporated
in the Indian education system, e.g., the mid-day meal scheme was successfully
running at different schools. But the closing of schools had very bad impacts on the
health status of students (Adnan, 2020).
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 27

1.2.3 Lack of Digital Resources

The pandemic has disrupted education. In India, students residing in rural areas
cannot afford computers, laptops or Android phones for online education. Another
problem they face is limited data packs which get consumed too early for attending
all lectures in a day (Mishra et al., 2020; Qs).

1.2.4 Impact on Self Financed Institutions

Covid-19 had huge impact on the economy. It was the time of financial crisis for
most of the people. Due to this, self-enhanced Indian educational institutes had to
bear a great loss. Delay in fees from parents’ side created a problem for self-financed
institutes to manage their expenses (Rajhans et al., 2020).

2 E-Learning Platforms Used During Covid-19

2.1 G Suite

Schools, Colleges and Universities have access to the free version of G Suite educa-
tion, which comprises Google Classroom, hangouts and meet. The classroom has a
significant contribution to imparting education by the educators. G Suite has proved
to be an asset as it has made possible in all terms for the education system to flip
towards digital classrooms, within the secured network system. G Suite has in-built
accessible features for the guidance of students to provide them better learning styles,
which has made Google classrooms effective (Alajmi et al., 2019; Docs). Given below
is the description of the complete G suite package, trending in the current scenario
of Covid-19.

2.2 Gmail

Gmail comprises of various features discussed below:

(1) Email address with domain for example [email protected]
(2) Online storage facility
(3) Synchronization compatibility with devices such as mobile phones
(4) Main source considered for login into other devices and apps
(5) Gmail provides guidance in E-learning, help learners, i.e., students, to commu-
nicate, connect and collaborate with other Google platforms such as Google
classrooms, Google meet.
28 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

2.3 Google Duo

Google duo is one of the popular applications used for video calling supported by
both android and IOS devices. Google duo has a few interesting features which make
it different from other G Suite applications.
(1) Voice/video calls can be placed directly through contacts or phone numbers
besides email id’s
(2) User can drop video messages for unanswerable calls
(3) Most suitable for mobile phones video calls
(4) Comprises of additional features of “low light toggle” which improves
video calling quality under poor lightening circumstances, using this feature
background becomes blur and person noticeable clearly.
In the field of the education sector, it is less preferred as compared to other
applications due to the limited capacity of people on call and absence of screen
sharing feature, unlike meet.

2.4 Google Meet

Google meet is a video conference service used mostly during Covid-19 pandemic
days by universities and colleges. It has been recently provided with free services
available for all users. It comprises of near about 250 participants and more than 100
at a time and includes various features.

2.4.1 Screen Sharing

Google meet is the most effective application for online teaching due to the screen-
sharing feature. It has proved to be effective in various fields such as engineering,
computer applications, architecture, hotel management and fashion designing. Prac-
tical labs are also conducted smoothly as the implementation of different software’s
can be discussed smoothly using this feature showing live activities carried out by
teachers on their laptops by sharing their screens. Queries can be resolved during
live sessions.
Figures 3 and 4 represent a university Professor conducting an online class for
students on Google meet, sharing his screen for content delivery. Student can ask
their queries by writing a comment in the chatbox which makes the session interactive
and interesting.
Figure 5 represents the attendance of students generated automatically using the
Google meet attendance extension. Using this feature, student’s attendance can be
marked along with timestamps.
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 29

Fig.3 Online lecture at Google classroom

Fig.4 Virtual lab using screen sharing

2.4.2 Word-Text Translation

Words are captured on the spot via Google meet, as the speaker’s words can be
converted to on-screen text in real-time. It requires accuracy for the speaker’s words
to be spoken.
In terms of teaching methodologies used by universities and colleges of India,
Google meet is the most preferred online video calling application as compared to
Google hangouts and Google duo.
30 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

Fig.5 Google meet attendance

2.5 Google Calendar

Google calendar is an app used for scheduling activities. In terms of online teaching, it
is used for updating time table for online lectures, managing meeting schedules within
the organizations. Its collaboration with other Google apps enables for managing live
sessions with hangouts and Google meet. Each Google classroom created has its own
calendar, which can be scheduled for upcoming tasks and events (Manuel & Ferreira,
2014).
Figure 6 represents Google Calendar where a University Professor has prepared
time table for the smooth conduction of online lectures for his students. The calendar
has been shared with students along with reminders, and coloured boxes represent
subject lectures scheduled.

2.6 Data Storage and Sharing Apps

Google docs, Google sheets, Google slides are all part of G suite. The suite is collab-
orative with Google drive. All files created and shared are by default saved to Google
drive.

2.6.1 Google Docs

It is a word processing feature which comprises of editing of documents. It supports

sharing of docs through a secure-based network system accessible to multiple users
at the same time.
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 31

Fig.6 Interface of scheduled time-table

2.6.2 Google Sheets

Spread-sheets are used for filling in the necessary information on the real-time web
browser. Data can be directly placed on sheets and shared with others. In Sheets,
users can view team members who are accessing and updating sheets at the same
time. Teachers can directly share sheets to get information filled in from students.

2.6.3 Google Slides

They are used for presentations, it comprises all basics powerpoint presentation
features such as themes, add pictures/images, font size, and texts used for designing
slides. These slides can be saved and published directly on the web to collaborate
with other members from any region to check out slides.

2.6.4 Google Drive

Google drive is considered to be a key component of G suite. It is based on the concept

of cloud storage which allows users to store data and files online. Besides storage,
it also supports the synchronization of files and stored data. For higher education
in colleges and universities, usage of this service provides a commonplace for the
storage of academic material at a commonplace, i.e,. drive. Folders and files can be
directly uploaded specifically if it comprises of huge size. Google drive is a complete
package of storage device which contains various apps inside its integration such as
sheets, docs, forms, slides and quiz.
32 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

2.6.5 Google Forms

Google form is a survey-conducting app used for getting feedback by asking few
questions. Google forms have been updated with the latest features for creating
quizzes and multiple-choice questions. In the field of education, it is an asset for
collecting feedback and necessary information from students, conducting surveys
related to research projects and conducting online tests. Forms are associated with
Google drives, which makes them easily accessible.

3 E-Learning Platforms Used During Covid-19

There are various other sources of mediums, applications, tools and techniques
besides G Suite used by Indian educational institutions. Some of the technolo-
gies have been listed below which have played an important role during Covid-19
pandemic days.

3.1 Zoom

Zoom connects parents, students and professionals. The teacher can schedule a short
meeting within seconds, can plan it and share the meeting id and password with
the students. During Covid-19 pandemic days, a major hike has been seen in the
usage of zoom app by educational institutions (Dhawan, 2020). In terms of security,
it provides features which have proved to be very beneficial for educators such as.
(1) Password-protected meetings
(2) User authentication via emails
(3) Waiting room for participants
(4) Muting audio and video
(5) Randomly generate new id
(6) Additional feature to remove interruptive participants.
The major drawback of this app is its privacy concern, but still preferred by people
to hold short meetings.

3.2 YouTube Channels

YouTube emphasizes for sharing of videos in different areas such as entertainment,

news, educational activities, and delivery of online lectures in schools and univer-
sities. Educators can upload videos by creating their own channels. Learners can
subscribe to these channels and get notified about the latest activities and videos
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 33

Fig.7 Layout of YouTube channel created for uploading lectures

after subscription to the channels. Due to covid-19, many teachers have created their
subject channels for uploading lectures. The video links can be shared with students
through mails or posted in Google classrooms (Treepuech, 2012).
Figure 7 shows a YouTube channel created by a university professor. It is shown
that the professor has uploaded recorded lectures delivered by him online.

3.3 Evernote

Evernote is a spot note-taking app during meetings or for taking short notes. Instead of
preparing lengthy notes by teachers, they can share audios, videos, and pdf’s content
with students. This app creates transparency of content shared between teachers and
students.

3.4 Kahoot

Kahoot plays an important role in holding online conduction of classes in an inter-

active manner. It is a gaming zone app, used in the field of educational sectors. It
comprises of MCQ that gets accessed via browser or Kahoot app. It is used by profes-
sors for revision purposes to improve student’s performance. All the participants have
to join gaming with a specific pin, using a device to answer all questions assigned by
the teacher. It is a very useful app for conducting quizzes, holding discussions and
conducting surveys (Jayaprakash & Chandar, 2015).
34 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

Fig.8 Interface of Ted

3.5 Ted

TED comprises numerous ideas worth spreading. It acts as a bridge of guidance

between teachers and students across the globe. Ted comprises various domains in
terms of expertise such as researchers, directors, students, journalists and educators.
Ted comprises three useful areas to be used effectively, i.e., Ted talks, Ted-ed-lesson,
and educational videos. Figure 8 shows all three areas of TED, where users can create
a lesson plan, arrange student’s talks and educator’s talks.
Lesson Plan can be created with great ease which comprises questions, MCQs,
short questions and discussions.
Ted Talks disseminate information in terms of motivation for covering all
areas, skills, subject knowledge, coverage of topics, vast discussions, professional
development, exposure and confidence.
Figure 9 shows an example in which a university professor creating multiple-
choice questions, along with mentioning a short video in reference to the question,
which has been attached with specific time constraints in addition to the options for
the question.
Figure 10 shows that the Professor has successfully uploaded the lesson plan and
is selecting options for students’ accessibility for the shared lesson plan.

3.6 Seesaw

The seesaw app is used for building a connection among teachers, parent’s and
students. It works similarly to Google classroom in terms of features. This app is
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 35

Fig.9 Creation of lesson comprising of MCQs on TED

Fig.10 Sharing of lesson plan

used worldwide by many countries in schools. This app is compatible with android
and IOS. Teachers can share video lectures, notes, audios and links with students.
Although, it is less used in the Indian education system, but preferred in other
countries all over the globe.
36 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

Fig.11 Seesaw classroom for school students

Figure 11 shows examples of school teachers–where a teacher has created a class-

room effective for all students with subject data structures. Images can be attached
with notes, links and content by using creative tools.

4 Various Government and Private Schemes Run At

the National and International Level to Promote Online
Education

Although, many initiatives were taken by the Indian Government as well as at the
international level to promote online education, but their true role became visible in
this pandemic time. To reduce the hiatus in education, students have been provided
with the facility of digital online platforms for the continuation of their classes.
These platforms have enrolled maximum students during the lockdown period. Most
of these platforms are initiatives of the National Council of Education Research and
Training (NCERT), which is an autonomous-organization.

4.1 Shagun Online Junction

It is a government initiative for improving the education system of schools and

bringing education on track through online mode. The initiative has involved the
creation of junction with different portals as well as websites for schools in India.
Shagun Junction has been named by coining two words “sha” referring to word
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 37

“shala” and “gun” referring to word “gunvatta”. The meaning of word shala in Hindi
is school and the meaning of word gunvatta is quality, together used for framing word
“Shagun”. Some of the Shagun highlights are given below.
(1) Shagun junction is one of the world’s largest online platform
(2) Holistic approach for transformation in the Indian education system
(3) Portal also comprises feedback from the public, which ensures transparency
in the schools’ system
(4) Provides information about nearby schools
(5) Websites of education boards such as CBSE, Kendriya-Vidyalaya, NCERT,
Navodaya-Vidyalayas affiliated schools and organizations affiliated to National
Council for Teacher Education (NTCE) are all integrated with this portal
The major objective of this platform is to facilitate students and teachers’
interaction. Three E-learning modes of platforms under this portal are as follows:
• NROER
• DIKSHA
• e-PATHSHALA

4.1.1 NROER

National-Repository-Of-Open-Educational-Resources (NROER) is a wonderful

initiative taken by the government of India. Students use this platform for E-libraries,
E-courses and also opportunities for actively participating in online events. Students
have got access to get theme-based education also. They can explore web content
in both languages: Hindi as well as English according to their need. Active learning
through classrooms has been taking place through NROER with additional features
like assignments and tests for revision purposes in schools.

4.1.2 DIKSHA

National Digital Infrastructure for Teachers (DIKSHA) is an initiative for teachers

to ensure the holistic learning of the students. This portal is accessible in different
languages for easy understandability and adaptability of the students. When PM
announced for national lockdown due to increasing Covid-19 cases all over the
country, the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) in association
with NCTE launched this digital platform, which aims to help teachers and students
avoid gaps in studies. Given below are some of the features of DIKSHA:
(1) Provides scanned QR code in NCERT books
(2) Accessible in multiple languages
(3) Diksha mobile version app also available
(4) Easy to locate material choosing class level.
38 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

4.1.3 e-PATHSHALA

e-Pathshala web portal is developed by the Central Institute of Educational Tech-

nology (CIET) and NCERT. It is used to host educational resources for students
and educators. The app is accessible over the web and Play Store. It is available in
multiple languages such as English, Urdu and Hindi. This platform contains various
resources in the field of education in addition to NCERT textbooks including audio
and visual resources. The other resources comprised of periodicals, supplements
and teacher-learning modules. Material from these resources is available for offline
downloads without any constraints. The important feature of this app is the flipped
options for book viewing for providing real-time experiences. Some of the benefits
of using this app are shortlisted as follows:
(1) Multiple languages for access
(2) Students require less storage
(3) Comprises of study material from different resources.

4.2 Swayam

Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) is a national
online platform for education, useful for providing the best study material for higher
education only. Swayam has included modules of 1900 courses approximately, which
can be surfed by about 60 countries. These courses are particularly for students of
class 9th to 12th, undergraduates and post-graduates. Subjects included are humani-
ties, management, engineering, social studies, science and technologies, mathematics
and many more. According to MHRD, at present 26 lakh students are enrolled in 574
different courses on Swayam. Apps like Swayam and e-Pathshala are revolutionary
alternatives for students. In previous times, courses had time constraints for registra-
tions, but due to Covid-19 days, a sudden hike has been witnessed in registrations as
most of the courses are free of cost. Given below is the complete list of E-learning
courses (Table 1):

4.3 Virtual Labs

Virtual Lab is an initiative by the Indian government which involves 12 IIT’s including
IIT Delhi as a coordinating institute. Its main aim is to shift to Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) based education that is why it is mentored by
NMEICT. Experimentation has got successful with more than 100 virtual lab projects
consisting of approximately 700 web experiments. The digital world and various E-
learning platforms have been expanded globally due to covid-19. These apps are
helpful to clear obstacles in the learning of students (Jena, 2020b).
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 39

Table 1 E-learning courses

S.No Courses of education National coordinators Full Forms/Details
1 School education NIOS National Institute of Open
Schooling
2 School education NCERT National Council of Educational
Research and Training
3 Outside school education IGNOU Indira Gandhi National Open
University
4 Outside school education NITTTR National Institute of Technical
Teachers Training and Research
5 Under-Graduate education CEC Consortium for Educational
Communication
6 Under-Graduate and AICTE All India Council for Technical
Post-Graduate education Education
7 Under-Graduate and NPTEL National Programme on
Post-Graduate education Technology Enhanced Learning
8 Under-Graduate and IIM-B Indian Institute of Management,
Post-Graduate education Bangalore
9 Post-Graduate education UGC University Grants Commission

5 Case Study

An online survey has been conducted on the students of higher educational institutes
and universities across Punjab. According to the online survey conducted, given
below are views of students from different institutions related to the education system
during lockdown days.

5.1 Student’s Feedback on Online Education During

Covid-19

According to Fig. 12, the survey depicts students’ views related to the impact of
Covid-19 on their education. Besides so many initiatives made by the Indian educa-
tion system, only 14.8% of the students have a positive opinion about the online
education system and they are satisfied with online classes.
40 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

Fig.12 Opinion of students on online education

Fig.13 Various modes used for online classes during Covid-19

5.2 Student’s Feedback for Various Modes of Online

Education

According to the survey, the majority of students, i.e., 67% of them, prefer Google
meet as the most suitable online education platform for the smooth conduction of
their classes. Whereas 15.9% of them are also comfortable with zoom. A few students
are also comfortable with others (Fig. 13).

5.3 Student’s Feedback on Expenses for Online Education

According to the survey, 42% of student’s opinion is that their expenses have
increased due to the use of technology, data packs, electricity used for online classes.
On the other side, 26.1% of them have different opinions; according to them, no extra
expenses are spent by them for online education. 15.9% of students say that it has
Covid-19: A Revolution in the Field of Education in India 41

Fig.14 Expenses reviews on education during Covid-19

no gain or loss in terms of expenses for education. It has been analyzed that overall
mixed reviews can be seen in terms of expenses for online education (Fig. 14).

6 Conclusions

Education plays an important role in society. It is also important for the growth
and development of a country economically. The pandemic disturbances caused by
Covid-19 mass-spread disrupted human life and existence in all sectors including
education This paper draws a holistic picture of a current ongoing system of online
teaching–learning methodologies during the lockdown period including the estab-
lishment of a connection between changing management process to online teaching–
learning process. It is a challenge for all educational sectors across the globe to
outbreak and overcome the persisting academic disturbances and ensure the resump-
tion of educational activities. This pandemic challenged the education system across
the globe and forced educators to flip to the online mode of teaching overnight.
Many academic institutions which were earlier reluctant to change their traditional
pedagogical approach were left with no option but to flip education entirely to online
teaching–learning methods. This terrible crisis has taught educators and students that
everything is unpredictable. There was no time for educators to prepare and plan for
the online system of education. Also, students faced many difficulties for the contin-
uation of their studies with online classes. The classrooms have been transformed
into virtual classes by using online platforms and apps. Various initiatives have been
taken by the government to help students in education. This pandemic has taught that
students must possess certain skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and
most importantly adaptability to survive the crisis. Disasters and pandemics such as
Covid-19 can create obstacles; therefore, there is a need to study the technologies
efficiently by educators as well as students for creating a balance in their lives and
also for smooth conduction of online education until this pandemic ends.
42 M. Chauhan and S. Rani

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An Assessment of Popular Virtual
Platforms for Online Education
in COVID-19 Pandemic in India: A Study

Satyajeet Arya, Amit Kumar Bundela, Sunidhi Thakur,

Pinaki Chattopadhyay, Pallavi Chattopadhyay, Ajay Kumar Mishra,
and Krishna Pratap Singh

Abstract Online education is not new to the twenty-first century, especially to

higher education. It is known since early 2000 and continues. Traditional educa-
tion is offered in all government institutions in India. However, in March 2020,
Education turned 360° immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, which allegedly
originated in Wuhan city of China in late December 2019. Since then, all the Educa-
tional Institutions including schools, colleges, universities, coaching centers insisted
to shut down for an unknown time by the government to maintain social distancing
and mitigating COVID-19 spread. Due to this, the traditional system was bound to
shift to Online Education (OE). In this chapter, challenges that occurred due to the
immediate shift to the online education system are discussed.

Keywords Online education · Digital education · COVID-19 · Digital divide

S. Arya (B)
Faculty of Management Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha, India
A. K. Bundela
Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh,
Varanasi, India
S. Thakur
Regional Institute of Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India
P. Chattopadhyay
Department of Botany, West Bengal State University, Barasat, West Bengal, India
P. Chattopadhyay
Amity Institue of Biotechnology, Amity University, Lucknow Campus, Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
India
A. K. Mishra
International Rice Research Institute, New Delhi, India
K. P. Singh
Department of English and Foreign Languages, Faculty of Arts Communication and Indic
Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 43
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_4
44 S. Arya et al.

1 Introduction

1.1 Covid-19 Pandemic

COVID-19, novel coronavirus disease 2019, pandemic emerged which originated in

Wuhan city located in China during late December 2019 (Chahrour et al., 2020). Since
then, all the Educational Institutions such as schools, colleges, universities, coaching
centers are undergoing a heavy impact and had been closed due to guidelines imposed
by the government for preventing the spread of the deadly virus. The entire mode of
teaching and learning has switched to the online mode or E-teaching/learning mode
as a result teachers, professors, and students need to get switched with this mode of
teaching and learning through multimedia as this pandemic is not going to be over
soon and vaccine development is still in progress. The teaching–learning process
should not be stopped and important events like seminars, conferences, and work-
shops had come to a standstill, as a result, they have been switched to online multi-
media platforms like YouTube and other applications like Google Meet, Microsoft
Teams, Cisco WebEx, Zoom, etc. E-learning in India is rapidly gaining importance
for the last few years (Dhawan, 2020; Saxena, 2020). Online education can be illus-
trated as a mode that can make the teaching and learning process more innovative,
flexible, and student-centered. When surrounded by deadly viruses outside, online
platforms are boon for connecting the world by video conferencing between student
and teacher, which require discussions, good internet connection large compatibility
of applications in various devices, availability of recorded lectures, instant student
feedback, and submission of assignments (Basilaia et al., 2020; Dhawan, 2020).

1.2 Digital Literacy

Digital literacy is a necessity for mindful learning in the information society. Digital
literacy is a sequence of course of actions, union of technical procedural skills
(file arrange and manage), emotional–social skills, and cognitive skills (instinctually
reading the messages on graphic user interfaces) (Aviram & Eshet-Alkalai, 2006;
Nawaz & Kundi, 2010). Diverse concepts are conversely used to constitute e-learning
like computer-assisted instruction, distance education, computer-based instruction,
electronic learning, online instruction, web-based learning, network learning, and
multimedia instruction (Cojocariu et al., 2014; Dhawan, 2020) (Fig. 1).
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 45

Fig. 1 Schematic
representation of factors
involving digital literacy
(Spires & Bartlett, 2012)
Creating
Finding & Digital
Consuming Content
digital content

Communicating
or sharing

DIGITAL LITERACY

1.3 Trends of Digital Education in India

The government of India has taken an initiative in 2003 in collaboration with seven
Indian Institutes of Technology (Madras, Bombay, Kharagpur, Delhi, Guwahati,
Roorkee, and Kanpur) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for online
certification courses (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning). It is
a collaborative project in association with the Ministry of Human Resource Devel-
opment, India. Swayam portal, which is a free online education platform, has 26
participating institutes; 2,052 completed courses; 1,02,52,010 student enrollment;
11,87,607 exam registrations; and 6,31,545 successful certifications till date. The
level of courses are undergraduate and postgraduate; educational videos are uploaded
on the YouTube channel and weekly assignments and feedback forms are collected.
At the end of every course, an online certification exam (optional) is organized at INR
1000 per course fee and certificates are provided through participating institutions
(Swayam Central, 2020). In India, there are several online learning platforms such
as Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Nalanda Open Univer-
sity, and some online educational apps like Unacademy (founded in 2015), BYJU’S
(founded in 2011), Vedantu (founded in 2011), etc.
With the increasing demand of today’s world, the education system and mode
should also be upgraded. The Indian government has taken many steps to ensure the
online mode of education, which is available for each citizen (Fig. 2).
The online platform, National Digital Library of India (NDLI), is a project of the
Ministry of Education of the Government of India. The objective of it is to gather
and arrange metadata and also to deliver a full-text index from various national and
international digital libraries, along with other relevant or reliable sources (National
Digital Library of India, 2020). It is a repository (digital) containing e-books, text-
books, articles, simulations, videos, lectures, fiction, and all other kinds of learning
 46

4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Certified Beneficiaries - Cumulative (Crore) Trained Beneficiaries - Cumulative (Crore)

Registered Beneficiaries - Cumulative (Crore)

Fig. 2 Graph showing digital literacy- certified beneficiaries, trained beneficiaries and registered beneficiaries (Ministry of Electronics & Information
Technology, 2020)
S. Arya et al.
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 47

resources. The NDLI offers free of cost access to several e-books in the Indian
languages along with English (National Digital Library of India, 2020). It is currently
an active, free, and non-commercial education website which is often available in
10 different languages with having a user count of more than 20,00,000. Till April
2019, NDLI hosted 4,58,25,715 (4.5 crores and above) items in its repository, with
around 1,50,000 volumes in English (National Digital Library of India, 2020).
Online education is a boon for the education system during a pandemic and can
also be used effectively for education in the future (Xie & Siau, 2020). Research
studies show that computerized lessons enhance learning in less motivated students.
Nevertheless, they might be bored while sitting in front of the screen for 45 min. So,
with the help of videos and other online activities, distant lessons become “student-
centered and offer the possibility of new classroom management and add new
dynamics to the student–teacher relationship” (Koifman, 2020). Online education
supports innovative methods for education delivery, innovative class control methods,
enhancement in entrepreneurship, class recordings, access to various courses, etc.
Here, universities have the power to make education in India more accessible,
affordable, and cater to a wide range of students. The syllabus of curriculum and
examination procedures are redesigned by universities to meet the new normal.

2 Technical Aspects of Online Education in COVID-19

Pandemics (Trends and Feasibility)

2.1 Critical Reviews on Technological Aspects of Available

Popular Platforms for Online Education

Since online meetings, virtual classrooms, etc. are trending in India, due to this
shift, the business of online platforms shoots up drastically. Various apps, websites,
and other methods became famous, which immediately attracted the consumer and
learners. These platforms provide a reach to move far beyond their main campuses
to offer programs nationally and internationally. Assessment studies signpost that
learning in the distance and online education are at least equivalent to that in old-
style classes, if not enhanced (Hannum et al., 2008; Mujtaba & McAtavey, 2006;
De la Varre et al., 2010). This book chapter provides the details of challenges that
occurred due to an instant shift to online education and assesses the technical fitness
of online education (Fig. 3).
48 S. Arya et al.

8.6 8.54
8.44
8.4 8.34

8.2
RATINGS

8
7.82 7.78
7.8

7.6

7.4

ZOOM WebEx MicrosoŌ Teams Google Meet Skype

Fig. 3 Ratings of various educational/meeting online platforms (List of Top Web & Video
Conferencing Software, TrustRadius, 2020)

2.1.1 Zoom

Zoom is an invaluable tool to connect people, teams, and organizations. As a

networking tool, Zoom has provided space to educators around the world to come
closer and take the online teaching possible with much ease and fewer technicities.
Zoom as a platform is accessible on both IOS and Android devices in form of a zoom
app and is found on PC and laptop as a Zoom program. Considering the webinar
facility zoom provides, it is laden with certain features that are encouraging enough
to use this app. The various beneficial benefits are outlined such as HD video and
audio that provides a crisp, clear, and hazel-free viewing experience to the learners
attending the class and to the educators to watch out for the activities of the learners
sitting on the other side of the screen. On-demand viewing and live streaming make
the teaching process to be scheduled like a traditional offline class. The scheduling
and the invitation of the classes and entering the meeting/class session are more
synchronized and confidential with the password and the meeting id provided by
the Zoom webinar platform. Reporting and analytics of registrants, polling, and
Q and A session with learners in between the session enables active learning and
makes the whole process devoid of any conversation that is monotonous and involves
one-way teaching. A follow-up from the class is an added advantage with zoom.
Full-featured host controls enable a presenter, i.e., a teacher/educator, to have full
control of his/her online teaching session making it manageable and making learning
worth experiencing. Option for Attendee to raise hand: Increase attendee engage-
ment by allowing virtual hand-raising (Video Webinar—Zoom, 2020). 40 min basic
plan: The most beneficial point is that the basic plan of Zoom provides an unin-
terrupted meeting for 40 min that is an ideal classroom time (ranging between 40
and 45 min of an Indian school system) and thus proves to be a sustainable option
for teachers to utilize the platform in low budget. This is equally beneficial for a
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 49

student presenter to utilize this basic plan to broadcast and extend his/her ideas.
Zoom Breakout rooms are a crucial mechanism in online teaching to facilitate
the presenter to divide the audience or the learners into small groups and batches
so as to initiate an activity (science activities, specific announcement, team games)
or focused discussions (Zoom Blog, 2020). Irrespective of the pros available, the
zoom platform provides some hindrance which might be a cause of concerns for
the users such as Privacy concerns. Zoom has all time been criticized for not being
a “safe” platform as advised by 16 page advisory of the cyber coordination center
of Ministry of Home Affairs, India (The Economic Times, 2020). Given the fact
that there are not only professionals but also the whole education system which has
moved to online platforms like zoom, the vulnerability to cyber threats and privacy
concern are a violation of human rights and child rights to privacy and autonomy
outlined in Article 21 of Indian Constitution and UNICEF guidelines to children’s
online privacy and freedom of expression. Connectivity issues: There are times the
Zoom platform turns to be notorious, and the session is timed out in between the
session. The exact reason is still unexplained. The question about this response still
lies between the connectivity issues or problems with the software (Zoom Reviews—
Ratings, 2020). On-demand Viewing: while on-demand viewing can be touted as
a wonderful feature, but with COVID-19 outbreak round the year and everything
working remotely, the issue of “Zoom Fatigue” is a common phenomenon observed
these days among office workers and college students (Fosslien & Duffy, 2020). This
is absolutely worrisome for the school-going learners as this places extended screen
time for these learners not advisable according to the MHRD guidelines of 30–45 min
of screen time (Nagari, 2020). Switching between tabs: The zoom provides some
hindrance while switching between the tabs and screens while presenting which is
a hindrance to a clean, smooth flow of learning session. Such interruption creates
confusion and forces the educators to be more focused on dealing with technical
issues of the program rather than focusing on the content knowledge and pedagogical
processes.

2.1.2 Cisco WebEx

Cisco-WebEx is another leading enterprise that supports individuals to come across,

connect, and cooperate from far-flung locations without the need to travel. Such
unique features make it an apt product to be used for online meetings and class
gatherings. The initiative of “WebEx for education” is a welcome step to build the
gap between administrators, learners, and the educator community. WebEx class-
room makes distance education safe and sound (Cisco, 2020). The benefits of using
CISCO-WebEx are its Simple interface—The platform provides a clean, simple,
and hassle-free interphase which makes it highly efficient for technology freshers
to use with ease and convenience. Given the fact of digital literacy which does not
exist among more than 90% of the Indian population, the clean and less technical
interphase makes it easy to be adopted both by the teachers and students (Digital
50 S. Arya et al.

Empowerment Foundation, & National Digital Literacy Mission, 2020). Simpli-

fied Administration—Cisco WebEx enables the administrators to centralize the
functions of institutions through voice, video, data, and file sharing. The advan-
tage of syncing calendars for scheduled classes and office hours is a point to be
praised for (Webex LMS Integration—Cisco Webex Education Connector & Cisco,
2020). Virtual Learning tools—the platform provides various learning tools for
the learners to make learning enriching through infographics and meeting rooms.
Sharing presentations and applications—Screen sharing is a common feature
available to all the meeting platforms but Cisco WebEx provides the host with the
switch of control panel enabling it to take control of the meeting and the private chat
window is an added advantage to enrich our best instructional advice given during a
classroom session. Note-taking integration—The platform provides a note-taking
program embedded with the meeting which makes it special to take down the notes
while attending a lecture or a session. This is highly useful for middle school and high
school students who have a huge syllabus to cover simultaneously while covering
lectures and taking notes (Warren, 2020). Just like every other application one uses,
the con side of this meeting platform is outlined, e.g., Call me Feature—The call
me feature in the platform is a paid integration which even does not work prop-
erly forcing an individual a separate call that is not fine when the issue of privacy
and anonymity is concerned (Kuligowski, 2020). Cross-over and Confusion—The
WebEx meeting platform creates cross-over and confusion between the meetings and
is a big embarrassment to the presenters while giving a lecture. Screen Sharing—The
screen sharing feature common to every online meeting platform but the downside
with cisco WebEx is the random closing of the video session with the audio still
functioning. There is no other mechanism to connect back to the meeting, and it
can be (Kuligowski, 2020) a loss for the learners who learn and grow by watching
animated videos and activities.

2.1.3 Google Meet

Google meet is a widely used meeting platform for educators across. The Google
workspace provides a Google classroom program and has the inbuilt program of
Google meet to make learning inclusive and accessible in the COVID-19 situation.
Some advantages of Google meet are Simplicity and Adaptability—Google meet
is simple to use and enables 100 participants in the basic plan. The most crucial
point is the accessibility across a wide range of browsers making it friendly for every
other user with different browser specifications. Integration—With the wide usage of
Google as a browser, the integration of Google calendar and Gmail makes the process
seamless and compatible for every individual (Basu et al., 2020). Switching between
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 51

screens—The freedom of choosing between the screens is an advantage to provide

the presenter the choice to present what and which component of presentation during
the meetings. Simplified settings—The settings are way too simple and specific. The
common features of unmuting, video off, screen sharing, and leaving the meetings
are easily understandable by a beginner also (Google Meet & TrustRadius, 2020).
The various cons of Google meet are represented below: Browser usage—
Accessing Google meet with Google chrome browser will provide a seamless expe-
rience, but this can prove to be notorious and irritating while going through other
browsers like Firefox, Opera, etc. Valuable tools—Tools like whiteboards, polls,
and survey evidence in many other meeting platforms are absent in Google meet,
which irrespective of wide usage by the teacher community is a feature that will
be life-changing if integrated later (Google Meet Review, 2020). Need of a Gmail
Id—The necessity of having a Gmail id is a downfall in some cases as this forces the
user to switch to creating a Gmail id, unlike other apps that just require app/program
installation in your system.

2.1.4 Skype

Skype, a telecommunication app, facilitates video calls, voice calls, and chats across
mobiles, laptops, smartwatches, Xbox consoles, and all over the internet. Thus, all
these features make it a special instructional tool to invite, engage, explore, and
explain for active teaching and authentic learning. The advantages of using Skype as
a platform are full of features like Instant messaging—Skype offers the option of
instant messaging to sort out quick doubts or small issues in a class or a business. The
group chats provide focused as well as intimate group conversations between teachers
and student teams. Mystery Skype—A feature available in skype for the class-
room, mystery skype enables the two competing classes to guess location through
questioning and carry fun activities (Lynch, 2020). The ability to use skype on non-
windows and non-university devices provides a benefit to access the meeting without
any interference.
The various disadvantages associated with skype are as follows: Overloading of
the PC—the software installation put an extra load on the PC which shows some
glitches during online meetings. High file size—32 MB for android, 512 MB RAM,
and 1 GB RAM requirements for windows and Mac systems, puts stress on the
system in terms of navigation across the platform (Skype Support, 2020). Recording
feature—It does not have the capability to allow recording if one is using skype to
call the phone number. This is however present in other platforms.
52 S. Arya et al.

2.1.5 MS Teams

TEAMS is a chat-based collaboration to integrate global and local communication

while working at any place. This service is integrated with office services (Things
You Should Know About Microsoft Teams, 2020). In addition to this, the bene-
fits presented out are given below: Sync across the conversational history across all
the platforms and devices with high aptness is a feature not present in other plat-
forms. Easy clickability between bars, notifications, meetings, and other applications
provides an unbroken experience. The hierarchy chart enables the host to locate the
unidentified or unknown user in the meeting thereby preventing a compromise on the
data security and privacy of the participants (Microsoft Teams, TrustRadius, 2020).
The cons with the Microsoft teams involve the following: Space acquisition of the
program is quite large and is not desirable when the students and teachers, in partic-
ular, lookout for a small and petite functional program. Meetings could be more
spontaneous and the feature of only images on the screen.

3 SDG-4, Economy and Online Education in COVID-19

COVID-19 had a profound impact on the progress of the United Nations-Sustainable

Development Goal (UN-SDG) directly or indirectly according to a report titled “The
Sustainable Development Goals Report” 2020, and in particular to UN-SDG—4:
Quality Education, as it had affected 90% of the world’s student population, i.e.,
1.57 billion school and college students. Hence, this led to a chance to explore
new horizons of education. Online education in assistance to traditional education
has strengthened possibilities and innovations in this regard. The mushrooming of
ed-tech companies and various learning and teaching platform is a result of this
“new normal” of education (Dhawan, 2020). In addition to the various Learning
Management Systems (LMS) that create a pathway and organize online teaching
and training courses with worldwide accessibility, the integration of online meeting
software and platforms has made these courses turn to be highly credible and easily
navigable. Online meeting platforms such as Webex meetings, Zoom, Google meet,
Microsoft meetings, skype meetings assist the educators and learners to come at a
platform in terms of learning, communicating, and exploring subject content.
With India’s rising internet growth and mobile accessibility, online education has
found new places for its birth and re-invention (Palvia et al., 2018). With Indian
government initiatives like Skill India and Digital India, online education has taken a
phenomenal growth in spatial and sectoral range. Education as a discipline integrates
the principle of pedagogy with content knowledge to enable child-centric learning.
Online education utilizes the traditional mode of teaching and learning to be accessed
at online platforms to provide teachers a platform to impart their knowledge to
facilitate enabling, challenging, and effective learning environment to enrich learner-
centric education (Tirri et al., 2016).
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 53

Simultaneous mushrooming and exploration of online learning and meeting plat-

forms have a wide range of implications on the teachers as well as learners. Many
technological, social, and economic attributes need to be understood to study the
psychological changes occurring in the learning community as a whole to examine
the fate of online education. Online learning has brought freshness in the mode
of delivery of content knowledge to the learners (Dhawan, 2020). This freshness
inculcated with the exploration of various platforms has made learners curious yet
investigative at the same time. With the passage of time, this whole process of online
learning and teaching has proved cumbersome. With every lesson and meeting online,
the scope of outdoor learning diminishes. This places excitement to be replaced by
boredom, irritability, and anxiety in the learners. With least interpersonal communi-
cation and lack of physical meeting, it has endorsed low self-control and mood swings
(Irawan et al., 2020). While the nature of excitement, innovation, and accessibility
in learning has increased the use of ineffective verbal and non-verbal communica-
tion, lack of one-to-one learning and online management difficulties are genuine
issues that cannot be overlooked (Irawan et al., 2020). It is difficult to say that all
the behavioral changes are confined to online education, but it also revolves around
the economic and social backdrop of the individual learner (Akhter Ali & Kamraju,
2020).
The key drivers of online education are internet infrastructure, device availability,
and most important electricity. But high-speed internet and stable power supply
limited to 15% of households having internet affordability (Akhter Ali & Kamraju,
2020). India with 85% of electricity penetration is doing “extremely well” according
to World Bank (Jha, 2020). This is the reason for rapid adaptability to online learning.
But high-speed internet and stable power supply are limited to 15% of households.
With 27% of students do not have access to smartphones and laptops for online
classes according to NCERT survey, (Kalra, 2019) the economic disadvantages are a
hindrance to the inclusive education outlined under Sustainable Development Goal 4
for quality education. Thus, internet infrastructure accessibility is equally important
as internet affordability and uniformity.
Online education through multiple platforms has enabled digital activism in online
sharing, collaboration, and discussion of various issues and ideas. This has acted as
a tool for the unreachable sections of the society for which the traditional education
system was a hindrance in their right to quality education (Stornaiuolo & Thomas,
2017). Online education will open spaces for easy accessibility of content through
multiple platforms, in multiple formats such as videos, meetings, conferences, and
audio contents; the outburst of such programs has influenced the quality of content
delivery unlike the efficient one-to-one learning in traditional system of education
(Deming et al., 2015). While online education has empowered the education avail-
ability to the left out, certain sections of economically weaker sections of society
comprising of children with special needs, women, and poor children are left out
54 S. Arya et al.

due to economic factors. The societal implications of online education result in no

social interaction with the COVID-19 pandemic as an example for a long duration of
stay away from academic institutions. Self-discipline and procrastination because of
readily available contents make the task even tougher. Online teaching needs to be
self-paced and managed properly to have a mixture of active and passive learning to
keep a check on the progress and commitment of the learners in meeting the course
deadlines (Societal Impacts & Effects of Online Education, 2017).
The pros and cons of online education can be summarized by noting down the
Strength (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and Challenges (C) pertaining to
online education which can help us analyze the impact it can have. The strengths
of online education include the anytime and anywhere feature which represents the
new generation as they have the access to information of any kind, anytime, and
anywhere. Innovation and technology are the heart of online education (Cook &
Sonnenberg, 2014). The opportunities that online learning offer in terms of flexibility
of presenting the information and digital development for both facilitator and the
student is noteworthy. However, there are certain weaknesses and challenges to online
education starting from the health issues both mental and physical health of the
students due to long hours of online education, the increased level of frustration,
distractions, anxiety, and confusion of the students. The technological barriers for
the facilitator and inadequate customization of the learning process can obstruct the
teaching process and creates an imbalance. Figure 4 represents the SWOC analysis
which presents the different aspects of online learning.

4 Conclusion

COVID-19 pandemic and its effect are unprecedented whether it is economy, educa-
tion, health, or any sector. It is a harsh reality. It cannot be skipped and ignored. The
education sector has a pivotal role to shape the future of the earth. In this pandemic,
online education is a boon to provide quality and quantity with limited resources. This
study concludes that there is a need to revitalize the education, learning management
system with a better approach. Application and website need to be designed/updated
with a better user interface, and it should be economical for the user. Students must
not suffer due to costly packages, and facilitators must not suffer due to poor tech-
nology. Broadband is a must to utilize the online platform flawlessly. The daily
schedule must not exceed the maximum screen time of a student (Table 1).
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 55

Fig. 4 Pros and Cons of Online Education

 56

Table 1 Comparison of different educational/meeting online platforms

Applications Year of Operating Video and Record Maximum Participants Subscription (INR) References
foundation and systems audio sessions duration of allowed per
headquarters meeting (Hrs) session
Zoom 2011, California Windows, Yes Yes 40 Min (basic 100 (for Basic: Free Zoom Reviews—Ratings,
Android, category) basic Pro: Rs 13,200/ 2020; Zoom Reviews and
iOS, Mac, category) year Ratings, 2020 ; Zoom
Linux etc Video et al., 2020
Cisco Webex 1995, California Android, Yes Yes 24 100 Rs - 1,095.76 Webex Meetings Reviews
(Webex iOS, Mac, Per Month and Ratings, 2020; Cisco
meeting) Windows (Approx.) Webex, 2020
MS teams 2017, Android, Yes Yes 4 250–300 Microsoft 365 Soysal, 2020; Microsoft
Washington Windows, Business Basic: Teams, TrustRadius, 2020
Linux, Rs:125.00/Month
Mac, iOS Standard: Rs
1,320.00/Month
Skype 2003, Windows, Yes Yes 4 50 Usually free Skype Reviews and
Luxembourg Mac, iOS, Rs - 219.152 Ratings, 2020; Skype
Android (Per Month) Support, 2020
Google Meet 2017, California Android, Yes Yes 1 100 G suite business Google Meet Review,
iOS, Web Rs - 879.54 2020; Google Meet &
(Per Month) TrustRadius, 2020
S. Arya et al.
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 57

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Satyajeet Arya is an assistant professor in Faculty of Manage-

ment Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha. He has 5 years
of experience in teaching environmental studies. He has done his
M.Sc (Environmental Science) and M.Tech (Energy and Envi-
ronmental Management) from Kurukshetra University, Kuruk-
shetra. He is pursuing his PhD (Chemical Sciences) from CSIR-
IMMT, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. He is a passionate academi-
cian and extensive researcher. He has published several research
papers in International journals that are indexed in SCI &
Scopus.

Amit Kumar Bundela has completed his postgraduation in

Environment Science (Environment Technology) from Institute
of Environment & Sustainability, Banaras Hindu, and NTA JRF
qualified. He is an independent researcher in the field of educa-
tion and environmental science.
60 S. Arya et al.

Sunidhi Thakur is an aspiring teacher educator, currently

pursuing her M.Ed from Regional Institute of Education,
NCERT. She is university gold medalist in her Master’s
program in Environment Science and Technology from Banaras
Hindu University, Varansi. Her research interest is Environment
education, Nature based learning and Eco-toxicology.

Pinaki Chattopadhyay is currently pursuing M.Sc in Botany

from West Bengal State University, Barasat. He has published 3
research papers and 3 book chapters. He has also presented 12
posters in national and international seminars/ conferences.

Pallavi Chattopadhyay has completed M.Sc in Microbi-

ology from Amity University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh she
has published 4 book chapters. She has participated in several
National and International Seminar, Conference, Symposium
and Workshop. She has a keen interest in education technology,
microbiology, environmental conservation.
An Assessment of Popular Virtual Platforms … 61

Dr. Ajay Kumar Mishra is currently working as Associate

Scientist-Soil Science in International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI), New Delhi, India. He earned his PhD from School of
Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
He has published more than 30 research papers, 10 book chap-
ters, and two edited books. His education and work experience
in reputed organizations like Banaras Hindu University, Varansi
CSSRI, Kurkushetra University, etc.

Dr. K.P. Singh is an accomplished academician with over

16 years of professional experience. He has earned his Ph.D
(English) from CSJM University Kanpur. He is working as
Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts Communication and
Indic Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha. He has
published dozen of research papers in international journals.
Digital Pedagogy for English
Teaching–learning at the Crossroads
of Crisis in India and Digital Humanities
as the Way Forward

Sapna Kumari

Abstract Education in India witnessed a huge setback recently due to Covid-

19, becoming restricted within empty, blank staring screens opposite to its very
quintessential existence. The first massive move made in India towards a transforma-
tive phase was opting for and integrating the online mode of teaching–learning. The
pedagogic changes and curriculum framework faced a stiff challenge in the middle of
this crisis especially for Humanities (English being the main area of focus henceforth
in this paper) with some of its modalities yet to be revamped as per the online logistics.
The paper seeks to take an inventory of several multimedia tools and digital peda-
gogic shifts for English literature and language. This promises a future for Digital
Humanities to create a more substantive place that had long been denied a solid base.
The paper also attempts to look at the scope of effective pedagogy and the challenges
of inaccessibility, and demographic complexities. Using the theoretical framework
of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning by Richard Mayer, the paper tries to
suggest ways to incorporate embedded learning for a better understanding of English
tracing a more participatory mode of knowledge dissemination.

Keywords Multimedia · Embedded · Digital humanities · Interdisciplinary

1 Introduction

The history of educational technology is rarely discipline-specific or age-centric

in India. Integrated ICT-enabled teaching–learning has long been established as an
effective way of facilitating knowledge. With the looming crisis in Covid 19, the
declaration of successive lockdown in the country unfolded a harsh reality check for
the otherwise feeble sectors in India. The government was evidently struggling but it
could at least ensure a partial continuity of teaching–learning so to say which received
several backlashes emerging out of the concerns of, inaccessibility, demographic
and socio-economic gap. “UNESCO (2020) has reported that around 320 million
learners are affected in India, of which about 34 million belonged to the tertiary level

S. Kumari (B)
Department of English, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110009, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 63
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_5
64 S. Kumari

of education” (Kapasiaa et al. 2020). While this remains subject to further statistical
analysis, one can nevertheless choose to look at them, if not stronger, then slightly
brighter side to it, that is, the not-so hassle-free but quicker and convenient online
mode of learning and teaching in India. Educators in India soon escalated their efforts
to adjust to a transformative mode and continue to cater to the students.
English as a subject is often considered a text-centric and a trainer-oriented field
due to its vast and varied framework. The syllabi as followed in most of the colleges
and universities in India at the undergraduate and postgraduate level entails a diverse
structure and content. The range of issues and topics covered under English as
a subject (both as a major and second language acquisition) ensures a complete
revival of the knowledge intake and dissemination among youth. With the continuous
revision being done recently things are likely to be more positive if implemented in
letter as well as in spirit. The syllabi, however, calls for more blended learning since
everything is no longer theoretical in the subject. On one hand where its literature part
entails an evolving structure comprising several key issues of socio-cultural, artistic,
and literary importance together with a special focus on building a comprehensive
critical capacity of the learners; on the other hand, its language portion now partakes
of building effective communication and linguistic proficiency with the help of text-
based as well as drill-based lessons. Now this domain of learning cannot be solely
carried out using the redundant way of chalk and talk method of teaching. It is here
that multimedia and E-learning prove a huge help.
For the lifelong pursuit of knowledge and education in the wake of remote learning
and digitized framework the MHRD, Government of India took several initiatives
to assist the stakeholders involved. Some of the chief ones include SWAYAM,
SWAYAMPRABHA, National Digital Library, e-PG Pathshala, Shodhganga: A
reservoir of Indian Theses, e-ShodhSindhu: e-journals, FOSSEE: Free/Libre and
Open Source Software for Education, e-Yantra: Engineering for better tomorrow,
Spoken Tutorial, Virtual Labs: Web-enabled experiments designed for remote—
operation, IRINS: Indian Research Information Network System. However, it still
remains a far cry in the rural area where the dream of “Digital India” remains under
a scanner and is eclipsed by the paucity of resources and facilities. With a robust
digitization and internet revolution, India may be gearing for a possible transition
towards blended learning and adopting digital humanities subsequently. Neverthe-
less, the economic, social, cultural, and institutional restrictions are up for some
reflective evaluation.

2 Method

This paper used both quantitative as well as a qualitative method of data collec-
tion and analysis. The data collection and procedure for the survey (descriptive
research) involved a structural questionnaire form link using “Google form” which
was sent to the faculty members and students of different colleges and universities
through WhatsApp and E-mail. A total of 113 students and faculty members from
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 65

15 colleges/universities (state and central) participated in the survey and completed

the form. It is important to mention here that the ongoing restrictions imposed due to
the pandemic affected the expected target of the number of participants. Descriptive
statistics analysis was carried out to understand the tools used for teaching–learning
English literature and language among the respondents. Simple percentage distribu-
tion was estimated to assess the learning status, mode of learning, the effectiveness
of curriculum delivery, and problems faced during the classes using the online tools
and mode. This was also used to understand the status and scope of E-learning in the
wake of the theoretical approach as propounded by Richard Mayer via the cognitive
theory of multimedia learning.

3 Results

The questions focused on the tools used for teaching–learning, the difficulty faced
during the process, cognitive response, participatory variable, level of effectiveness,
and curriculum delivery along with certain suggestions and recommendations by the
stakeholders. Around 90% adopted the online mode of teaching due to the pandemic
(Fig. 1).
Their understanding of multimedia stands for a combination of media forms and
tools for teaching learning. Some of the commonly used tools and devices for teaching
emerged as PPT, video links, Zoom, Hangout, Teams, Meet, Mentimeter, Padlet
using a cluster of platforms to deliver the subject. Out of the choices given in the
questionnaire among various tools for teaching, a whopping 19% and 17% preferred
using Google Meet and Zoom respectively whereas Google Classroom came close to
third. What was more surprising to note here is that the majority used these platform
to carry out teaching learning and less than 5% were found using other assisting
multimedia tools such as Padlet, Edmodo, Vocaroo, etc. (Fig. 2).
The majority agreed that with the integration of multimedia the teaching–learning
process becomes more interesting and easier to use. Some of the issues faced by them
during the process included difficulty in conducting practice drills, network issues,
less interaction among teacher and student, restricted textual interpretation, lack of
skills required to navigate through the mode. Some believe that they will continue

Fig. 1 Have you adopted the

online mode of
teaching–learning after the
restrictions imposed due to
the pandemic?
66 S. Kumari

Fig. 2 Tick against the options which you have used for teaching so far

using some of these technological online tools even after offline classes resume since
40% found their students highly responsive (Fig. 3).
However, the most interesting data was found in the form of 45% asserting that
they didn’t find the online mode capable enough to deliver all the sections of the
subject (Fig. 4).
While they found the current infrastructural system of India capable of carrying
on with this mode in the future, some of their recommendations based on their
experiences included enhanced pedagogic platform and tools, equal access to all,
improved connectivity, use of more applications, incorporate more practical drills
to make the class more responsive. Among the students, the data differed strikingly.
There seems to be uncertainty among the students over whether or not they find
online mode as an effective way of learning (Fig. 5).

Fig. 3 How responsive were your students using this medium?

Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 67

Fig. 4 Was the online mode effective to deliver all the sections of the subject?

Fig. 5 Do you find the use of online mode effective enough to learn English?

As for adding more motivation in the process, the students found it pretty helpful
and positive (Fig. 6). Once again network issues and lack of regular accessibility
surfaced as the most common issue faced by the students. Along with lack of interest

Fig. 6 Do you think the subject becomes more interesting with the introduction of multimedia
tools
68 S. Kumari

and interaction which renders the teaching–learning of English a monotonous form.

They also listed out some health concerns as faced in this mode of learning. When it
comes to their comparative experiences based on online/offline trajectory a whopping
48.4% found it less interesting (Fig. 7).
Likewise, they found it less interactive as shown in Fig. 8 followed by Fig. 9
showing their lack of motivation to continue with the mode.
Some of the key recommendations made by these students involved lessening the
screen time, reducing the assignments, more inclination towards a blended format,
considerations of household restrictions while conducting classes, and resume offline
classes.

Fig. 7 In comparison with the offline mode of teaching–learning how would you grade your overall
experience with the online mode?

Fig. 8 Was the lecture delivery using online mode and multimedia tool more interesting and
interactive than the offline mode?
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 69

Fig. 9 Would you like this mode and method to continue after the offline mode resumes?

4 Discussion

Based on the inferences drawn from the survey conducted with a small sample target
group, we might deem it necessary to think of ways to bring less burden on the
students and ensure more smooth functioning of learning. Integration of tools and
technology can be a more dynamic way of teaching–learning in this regard. “Mixing
media, intermingling multiple senses alongside ideas, and appealing to a complex
of cognitive and affective registers created a “total experience,” a phrase regularly
employed by humanities educators advocating educational media in these years……
In between sections, students answered multiple-choice questions about the poem
by keying their responses into a four-button console built into their desk. Programs
on language followed the same structure but used synchronized sounds—children
playing, a radio announcer—alongside text and images” (Fletcher 2019) There is
obviously more varied form of engagement with multisensory formats once the
multimedia tools are used in teaching. One can cite a simple example of constructing
multimedia presentations of novels in lieu of standard book reports or having an open
forum discussion not only within the department but also facilitate an interdepart-
mental activity ensuring a more interdisciplinary approach. The plethora of online
platform, forum, tools, technology, and training services are being offered to ensure a
continuity of knowledge dissemination in the country. When the facilitators of educa-
tion took control of the use of multimedia tools and teaching literature/language in
the classroom, evident examples can be drawn in favor of this transformation. In a
country where we have diverse factors affecting teaching–learning situations owing
to gender, class, region, and culture, the system of E-learning itself becomes an inter-
section of both scope as well as limitation. The paper would now discuss some of the
potential ways and tools in which the use of multimedia can help make the study of
English literature and language broaden its scope by also addressing the issues faced
by the stakeholders as already explained by the survey conducted for the research
paper.
70 S. Kumari

To begin with, one must also be very clear that the very essence of education
must and can never be replaced by the employment of technology. One may be
glancing at a more blended form of teaching but this should only be used as an aid or
assisting learning in the country. Basing the whole argument on this praxis let us try
to look at the scopes and challenges of this newly recognized “Digital Pedagogy.”
For the purpose of understanding the scope of this medium for English teaching–
learning one must also seek to consider the key issues of inaccessibility, demographic
gap, inclusivity, and subject-specific limitations. There are serious issues related to
access, devices, content, curation, teachers, training, grades, funding, infrastructure,
and fees. “According to a UNESCO report released earlier this year, about 40%
of low- and lower-middle-income countries have not supported learners at risk of
exclusion during this crisis, such as the poor, linguistic minorities and learners with
disabilities” (Pitroda 2020). “It is also estimated that only about 25 per cent of Indian
households have an internet facility. For rural households, that number drops to 15
per cent. The worst affected, as always, will be the marginalized, rural and poor
populations.” (2020). Furthermore, around 16 crore rural households in India do not
have access to computers, according to a review report of National Digital Literacy
Mission (NDLM). Among the 20% of the poorest households in India, only 2.7% have
access to a computer and 8.9% to internet connectivity. And the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) estimated only half of India’s population has access to
quality Internet (around 115 wireless subscribers, and only 66 crores have access to
broadband quality internet) (Chaturvedi and Kapoor 2020). “According to the latest
GSMA report titled ‘Connected Women: The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020’,
there is a 20% gender gap between male and female mobile owners in India and an
even wider 50% gender gap when it comes to mobile Internet users” (Chaturvedi and
Kapoor 2020). The digital divide, therefore, has been identified as the most common
hindrance in achieving a sustainable experience of learning with the issues of gender
disparity almost overlooked every time. So, when we embark on such an ambitious
task of bringing digital pedagogy as a regular feature in academia, we must build
our own network and system of shared services and infrastructure for the same. We
also need to devote a large amount of money and resources towards the building and
maintaining of our own set of humanities-tailored educational tools and platforms.
With this cluster of technology and tools, we have a huge responsibility at hand to
serve our students, specifically as humanities scholars.

4.1 Scope of Multimedia Usage in Teaching

“The cognitive theory of multimedia learning assumes that the human information-
processing system includes dual channels for visual/pictorial and auditory/verbal
processing, each channel has limited capacity for processing, and active learning
entails carrying out appropriate cognitive processing during learning. This includes
selecting relevant words from the presented text or narration, selecting relevant
images from the presented illustrations, organizing the selected words into a coherent
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 71

verbal representation, organizing selected images into a coherent visual representa-

tion, and integrating the visual and verbal representations and prior knowledge”
(Mayer 2009). This also involves the right combination of creating a more effec-
tive framework for learning including relevant materials, the right organization of
these materials, and integration of existing knowledge with the organized material.
Mayer also went on to suggest certain principles to reduce extraneous processing in
multimedia learning which calls for cutting back on the unnecessary or extra or least
interesting representation of lessons which may hamper the learning impact. He even
suggested ways to lessen the monotony and redundancy of learning using multimedia
such as Delete extraneous words, sounds, or graphics, Highlight essential words or
graphics, Delete redundant captions from narrated animation, etc. (Mayer 2009).
Multimedia learning is also more student-centric and works excellently beyond the
limitation of print. It expands the forum for learning and improves self-efficacy with
its innovative method. The facilitators must invest their time and energy to design
learning courseware using multimedia and curriculum models for English. However,
this mode isn’t untouched by certain issues and errors while handling. Enhancing
students’ interest while taking courses in different learning environments seems a
probable means of promoting higher learner satisfaction and better completion rates.
According to the National Council of Teachers of English (2004), the visual represen-
tation of literature is important and educators must be capable to communicate using
a visually construct meaning (Seo and Templeton 2008). Traditionally Indian insti-
tutions have used multimedia intermittently molding more into what one may call a
multimedia-assisted format. This has continued in the pandemic as well with tools
and platforms such as creating slideshows using pics and videos, Using Moviemaker,
PowerPoint presentation, creating an online lesson to reinforce student learning using
MOOC, arrange virtual field trip using Word graphic tools, structure a virtual field
trip, Edmodo, Blackboard, LMS, etc. Let us now look at some of the recommended
tools and platforms which may be used in the teaching–learning of English in class
(both online and offline). It is noteworthy to say that irrespective of the pandemic or
restrictions these tools can be embedded in the process once normalcy returns to the
campuses of higher education institutions.
VoiceThread gives the freedom to students to comment/edit on a document,
image, or video right on the page. This can be done by recording audio, video, or
posting their comment on the same page. They can use the drawing tool to doodle
on the document or image simultaneously recording comments. For a teacher, it’s
equally easy to respond to the students’ activities since they all get submitted on the
same page and this comes as a relief to those who don’t have to go through hours
looking for their audio clips. The settings are easier to moderate and allows a good
pace for the teachers to comments and help in quick assessments (Fig. 10)
Padlet is a tool that can be easily used for the language learners of any level. It
is a more learner-centric tool that allows them to create their own posts working on
their skills depending on what task is given to them. The learners can develop writing
skills and speaking skills. They can have the opportunity to have a brainstorming
session with the chance to build up their vocabulary related to a topic and add to
their knowledge after reading or listening to a text. One can share learner-generated
72 S. Kumari

Fig. 10 VoiceThread

content in the form of text posts, audio recordings, videos, or documents. It’s great
for project work as learners can update their progress report on a Padlet. Needless to
say, it is largely used for sharing ideas and discussions in English (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11 Padlet
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 73

Kahoot are one of the most interesting teaching tools using fun, creative and inter-
active games to help learners practice their spoken English and build their language
skills. It can be highly recommended to be used for multiple spoken drills. It includes
music and images to engage young learners and make learning exciting and enjoyable.
It can be used both in a team or assigned as a challenge for independent study. It goes
handy with desktop computers, tablets or smartphones, and render a good flexibility
to be used in online lessons, in face-to-face classrooms, or at home (Fig. 12).
EDpuzzle can be called a great formative assessment tool for teachers who are
expected to assign videos for homework, or who encourage asynchronous commu-
nication. Teachers can allow the students to use EdPuzzle to generate end-semester
results and assessment reports. Teachers can also create online classes and upload
original videos, navigating through online videos, adding more interactive features,
and make them accessible to students as well. EdPuzzle also enables teachers to

Fig. 12 Kahoot
74 S. Kumari

Fig. 13 EDpuzzle

keep track of the students’ activities about the questions which they opt for and the
evaluation of the same (Fig. 13).
Seesaw Students generally exhibit a more impressive and quick improvement
in their learning with multimedia tools like video, drawing, and voice recording in
usage and try to achieve some proficiency where a second language is not a barrier
to them any longer. Seesaw messages can be easily translated so that it ensures fluent
two-way communication. Seesaw gives the English language learners a safe space
to practice so they have to develop some confidence, learn from mistakes, make
progress by reflecting on their progress, and try again (Fig. 14).
Wizer With Wizer teachers gets an additional option to create digital worksheets
by using a different set of questions, incorporating images and video links, and audio
recordings. Teachers are free to ask students to label images, collect information and
categorize it, respond to video content and multiple option questions. There is a scope
of open response questions to be discussed in class at the same time. In literary texts
as well students can create close reading passages which in turn allows assessment of

Fig. 14 Seesaw
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 75

reading comprehension and solve exercises. It allows drawing or marking on maps

to cover contexts and backgrounds of different literary ages (Fig. 15).
AnswerGarden This is an easy-to-use online feedback or assessment app to be
used to acquire brief answers from students. It adopts a modality that allows users to
create, share, answer, and manage topics and questions. It has a strong potential to be
used for a wider range of education tasks, such as brainstorming, polling, synchronous
and asynchronous communication, and formative assessment. AnswerGarden can
be used to discuss the main characters and plot. For example, one can generate a
question: “what words would you use to describe Wuthering Heights?” Students can
then continue to add or give answers as they complete this text by Emily. It also
allows other activities such as Icebreaking activities, using surveys and polling to
make the classes more engaging (Fig. 16).
Vocaroo It is an online tool that allows users to record, send, and download
voice messages. Teachers and learners can use this for different activities, such as

Fig. 15 Wizer
76 S. Kumari

Fig. 16 AnswerGarden

podcasting, digital storytelling, broadcasting, and giving feedback. One can down-
load recordings, send messages using a QR code reader. It is an excellent audio
recording tool for quick and effective spoken drills (Fig. 17).
Socrative is a free web application offering an easy experience to engage in several
activities at the same time and assess their students. Basically, a full-featured applica-
tion used on Android and iOS devices ensures quick feedback responding to quizzes
and questions. This also permits the creation of personalized content where the educa-
tors can edit and design their own assessments and can also share it within their
respective learning networks. Students’ understanding can be reviewed in different

Fig. 17 Vocaroo
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 77

Fig. 18 Socrative

types of formats. Their assessment reports can also be emailed or downloaded and
saved conveniently (Fig. 18).
ThingLink is a highly acknowledged education technology that makes it easier to
augment several images, videos, and even virtual tours with additional information
and links. It is easily accessible with diverse visual learning experiences. It offers an
integrated reading learning tool with an immersive reader in over 60 languages. It
helps students choose from using multiple forms of media to express themselves in
the group (Fig. 19).
Mind mapping A mind map is more like a visual record and collection of vocab-
ulary, or other content also known as word maps or spidergrams, and is organized in
a way that shows relationship and usage connectivity between words. For example,
a teacher can write a list of words on a particular topic on the board. The learners can
then go on to organize those words in a mind map and words related to categories and
meaning. Mind maps are also used in the planning stage for writing exercises and
the learners can structure ideas and discuss the relevance of the same. Mind mapping
could be an effective tool that helps students to associate new information with their
existing knowledge (Fig. 20).
Loom is an easy tool for enabling the teachers as well as students to speak, write
reviews and share files with each other. The students can be allowed to create their own
resource library of useful tools and websites. It is also a free screencasting software
available via chrome extension or a desktop app. One can record each lesson in any
format or make them available via email and password-protected profile. There are
multiple sharing/saving options and you can embed videos on your blog or website
links on your drive and give access to others to share too (Fig. 21).
78 S. Kumari

Fig. 19 ThingLink

Fig. 20 Mindmapping

Trello This is primarily a visual collaboration platform giving scope for collec-
tive or team perspective on projects. Trello can be used to organize, collaborate,
communicate and coordinate on projects and assignments and is great for a variety
of work, right from bulletin boards, lesson planning, collaborative research projects,
and task management. Its collaboration ability is worth noticing with several boards
that can be viewed, edited, and managed by multiple members. the students can split
up tasks and plan what they need to meet goals. It is a great tool for synchronous or
asynchronous communication, active learning, and cooperative learning. The teacher
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 79

Fig. 21 Loom

can also assign each student two peers who will be viewing and editing members of
the student’s board, who will assess and analyze the students’ process through the
activity log and provide feedback and suggestions for the same (Fig. 22).

4.2 Digital Humanities as the Way Forward

“Our conception of the humanities remains largely confined to [as Alexander Pope
noted] “the pale of Words.” Extending Winn’s observation, the practice of the human-
ities is also defined by textual performances. Humanists produce written monographs,
articles, and papers as their principal forms of scholarly performance, and the repre-
sentation of their readings and interpretations is almost always written. The digital
humanities are disruptive precisely because evidence of reading is often displayed in
forms other than text and written prose. Consider the use of databases, maps, graphs,
and diagrams, for instance. Digital humanists are, in my formulation, those who read
and interpret texts with the aid of digital tools; and, importantly, the evidence of their
reading is a digitally mediated performance. The screen expands the possibilities for
 80

Fig. 22 Trello
S. Kumari
Digital Pedagogy for English Teaching … 81

how humanists demonstrate evidence and proves especially valuable as a space for
visual representations and visualizations. The screen also affords new options for
what humanists can make, beyond what is possible with print” (Staley 2017). It may
be high time that India should be more open to accepting Digital Humanities within
the curriculum framework of its higher education. Digital archiving makes for an
integral part of Digital Humanities and it can be defined as repositories of several
digital information ensuring more accessibility and preservation of ideas, culture,
and heritage.
Ambedkar University Institutional Archive: The Institutional Memory Project of
AU has been one such important initiative that attempts to identify key documents
and recordings, transcribe the recordings, catalog and classify these documents and
audiovisual records. This also includes a process to digitize, catalog, and classify
the audio-visual data and transcripts. It also helped in creating an online database or
repository for the same and add these documents/ recordings to the digital repository.
Delhi University’s Miranda House has recently embarked on a similar ambitious
project of creating an archive of its 72-years-old history with the help of its alumni
through letters, photographs, diaries, memorabilia, and “ephemera” to document the
history of women in higher education. The Miranda House Archiving Project which
was announced recently took a long time to ferment as Dr. Shweta Jha, the professor
from the department of English leading the project, said that other than preservation
of memory and narrative, the project aims for extending its interest into diving deeper
into women’s history and the history of higher education in India. “When we think of
the past of higher education, we normally look at it through institutions but I thought
we could rethink… There are various themes we could explore. One could be women
traveling as students. I’m especially keen on looking at women and science,” she said
(Baruah 2020). She also shared that they are currently transcribing the interviews by
alumnae of the college and soon it will be made accessible for the researchers working
in the field of women’s history and education in India (Sharma 2020). While this
could materialize into the creation of a public website of the archive, acting principal
of Miranda House, Dr. Bijayalaxmi Nanda said that the college could eventually
create a larger virtual as well as a physical museum. “I’m interested in the telling
of the history of a woman’s college. A “herstory” is a narrative. It’s not just about
achievements. In an old college magazine, I found a piece written by the first principal
about how she had offered sari to students who had come to her home and had been
caught in the rain… Narratives of what women students’ access to education had
been like, their relationships with their teachers and each other,” said Dr. Nanda
(Baruah 2020).
Digital Humanities Alliance for Research and Teaching Innovations (DHARTI)
is another initiative towards organizing and facilitating digital practices in arts
and humanities scholarship in India and take the trajectory of archiving beyond
academic institutes. Some institutions also offered this as undergraduate or postgrad-
uate courses for instance, Jadavpur University, Koti Women’s College, Srishti Insti-
tute of Arts and Design and Technology to name a few whereas Presidency University,
IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Delhi, Delhi University, and Aligarh Muslim University have
all experimented with courses (as a single unit) on Digital Humanities. Also, certain
82 S. Kumari

initiatives by central and state governments on “Digitize India” and “Digital India”
have provisions to facilitate wide-ranging investments in digitization, digital library,
and curation. Digitize India, Delhi Archives, National Digital Library, etc., are some
very important key projects. One of the primary objectives of these projects is to make
digital content available to the wider public, researchers, and academics. These kinds
of digital initiatives open up a new horizon in the landscape of humanities to engage
in Digital Humanities research practice by harnessing digital tools and techniques.
Nevertheless, there has been little attention and investment in deploying these digital
contents for advanced scholarly practice which entails robust infrastructure (2020).

5 Conclusion

Digital Humanities at the crossroads of the current crisis in India would be crucial in
the mass production of knowledge and allowing its availability to all. Integrated multi-
media learning holds the potential to further strengthen English teaching–learning.
“This is the promise of digital humanities: critical, generous digital scholarship that
has the potential to cross institutional sectors; overcome the divides between archive,
library, university, and museum; and create networked publics. What if we were to
use these affordances of digital humanities in the service of communities that have
been marginalized in digital knowledge production?” (Risam 2019). For a stream
as Humanities, a vast variety of digitization of knowledge and subject-specific ideas
could be well-curated. This narrative shall be capable of bringing all the humanists
together to forge ahead in what one may define as a knowledge revolution of bringing
together all the experiential anecdotes and build a more participatory environment
for emancipation against all odds.

References

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ianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/miranda-house-archiving-project-history-6655535/.
Chaturvedi, U, Kapoor, V. (2020). How can India’s rural communities get online and
get going. https://www.forbesindia.com/blog/coronavirus/how-can-indias-rural-communities-
get-online-and-get-going/.
Fletcher, C. (2019). Educational technology and the humanities: A history of control, debates in
the digital humanities. In: Matthew, K. G., Lauren, F. K. Published by: University of Minnesota
Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctvg251hk.33?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
373–374 (2019)
https://www.thehindu.com/education/coronavirus-lockdown-covid-19-widened-educational-div
ide-unesco-report/article31907857.ece. (2020).
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/14/3/000471/000471.htmll. (2020).
Kapasiaa, N., & Paulb, P. et al. (2020). Impact of lockdown on learning status of undergraduate and
postgraduate students during COVID-19 pandemic in West Bengal, India, Children and Youth
Services Review, pp. 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105194.
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Mayer, E. R. (2009). Multimedia learning, 2nd Edn. University of California, Santa Barbara:
Cambridge University Press.
Pitroda, S. (2020). Digital India is not ready for digital education. https://indianexpress.com/art
icle/opinion/columns/digital-education-online-classes-learning-coronavirus-national-education-
policy-6580744/.
Risam, R. (2019). New digital worlds postcolonial digital humanities in theory. Praxis, and
Pedagogy: Northwestern University Press.
Seo, K. K. (2008). Templeton, R. et al., Creating a ripple effect: Incorporating multimedia-assisted
project-based learning in teacher education, theory into practice , Vol. 47, No. 3, New Media and
Education in the 21st Century, pp. 259–265. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. http://www.jstor.com/stable/
40071550n.
Staley, D. (2017). On the “Maker Turn” in the humanities chapter, making things and drawing
boundaries: Experiments in the digital humanities. University of Minnesota Press Stable. https://
www.jstor.org/stable/https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctt1pwt6wq.5. 36.
Sharma, R. (2020). Documenting memories: Miranda house to archive the college journeys of its
students. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/documenting-memories-miranda-house-
to-archive-the-college-journeys-of-its-students/articleshow/78734880.cms.
Corpus Analysis for Literary Studies:
Application and Relevance

Shahila Zafar and Zaved Ahmed Khan

Abstract The use of corpus tools for the teaching-learning and research of literary
texts is not widespread. The present study attempts to explore the possibility of the
use of corpus tools in literature classrooms. It involves the creation of a corpus of
representative poetry of major English poets belonging to the Modern period of
English literature, W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, and W. H. Auden. Using concordance
software AntConc, a corpus of Word Types and Word Tokens was prepared. The
corpus data showed the most frequent words, collocations, and concordances used
in the selected poetry of the period. An attempt at juxtaposing the results of the
study with the common thematic, narrative, and stylistic interpretations of the poems
is made. The results also indicate the potential of enhancing the reliability of the
corpus-based analysis of literary texts, especially when corpora were extensive. A
significant implication of the study was found to be that the corpus-tools could play
a crucial role in promoting learner autonomy in a traditionally teacher-led literature
classroom.

Keywords Concordance · Collocation · Corpus analysis · Literary texts · Word

frequency

1 Corpus Linguistics and Literary Studies

The use of corpus tools in literary scholarship is rare, even after significant advance-
ments made in the field of applied linguistics in particular and digital humanities in
general (Bornet & Kaplan, 2017; Ganascia, 2015; Pace-Sigge, 2013; Moretti, 2005;
Schmitt, 2004. Though there has been some research available under the domain
in corpus stylistics (Hubbard 2002; Stubbs 2005), there is a general lack of trust in

S. Zafar (B)
Department of English, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda 151401, Punjab, India
e-mail: [email protected]
Z. A. Khan
Department of Biotech Engineering & Food Technology, Chandigarh University, Mohali 140301,
Punjab, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 85
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_6
86 S. Zafar and Z. A. Khan

anything that is number-based in literary scholarship. This being one of the reasons
why not much research has been conducted on literary texts using corpus methods,
which are primarily empirical in nature. A quick look at the results in Google Scholar
website using keywords “corpus,” “word frequency”/“collocation”/“concord” and
“poetry,” “fiction,” etc. reveals a severe scarcity of published research in the literary
field using corpus tools, generally from across the world and especially from India.
Consequently, there is little awareness of how computer-based tools can be employed
for teaching and researching literary texts.
In a corpus (a collection of naturally occurring words), the word frequency list is
populated by the most frequently occurring words in a corpus, whereas concordance
is the contextualized example of language usage within the corpus. Additionally, a
collocate displays this context in detail. The present chapter intends to contribute to
the existing literature and initiate an investigation of word frequencies and colloca-
tions in the selected works of some of the prominent figures from English poetry of
the Modern period to explore how the results of the methods and results of the study
can be further utilized in an English literature classroom.

1.1 Corpus Tools in Language and Literature Classrooms

Usage of corpus tools in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom is gaining

currency (Casan-Pitarch, 2015; Grigoryan, 2016; Lee, 2015; McEnery & Xiao, 2010)
and though some research has been conducted to investigate the use of corpus tools
for teaching literary texts in the context of their stylistic features—an aspect of these
texts more adaptable to corpus analysis (Römer, 2006), there has been little done
to incorporate corpus-based research in literature classes as a regular feature. Most
courses focussing on literary texts, especially in India, involve a general explanation
of key themes, characters, and questions expected for end-term examinations. All this
often requires using a print version of the primary text and notes, prepared, borrowed,
or purchased from the market. Students are often not required to participate in any
discussions and mostly listen to the lecture being delivered. There is little student-led
initiative required during the sessions, thus leading to a general tendency of passive
listening on the part of the learner.

2 Methodology

For the study, four poems of W. B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (1890),
“The Second Coming” (1920), “A Prayer for My Daughter” (1921) and “Sailing
to Byzantium” (1928) were selected. T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece, the long poem, The
Waste Land (1922) was included in addition to W. H. Auden’s poems, “The Unknown
Citizen” (1940), “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” (1940), “September 1, 1939” (1939)
and “The Shield of Achilles” (1955). All these poems are considered to represent
Corpus Analysis for Literary Studies: Application and Relevance 87

poems of the Modern period of English literature (1888–1949). English poetry of

the Modern period, which comprises the present corpus, is believed to be the poetry
of disillusionment, expressing the general despair of these poets with the world
around them (Hubbel, 1956). This was, sometimes due to personal reasons and,
sometimes due to times they were living in, the times of the great World Wars, the
Russian revolution, Nazi Germany, the destructive effects of the industrialization of
the modern civilization, and an overall sense of disorientation due to Darwinian,
Marxist and Freudian theories that shook the foundations of long-held traditional
beliefs of the Western civilization.
The present corpus was deliberately kept small to reflect the number of literary
texts usually studied in a typical English literature course at the undergraduate level in
India. To prepare a corpus, the texts of the poems were first copied from the website
www.poets.org and pasted in.txt files separately, as required by the corpus analysis
software. Next, the texts from all the files were uploaded to AntConc software, which
had already been downloaded.
The analysis of the uploaded texts was conducted using the Word List and Collo-
cates features of AntConc. Laurence Anthony’s program AntConc was chosen as
the software to analyze the data. It is free to download at www.laurenceanthony.net
and has powerful tools such as word frequency lists, a KWIC (keyword in context)
concordance, and collocation generators ranked according to the raw frequency.
In the context of the empirical nature of the study, it was expected that the following
research questions could be answered:
1. What are the most frequent words in the selected corpus?
2. What are the most frequent collocations of the most frequent noun and verb in
the selected corpus?
The answers to above-listed research questions are also expected to reveal some
patterns that provide empirical evidence related to what has long been believed to be
some of the lexical features of Modernist English poetry.

3 Interpretation and Discussion of Findings

The following are some of the findings related to word-frequency and collocation
and concordance analysis related to the selected text.

3.1 Word Frequency

The results of the wordlist analysis reveal the following: To begin with, the Word
List function of AntConc was run and results revealed were on the expected lines
that the most frequent words would be function words, mostly comprising of articles
and prepositions—the, and, of , a and, in were the top five most frequent words in
88 S. Zafar and Z. A. Khan

Table 1 Word frequency list

Occurrence Occurrence Occurrence Occurrence Occurrence
1 390 the 21 31 there 41 19 man 61 13 nothing 81 9 eyes
2 198 and 22 30 are 42 19 who 62 13 so 82 9 heart
3 173 of 23 30 for 43 18 have 63 12 day 83 9 know
4 149 a 24 30 s 44 18 o 64 12 down 84 9 old
5 109 in 25 29 at 45 18 said 65 12 never 85 9 shall
6 87 to 26 28 by 46 18 their 66 12 now 86 8 death
7 83 i 27 28 her 47 17 not 67 12 t 87 8 jug
8 60 is 28 26 my 48 16 me 68 12 under 88 8 like
9 52 that 29 25 no 49 16 water 69 12 up 89 8 mountains
10 50 his 30 24 from 50 15 if 70 11 an 90 8 white
11 43 you 31 24 one 51 15 this 71 11 our 91 7 air
12 42 he 32 24 out 52 15 where 72 11 rock 92 7 another
13 39 on 33 23 as 53 14 be 73 11 they 93 7 children
14 39 xa 34 22 can 54 14 dead 74 11 time 94 7 city
15 37 was 35 22 we 55 14 only 75 11 which 95 7 dry
16 36 or 36 22 were 56 14 over 76 11 x 96 7 hands
17 35 what 37 21 all 57 14 when 77 10 night 97 7 here
18 34 with 38 20 its 58 13 do 78 10 those 98 7 light
19 32 it 39 20 she 59 13 had 79 10 your 99 7 living
20 31 but 40 20 upon 60 13 into 80 9 each 100 7 long
#Word Types: 1962
#Word Tokens: 5795
#Search Hits: 0

the corpus of 1962 Word Types and 5795 Word Tokens. With the aim of finding
meaningful chunks of language from the corpus, they were ignored as search words.
To answer the first research question, the frequency list for the most common content
words in this corpus, shown below in Table 1, was prepared:
As shown in Table 1, the top most frequent content words are state verbs “is,”
“was,” and “are,” reflecting the descriptive nature of the poems. Additionally, the most
frequent non-copula content word is “no,” indicating the pessimistic attitude reflected
in the poems. Interestingly, the most frequently used non-verb form is “man.” This
illustrates the fact that most of the subject matter of the poems is focused on the issues
affecting the “man” of modern times. The term ‘man’ here is used as a representative
term, synonymous with “humanity,” including the term “woman.” Table 1 also reveals
that the most common non-copula verb used in the corpus is “said,” indicating the
narrative and dialogic structure of the poems. Additionally, nouns such as “water”
and “dead” follow “man” as the second and third most frequent nouns.

3.2 Collocates and Concordances of the Noun “Man”

To answer the second research question, the collocation analysis of the most frequent
noun “man” in the frequency list (Table 1) was carried out. The results, as shown in
Corpus Analysis for Literary Studies: Application and Relevance 89

Fig. 1 Collocates of “man”

Fig. 1, reveal that the article “the” tops the list with a frequency of 6, followed by
the preposition “of” and article “a”:
This result was on expected lines, considering that “man” is a common noun
requiring an article in general. The most frequent non-article and non-propositional
collocate of “man” turn out to be “old,” followed by “young,” indicating an anony-
mous representation of the term “man” in the corpus. The concordance of the term
“man” as shown in Fig. 2 demonstrates that the term is spread almost equally over

Fig. 2 Concordance of “man”

90 S. Zafar and Z. A. Khan

the texts of the three poets, indicating a prominent tendency of a masculine voice in
their poems.

3.3 Collocates and Concordances of the Verb “Said”

An analysis of the most common non-copula verb used in the corpus “said” reveals
that the most frequent collocates of the verb were the pronouns “I,” “she,” and “he”
(Fig. 3).
A close look at the concordance function in Fig. 4 shows that almost all of these
instances are to be found in The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, a poem with multiple
speakers/narrators corroborating with the fragmentary nature of the poem itself.
The results, as shown in Fig. 4, are on expected lines as the speakers are referred
to using pronouns “I,” “he,” and “she.” However, their frequency was relatively low
(3 each) and most of these collocations were a part of the poem The Waste Land.
This pattern illustrates the thematic as well as conversational concerns of the poem.
Additionally, the fact that the poems of the other texts, by W. B. Yeats and W. H.
Auden, do not seem to show much in terms of word frequency and collocations of the
term, as displayed in the results, might illustrate the fact that the diction and syntax
of their poems were more varied and experimental. This also highlights the fact that
the corpus needed to be larger for better visibility patterns of concordance and better
explorations vis a vis poetic output of Yeats and Auden.

Fig. 3 Collocates of “said”

Corpus Analysis for Literary Studies: Application and Relevance 91

Fig. 4 Concordance of “said”

3.4 Implications for English Literature Classrooms

Whereas corpus studies, being imperial in nature and depending on computer-based

tools which can be inaccessible in some contexts, are often thought to be more
suitable for linguistic-oriented quantitative research, there are many aspects to these
methods that can facilitate literary studies as well:
• First, The results of corpus-tool based explorations can reveal, lexically and
syntactically, patterns in the text that may remain elusive to a detailed reading
of the printed version, for example, the recurrent collocation of the word said’
with the three pronouns “I,” “he,” and “she” reveals not just the speech-act (direct)
involved but also indicate toward a multiplicity of voices in the text. This can lead
to an enhanced and multi-faceted appreciation of the literary text.
• Secondly, the corpus tools for the study of literature can also help expose litera-
ture students to the possibilities and prospects of the field of digital humanities,
a field still relatively unknown and unexplored in India, especially in English
departments.
• This, in turn, can motivate students to explore further and undertake corpus
and digital tools-based investigations in the vastly unexplored domain of Indian
literature, including Indian English literature.
• Additionally, learner autonomy, which has become the cornerstone of the latest
teaching approaches, can be promoted with the help of these corpus tools. The
students can be encouraged to initiate their own mini-projects in the study of a
literary text. This, in turn, can lead to enhanced motivation, involvement, and
sense of accomplishment.
92 S. Zafar and Z. A. Khan

• Lastly, to attract the post-modern and post-industrial young generation of digital

natives to English departments in the era of “crisis of the humanities,” it is essential
that the teaching and learning methods in these departments and desciplines are
adapted and updated to suit the contemporary patterns of teaching and learning.

4 Conclusion

Usage of corpus tools for literary analysis is not a common practice in English.
The present study attempted to initiate and explore the viability of usage such tools
in English literary studies, especially in India. The results reveal that there is a
possibility of the emergence of collocation patterns in literary texts as well, even
though the writing style of a writer can vary according to the time, location, and
temperament of the writer. The results also revealed that preparing a large corpus
of literary texts would be a prerequisite for the emergence of more robust and more
reliable collocation patterns to emerge. Thus, the results of this exploratory study
serve to direct future practitioners of corpus analysis of literary texts toward some
pointers for a more methodologically rigorous corpus-based analysis of literary texts.
Even though access to digital devices is still not universal, the more widespread
and cheaper availability of smart data and digital devices would be able to encourage
the use of these valuable corpus tools as well. The results of the study will be of interest
to literary researchers of English poetry of the Modern period, in particular, and
to teachers and scholars working with literary texts, in general.

References

Auden, W. H. (1939). September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden - Poems | Academy of American Poets.

Retrieved 21 September 2020, from https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939.
Auden, W. H. (1940). In Memory of W. B. Yeats by W. H. Auden—Poems|poets.org. Retrieved 21
September 2020, from https://poets.org/poem/memory-w-b-yeats.
Auden, W. H. (1940). The Unknown Citizen by W. H. Auden—Poems|Academy of American Poets.
Retrieved 21 September 2020, from https://poets.org/poem/unknown-citizen.
Auden, W. H. (1955). The shield of achilles by W. H. Auden—Poems|poets.org. Retrieved 21
September 2020, from https://poets.org/poem/shield-achilles.
Bornet, C., & Kaplan, F. (2017). A simple set of rules for characters and place recognition in French
novels. Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 4(6). https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2017.00006.
Casan-Pitarch, R. (2015). The genre ‘about us’: A case study of banks’ corporate webpages.
International Journal of Language Studies, 9(2), 69–96.
Eliot, T. S. (1922). The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot—Poems|Academy of American Poets. Retrieved
21 September 2020, from https://poets.org/poem/waste-land.
Ganascia, J. G. (2015). The logic of the big data turn in digital literary studies. Frontiers in Digital
Humanities, 2(7). https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2015.00007.
Grigoryan, T. (2016). Using learner corpora in language teaching. International Journal of Language
Studies, 10(1), 71–90.
Hubbell, L. W. (1956). Some characteristics of modern poetry. Doshisha Literature, 19(1), 20.
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Hubbard, E. H. (2002). Conversation, characterization and corpus linguistics: Dialogue in Jane

Austen’s sense and sensibility. Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics
and Literary Studies, 23(2), 67–85.
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analysis of an academic spoken corpus and a casual conversation corpus. International Journal
of Language Studies, 9(2), 27–48.
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E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of Research In Second Language Teaching And Learning (Vol. 2,
pp. 364–380). London & New York: Routledge.
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149–174.
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English studies. In A. Gerbig & A. Müller-Wood (Eds.), How Globalization Affects the Teaching
of English: Studying Culture Through Texts (pp. 81–109). Lampeter: Mellen Press.
Schmitt, N. (2004). Formulaic Sequences: Acquisition, Processing and Use. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
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Yeats, W. B. (1890). The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W. B. Yeats—Poems|poets.org. Retrieved 21
September 2020, from https://poets.org/poem/lake-isle-innisfree.
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E-learning as an Aid to Face Challenges
of Koreans to Learn English as a Second
Language in Korea

Deepanjali Mishra and Minhyeong Lee

Abstract Colonization has had a huge impact on the implementation of English

over the world. India, Australia, America South Africa have been considered some
countries that are directly affected by colonization. In these countries, English is a
natural language spoken by most people, such as a native speaker. However, some
countries, such as South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, etc., have not been colonized
by British rule, and therefore, they do not have English as their preferred language.
However, due to globalization, and the surge in their business worldwide, it became
necessary for these counties to learn English because English is the language for
interaction and is the gateway for all education and business opportunities across the
world. The need for students to learn English makes it necessary for the government
of non-speaking countries to incorporate the language in their curriculum. Therefore,
this paper attempts to emphasize the challenges faced by non-native Korean English
speakers and explore some probabilities of implementing e-learning as a method-
ology that can be incorporated as a pedagogy to learn English as a second language
in Korea.

Keywords E-learning · Korean students · Globalization · Pedagogy

1 Introduction

The literature on colonialism tends to focus on Europe’s economic exploitation of

many regions and people around the world and Europeans’ use of excessive force
toward the latter. While these issues are undoubtedly of great importance, it is equally
important to understand the cultural and, specifically the linguistic and discursive
practices that came to be associated with European colonial rule. Some argue that the
historical and current bloodshed of western imperialism has transformed the English
language into a universal tool of communication. Through centuries of colonialism,

D. Mishra (B)
School of Humanities, KIIT University India, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751024, India
M. Lee
School in Department of Practical English, Korea National Open University, Seoul, South Korea

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 95
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_7
96 D. Mishra and M. Lee

neocolonialism, Cold War expansionism, and, most recently, globalization, the West
has spread its preferred systems of capitalism, democracy, and moral values. The
British, until the beginning of the twentieth century, and more recently the Americans,
have emerged as the major sources of foreign influence throughout the globe. As a
result of this, contemporary English is detached from any specific cultural identity;
it is a tool that links different societies in an increasingly smaller world. World
leadership passed to the United States in the course of the two world wars. With the
spread of films, radio, television, and globalization, English has attained an even more
dominant position as a world language. Technical development and international
communication have confirmed the position of English in the world. Today, there
are about 400 million people who have English as their first language or mother
tongue. More than this, have English as their second language. These are mainly
people living in former British colonies, people who also often have a native tongue.
Being so widespread, English picks up words from other languages. English has, as
opposed to French, always been willing to adopt words. Listen to these examples
from “Journeys in English” by Bill Bryson.

2 Review of Literature

As Rafael Trelles, a member of the Puerto Rican Independentista Party claims, People
dedicate their time and resources to learning and perfecting their understanding and
knowledge of English, rather than preserving their own customs and culture. Christo-
pher Muscato has stated, “Each of these languages has its own colonial history, and
each helped spread European empires. As with the ancient Romans, early modern
European empires used their own tongues as the administrative language, requiring
local chiefs and officials to master it as well. Colonial languages were the language
of politics, which meant that a lack of fluency was a natural barrier preventing
many colonized people from gaining political power. Rather than being an English-
speaking entity that is invaded or conquered and acquiring new words, English is now
at the forefront of globalization. Globalization is simply a more ‘socially acceptable’
means of imperialism, without violence.” (Corradi). English influences communi-
cation worldwide by being the standard language for science, technology and other
important fields, making it seem more important than learning other languages. A
possible solution suggested by Robert Phillipson is to continue teaching English but
also to stress the importance of multilingualism (Burns). English dominates commu-
nication globally, and it is vitally important for all teachers and native speakers
of the English language to realize their privilege in the world and to not act as
linguistic imperialists in the classroom. The year 2015 is marked as the 132nd year
of English education since the first English school, Dongmoonhak, was founded in
1883. However, it remains undeniable that Korea is one of the countries from the
Expanding Circle (Kachru 1985) where English is used neither as an official nor as a
second language. At the same time, the active use of English among Korean speakers
makes it hard to argue that English is unpopular in Korea. A huge amount of money is
E-learning as an Aid to Face Challenges of Koreans … 97

spent on English education every year. According to a Korean daily newspaper, “The
Hankyoreh”, the amount reached up to 20 trillion won (approximately $20 billion)
in 2006 (Park 2009). Hundreds of thousands of English teachers are “imported” to
Korea every year. Most, if not all, English teachers are required to be native speakers,
as Koreans believe that native speakers are the best teachers of English.

3 An Analysis of The Challenges Faced by The Korean

Students in the Cultural Environment

Korean students face huge challenges while learning a second language, especially
English. Some of them are as follows:
Types of Challenges:
– Grammatical
The Korean students used to studied English during their school days usually
from mid-level. But now the situation has changed, and Koreans start learning
English from 3rd standard itself, that is, when they are 10 years when they are in
the elementary school. There are even many kindergartens to teach English for the
basic words or sentences. But the problem young learners faced right now is that
the students usually concentrate on Grammar-use studying from the teachers. And
the Grammars teaching methodology is more conventional and classical, which
has never changed since then. The topics that were discussed was the same as
it was being taught years ago. Even in the twenty-first century, when the use of
smartphones and the internet are very common among learners, the methodology
must be evolved. The Grammar of English is quite different from the Korean
language Hangul, especially in the word order systems. It is very important to
teach how it was different from each other. Therefore a unique, analytic method of
approach is needed. But in Korea, many students are overloaded with the number
of studies in a school and in after-school called as Hagwon the private education.
The students do not get time to read and study English due to their very heavy
work pressure and the assignments they get in their schools. Another thing is when
they get to see the English textbooks in their 3rd or 5th grade, those books are
quite difficult to understand for the young learner to understand as a beginner’s
book. So it is very necessary to change into a more easy and more interactive
textbook for the school children. There is not much experience to interact with
foreign English teachers by students. When students are in their middle level or
even higher level they did not have a foreign teacher to teach English. But now the
situation is mostly changed, so many foreign teachers are working in the school
these days. That is encouraging. But even so, the students do not have much time
to interact with the foreign teacher who is a native speaker of English. From
elementary school children to even high school ones use the private teachers who
are in the Philippines or southern Asian countries through the online program.
They even prefer going abroad to Europe or America, such as Canada or the USA,
98 D. Mishra and M. Lee

for the vacation (in the summer and winter when they finished their semesters)
program. They have to pay more money to learn English in foreign countries, such
as the USA or UK. Sometimes it becomes very difficult for the students of Korea
to go abroad and pursue their studies and enroll themselves in different English
programs because they are unable to afford it due to poverty. Therefore it is very
important for Korea to appoint faculties from English-speaking countries, such
as the USA, UK, Australia, etc., who are best qualified to teach English.
– Analyzing the Sentence structure
Most students in the school are being taught by their Korean teachers, especially
in elementary school, as writing and reading the sentences of English. I think
that is more passive teaching, not self-leading teaching which is very commonly
experienced by almost all the Koreans. It must be changed more to bring about
interactive and mutual learning for English. It should not just read, and the sentence
is interpreted, but also there should be constant interaction and conversations
with the faculties. Speaking English is more than itself; it gives confidence and
satisfaction when studying English. English teaching and learning is a continuous
process that was initiated long ago and is still continuing. Korean students usually
have learned English, such as a natural process, remembering the vocabulary,
Grammars, and sentences. It was more passive and only preparing for the exam in
the school. Those experiences are reaching to these days as the example shows us
that we see some foreigners ask some questions on the street with simple English,
but not even hard to understand it, the person who meets the foreigner does not
answer it easily or hardly answer to, even if he or she graduated the high school or
university. Have to change the learning TESOL or methods into real and practical
use, especially for speaking and listening English too.
– English as a means to the testing tool
Korea has the world’s top education eagerness by the parents. School students
are studying late in the night after finishing the school program and going to
have a private education. That is because those students and parents want to go
a high level university to succeed in society. That may be the same situation all
over the developed countries or in developing ones. But Korea is in a more serious
situation. It is too eager to enter the top universities, so parents spend much money
to upgrade the grade or results from the school. English is the language to use in
normal life and some good tool for interacting with other people and also, to study
their major in university through English-written books. But these days, English
is only used as a testing tool for how the students are well done in the school
or high ranking in the national Scholastic Ability Test. So, as second language
learners, Korea has to change the policies on how to well teach their students.
Not just for test-takers, but to learn English as a pure language to enjoy itself
the learning pleasure, and interact with foreign persons in a whole world as the
communicating tool. The reason for this claim is that S. Korea (from now Korea) is
one of the best-developed countries in the world. The very fastest speed of internet
and smartphone users of Korea are also wonderful merits to E-learning system for
English as a 2nd language. As of the year 2020, smartphone users are almost 95%
E-learning as an Aid to Face Challenges of Koreans … 99

of the population in Korea (quoted by: https://www.statista.com/statistics/321408/

smartphone-user-penetration-in-south-korea/). It means that quite many people
can afford to the E-learning system by the portable devices, such as a smartphone
or laptops or pads. And plus more benefits, Korea has achieved the first country
in the world that launched 5G speed. With the top company of manufacturing
smartphones, such as Samsung and LG, it has a good infrastructure of doing the E-
learning. The parents of Korean are more concerning the educational achievements
or goals of their children. Entering a famous university is the top priority in a family
that has a student. Similar to other developed countries, Korea has also suffered
the job creation for young people and graduates from college. When getting a
good condition of the paychecks, most graduates want to have the high-paying
jobs. In this course, English skills are a base condition for those whom want to
have that job. So, with all options and conditions in the ground of Korea prepared,
Korea is very fitted in the environment of E-learning.
With Covid 19, Korea is struggling well with that virus, even in school too.
Schools in Korea are teaching through internet-based devices. It is going well for
the infrastructure of the internet already launched decades ago. It provides people
from kids to the elderly and older to approach the E based systems very quickly.
(1) E-learning As An Aid To Overcome The Challenges.

The reason for this claim is that S. Korea or Korea, as it is commonly understood, is
one of the best-developed countries in the world. The very fastest speed of internet
and smartphone users of Korea are also wonderful merits to E-learning system for
English as a 2nd language. As of the year 2020, smartphone users are almost 95%
of the population in Korea (quoted by : https://www.statista.com/statistics/321408/
smartphone-user-penetration-in-south-korea/). It means that quite many people can
afford to the E-learning system by the portable devices, such as a smartphone or
laptops or pads. Added to this, another benefit is Korea has achieved the distinction
of being the first country in the world that launched 5G speed. With the top company of
manufacturing smartphones, such as Samsung and LG, it has a good infrastructure of
conducting E-learning teaching techniques. The parents of Korean students are more
concerned about the educational achievements or goals of their children. Entering a
famous university is the top priority in a family that has a student. Similar to other
developed countries, Korea has also suffered the job creation for the young people
and graduates from the college. When getting a good condition of the paychecks,
most graduates want to have high-paying jobs. In this course, English skills are a
base condition for those whom want to have that job.
So, with all options and conditions in the ground of Korea, it is very fitted in the
environment of E-learning. With Covid 19, Korea is struggling well with that virus,
even in school too. Schools in Korea are teaching through internet-based devices. It
is going well for the infrastructure of the internet already launched decades ago. It
provides people from kids to the elderly and older to approach the E based systems
very quickly.
100 D. Mishra and M. Lee

(2) Why Koreans suffer in learning English: An analysis into the cultural and
historical environment.

In the year 1863, the leader of Joseon dynasty thought that outside influence could
impact his regime, so he tried to block the border and keep away from the outside
influence. Mostly those are France, USA, and some other western countries. Japan
was colonizing the Korean peninsula as of 1910. When the westerners are coming
into Korea, most are Christian missionaries. France, too, wants to transmit Catholi-
cism. The leader of that time killed many Fathers and believers for the religion.
USA also did the same like that, but it is not easy to broke the mind of the leader
or political boundaries. That would affect English learning chances and delayed
western educations, such as Medical, Languages, and Developed Mechanics, to help
people more live in comfortable conditions. Because Joseon dynasty is the country
totally involved in Confucianism since 1392 when it was launched by the King Taejo
Lee sung-gye. Joseon is quite a different nation compared with Goryeo, which has
Buddhism as the national religion, which is only one case by the dynasty in the
history of Korea, designated as the national religion.
Confucianism is more administrative ideology than Buddhism, more strict and
more loyal to the monarch. It came from China, and Korea also has been affected by
that country since 6CE. When Japan colonized Korea, all Korean have to use Japanese
in school and even changed their name, such as Japanese style. Japan was harsher
when it colonized Korea, very unlike Taiwan and other countries which colonized
by Japan. This is historical background since the Three Kingdoms age. Japan was
invading many times since then, mostly known as the Imjin war in 1592.
In this background, the Japanese wasn’t survived even now in Korea , and Korean
Not use it normally, even if Korea suffered almost 35 years of colonial days. During
the time of Colonial by Japan, English text book had been taught to the students.
In those days, most textbooks are translated by Japanese scholars from western’s
textbook, such as mathematics and English.
English curriculum was not excellent at those times and only to teach students as
a basic course to let them work in the factories or in any other place to labor them.
Korean students do not have many chances to upgrade their status. Those systems are
not all disappeared even now, when it comes to the English Curriculum but nowadays
much better than before. Those are cultural and historical environments.
(3) The difficulties faced by Korean to learn English well.

In the curriculum, Much have not been changed since we begin learning English
in school. Even we use digital devices in the fields of education, but teachers and
students are not much interactive with each other to speak English or use English
in class. So, two-way education methodology is critically needed now, and some
changes in how to teach students should we need. Korea is not a nation that normally
used the Alphabet characters but only Chinese until fifteenth century, which was
actually in the era when King Sejong made the Korean Character Hangul. And the
word order is the same, such as Japanese, but different from Chinese. Because Japan
E-learning as an Aid to Face Challenges of Koreans … 101

has been affected by Korea peninsula since Three Kingdom age, especially Gaya and
Shilla and Backje. The hardest thing to learn English is the difference in grammar
between English and Hangul. Chinese is a little same, such as English word order,
but Japanese does not. That is why The Korean and Japanese are one of the most hard
to learn from the western people, and in reverse, too. So easily approaching English
grammar and the other tools would be needed in learning English and E-learning
systems.

4 Means to Develop Non-native Skills

In analyzing the feverish conditions of English education and setting up measures or

counter-measures, we should always remember that there is no royal road to learning
English. In spite of the development of high-tech civilization facilities that make our
daily lives much more convenient, the basic ways to learn English have not been so
changed over the years. There is no secret formula to study English quickly. And
early education is no the panacea for all.

5 Conclusion

Therefore it can be concluded that Korean learners face issues while learning English
even though they have a huge craze for the language. However, digital learning has
proved to be beneficial to them, and it has been a “ boon in disguise” for them as it
provides them an instant medium for enhancing their English language acquisition.
Not only that, e-learning motivates them through a varied database, techniques that
are easy and convenient for them to use.

References

How Koreans see Westerners. Retrieved January 18, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=-JRkK6P8a9Y.
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Research Contribution to the Progress
of Digital Learning in India

Mahender Reddy Gavinolla , Sampada Kumar Swain ,

and Agita Livina

Abstract In the era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), E-

learning and digitalization of education are considered to deliver a wide array of
benefits that enhance knowledge and performance of the teaching and learning
process in higher education institutes, leading to improved learning and teaching
efficiency. Integration of digital technologies in education reduces barriers to access
education and provides an opportunity for all. In this connection, the Government
of India has taken several initiatives to integrate ICT in education, such as online
teaching-learning programs through various platforms and organizations. While
digital learning breaks several barriers of access to education for all, there are several
limitations and issues to access digital education such as poor internet connectivity
and bandwidth, lack of digital infrastructure, cost implications, training and devel-
opment, and unfavorable study environment to address. It is in this regard, to better
understand the state of digital education in India, the state of knowledge of research
over the years, particularly the implications and impacts of digital education in
India, is essential. In this regard, the aim of the study is to know the trends and
progress of research in digital education in India. The bibliometric analysis of digital
education research in India provides a better understanding of the trends and state
of the art of research both for researchers and practitioners. In doing so, authors
conducted a bibliometric analysis of digital education research in India terms year-
wise and journal-wise publication output, productive authors, country-wise contri-
bution, subject area-wise and funding sponsor-wise publication output, keyword and
citation analysis. The study was conducted using the online Scopus database of the
documents published on digital education till 2020. The study result shows that
the progress of digital education research in India has increased over the years the
research output published in top-tier journals was limited. Authors who have been
affiliated to Indian universities contributed the most. Major research themes were

M. R. Gavinolla (B)
National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Hyderabad, India
S. K. Swain
Department of Tourism Management, Pondicherry Central University, Pondicherry, India
A. Livina
Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (VUAS), Valmiera, Latvia

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 103
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_8
104 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

E-learning, distance education, digital literacy, medical education, mobile learning,

digital India, simulation, virtual labs, MOOCS, and COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords Digital education · Online education · E-learning · India ·

Bibliometrics

1 Background

Education made remarkable impacts on modern society, and now the concept of
“Right to education” moved to “Education for all” across the globe, including India
(Hazra et al., 2019a, b). The integration of the internet and ICT in education brought
a remarkable transformation in higher education (Hasan & Naskar, 2020). There has
been increased adoption of E-learning platforms due to several advantages (Thanji
& Vasantha, 2016). In the era of information technology, E-learning is considered
to deliver a wide array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance of
the teaching and learning process in higher education institutes (Rosenberg, 2001),
improved learning and teaching efficiency (Gonzalez et al. 2020). Several online
learning and teaching platforms enable the learners to obtain skill, knowledge, and
certification programs initiated by various higher educational institutes. For example,
Harvard and MIT initiated edX, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider,
in 2012 with the aim to increase the accessibility of high-quality education for all
in parts of the world and also to maximize on-campus and online teaching and
learning (Gaebel, 2014). MOOCS is widely adopted in higher educational institutes
across the globe due to its added advantages (Fadzil et al., 2015; Burd et al., 2015;
Dennis, 2012), and it is considered to be a game-changer in developing countries
(Warusavitarana et al., 2014).
Digitalization in education is the need of the era, and the Government of India has
been taking several initiatives in this regard (Saxena & Joshi, 2019). E-leaning is a
popular learning approach followed by several higher educational institutes in various
parts of the world, including India, influenced by the increased usage of information
and communication technology (Muniasamy & Ejalani, 2014). Many universities in
India are integrating the e-learning method as a new and trending approach due to
various added advantages compared to the traditional classroom settings (Ratna &
Mehra, 2015). Integration of ICT in education and implementing various e-learning
platforms will provide several benefits and access to the citizens, such as accessi-
bility to rural population to avail educational services (Gulati, 2008), access to the
disabled people (Seale, 2013; Singh & Mahapatra, 2019) opportunity to the education
for economically weaker section (Khan & Williams, 2006). Considering the added
advantages of E-learning and also to overcome this issue of access for education
for all, the Government of India has come up with several initiatives with various
e-learning platforms to provide education to the citizens of the country (Sharma,
2003). For instance, National e-Governance Plan was initiated in the year 2006 with
the aim of “providing the government services accessible to the common people in
Research Contribution to the Progress … 105

their locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, trans-
parency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs
of the common man” (Chauhan, 2009; Suklabaidya & Sen, 2013). In this initiative,
education is considered as one of the major sectors with the aim of providing access
to higher education with equity and while considering the vulnerability and it is
also believed to be promoting infrastructure, quality education, improving academic
reforms, and institutional restructuring (Chandra & Bhadoria, 2012). SWAYAM is
one such E-learning platform and MOOC provider in India by the Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Government of India, and All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE) in four quadrants, namely video lecture, reading materials, self-
assessment tests, and online discussion (Kanjilal & Kaul, 2016; SWAYAM, 2018).
Further several programs were initiated by various organizations in India, such as
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) for engineering
programs (Ananth, 2011), Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) for
undergraduate Educational program (Chakrvarty & Kaur, 2008), National Council of
Educational Research Training (NCERT) and National Institute of Open Schooling
(NIOS) for School Education (Agarwal, 2013), Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore (IIMB) for management studies have been appointed to provide quality
materials (Bansode, 2019). Digital India campaign was launched in 2015 by the
Government of India in order to ensure the improved digital services and online
infrastructure to make the country digitally empowered in the field of technology
and also education (Amit Prakash, 2017).
In this background, several studies highlighted the implications of the integra-
tion of digital technology and e-learning platforms in various platforms in various
contexts. For instance, a study conducted on the benefits of digital technology to train
community health workers in delivering the psychological treatment for depression
in rural India was found beneficial (Muke et al., 2019). Mehzbin et al. (2019) explored
the feasibility of the Acute Care Providers Project (ACPP) to remotely train commu-
nity members in India found to be useful to train lay individuals to provide basic
health care in the rural areas. Another study focusing on E-learning in medical educa-
tion said that the use of E-learning resulted in greater educational opportunities for
both students and teachers. A study focused on the innovative use of information
and communication technology (ICT) in Indian distance educational programs can
improve the educational and living standards of the community (Berman, 2008). A
study conducted on SAARC Countries including India mentioned that these coun-
tries are facing several problems in accessing the E-learning educational services
and suggested that the integration of ICT in education will solve several educa-
tional barriers (Hazra & Mukherjee, 2019). Diwakar explored the trend in estab-
lishing remote laboratories or virtual labs as a learning and teaching platform in
south Indian villages (Diwakar et al., 2016). In this regard, a study conducted on the
first Indian digital village called Akodara in Gujarat revealed that the ICICI Bank
adopted the village and implemented digital infrastructure, thereby transforming the
school with digital technologies such as LCD projector and computer, audio-video
experience. This has made the learning process interesting and conceptually clear to
the students in the village (Saxena & Joshi, 2019). There is an increased importance
106 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

and realization by the learners and providers of digital educational platforms and
educational programs in India. For example, India’s leading E-commerce companies
are offering E-learning material for formal education, certificate courses, E-books,
coaching materials for competitive exams, online tests, etc. However, there are several
issues such as trained manpower to deal with technological aspects and unavailability
of high-speed internet connection and multimedia incompatibility issues (Thanji &
Vasantha, 2016), lack of infrastructure and tools, and technologies (Frehywot et al.,
2013).
Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, to reduce the disease outbreak,
most of the countries imposed urgent lockdown strategies, and it has resulted in
the closure of the educational institutes and shift toward virtual classroom teaching
and learning in various educational institutions across the globe, including India
(Patil & Naqvi, 2020). COVID-19 pandemic has provided the prospect to the digital
revolution in the education system by adopting virtual lectures, teleconferencing,
digital books, online examination, and interaction (Strielkowski, 2020; Rajhans et al.,
2020; Kumar, 2020). This has further given an opportunity to realize the importance of
e-learning and teaching, technology-based teaching aids. The transition of traditional
learning and teaching to electronic-based one happened in a very short time. This
was further seen as an opportunity and challenge both for teachers and learners
(Patil & Naqvi, 2020). The online mode of education is discriminatory to poor and
marginalized, and disabled students (Manzoor, 2020). An online survey aimed at
understanding the digital connectivity, learning styles and experience, and mental
health of young students of India during the COVID-19 crisis found that about 60%
of the students had unlimited access to the internet while 40% faced bandwidth and
speed limitations. Further, it was mentioned that the lockdown had pushed them
to move toward online activities and lead to spending more than 6 h in front of
a screen (Khattar et al., 2020). A study aimed at understanding the enabling and
impeding factors of optometry education during the COVID-19 crisis revealed that
94% of optometry educators have moved to E-learning mode in a short time span
with greater confidence. The use of multi-device supporting video conferencing tools,
exclusive educational portals, and social media applications helped to have a rapid
transition toward online education (Rajhans et al., 2020). Another study focused on
West Bengal revealed that during the lockdown, about 70% of students were involved
in E-learning, and also found that students have been facing problems of depression,
anxiety, poor internet connectivity, and an unfavorable study environment at home.
More importantly, students from remote areas and marginalized sections faced more
problems during the pandemic (Kapasia et al., 2020).
It is widely understood, based on the previous studies, that there are several posi-
tive implications of adopting e-learning or digital learning technology in Indian
education. While digital learning breaks several barriers of access to education for
all, it is important to consider that there are several limitations and issues such as poor
internet connectivity and bandwidth, lack of digital infrastructure, cost implications,
training and development, and unfavorable study environment, etc., to address. To
better understand digital education in India, the state of knowledge of research over
the years, particularly the implications and impacts of digital education in India,
Research Contribution to the Progress … 107

is essential to the practitioners and policymakers. In this regard, several studies

examined various aspects of digital learning in India. However, to the best of the
knowledge of the researchers, there are no studies focusing on bibliometric analysis
in digital learning, especially in India. The bibliometric analysis of digital education
research in India provides a better understanding of the trends and state of the art
of research both for researchers and practitioners. In this regard, this study aims to
clarify the extent of academic research in the area of digital education in India. In
doing so, authors conducted a bibliometric analysis of digital education research
in India in terms of year-wise publication output, journal-wise publication output,
most productive authors wise publication output, authors affiliation-wise publication
output, country-wise publication output, publication output based on the document
type, subject area-wise publication output, funding sponsor-wise publication output,
cluster analysis of research themes using keyword analysis and analysis of the most
cited documents. The study was conducted using the online Scopus database of the
documents published on digital education till 2020.

2 Methodological Framework

Bibliometric analysis is an emerging approach widely used to understand the progress

and map the growth and evolution of research in a specific discipline or on a particular
topic over a period of time by using advanced tools (Zupic & Čater, 2015; Narin,
1977). To be specific bibliometric provides progress of discipline with a focus on
the citations of authors, journals and countries, keywords, themes of the research,
number of documents published in a field, and area-wise distribution of published
research (Kurtz & Bollen, 2010). Scientific contributions of institutions measured
are inextricably linked with their publications, citations, and author affiliation (Evren
& Kozak, 2014; Nagpaul, 1995; Narin & Hamilton, 1996). The present study used
the Scopus database for the analysis of data. Scopus is an abstract indexing database
produced by Elsevier, and the database includes reviewed journals (Burnham, 2006).
Research articles published in reviewed or recognized journals are considered as
“certified knowledge” (Ramos-Rodrigues & Ruis-Navarro, 2004). Thus the study
used the Scopus database for the analysis of related research of digital learning
in India. Several software packages are available for conducting the bibliometric
analysis, however VoS viewer (Van Eck & Waltman, 2010), and Tableau (Murray,
2013) are used for this study. VOS viewer version 1.6.12 is used to visualize author-
provided-keyword analysis, and tableau was used to show the year, country, subject
area, funding organization-wise contribution of the research.
There are several studies focused on various aspects of E-learning, and digital
learning in the past are mentioned below. Bibliometric studies are applied in a
wide variety of research areas includes Business Management, Tourism, Sociology,
Anthropology, History, and Policy Studies (Zhao, 2011). A longitudinal study was
conducted to know the trends in E-learning by using the bibliometric analysis. Study
results found that there is a difference in their approach of e-learning between the
108 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

leading countries that have adopted long back and the early adopter countries (Hung,
2012). A bibliometric study was conducted to understand the state of research in
e-learning from 1989 to 2018 by using the Web of Science database, and the study
presented the result of prominent authors, countries, collaborations, journals, and
citations (Fatima & Abu, 2019), trends in scientific production of literature related
to e-learning (Jalali et al., 2018), the collaboration of authors, productive countries
and institutes in e-learning research by using the Scopus database (Tibaná-Herrera
et al., 2018b). Several studies applied Bibliometrics analysis to know the growth and
trends related to digital and e-learning by using Scopus database. For instance, an
article used a scientometric and content analysis of the journals indexed in Social
Science Citation Index (SSCI) visualized the trends in e-learning (Maurer & Khan,
2010), trends of e-learning literature indexed in the SSCI database from 1967 to 2009
(Chiang et al., 2010), E-Learning growth and trends (Aparicio et al., 2014), growth
and impact of distance education journals (Zawacki-Richter et al., 2010). Another
study explored the growth and development of E-learning related literature over five
decades in Nigeria (Harande & Ladan, 2013). A bibliometric study used Scopus
database and VOSViewer visualization application to map the trends and themes in
“e-learning” (Tibaná-Herrera et al., 2018a). A paper focused on a biometric exami-
nation of library and information science research-related literature originated from
India by using the data abstracted in “Library and Information Science Abstracts”
(Patra & Chand, 2006).
Authors carried out a bibliometric analysis of scientific production indexed in the
online Scopus online database, and the database is accessed on October 3, 2020,
applying keyword search “India” and “Digital education” or “Digital learning” or
“Cyber learning” or “Online education” or “Online learning” or “E-learning” or
“electronic learning” or “virtual learning.” The document search strategy included
article title, abstract, and keywords and results refined to access, including open
access and other publications till 2020. The result is shown as TITLE-ABS-KEY
(India AND “Digital education” OR “Digital learning” OR “Cyber learning” OR
“Online education” OR “Online learning” OR “E-learning” OR “electronic learn-
ing” OR “virtual learning”) AND (EXCLUDE (LANGUAGE, “Spanish”)) AND
(EXCLUDE (SRCTYPE, “d”)). Search strategy includes only the English language,
and documents that are published in other than English are excluded and included all
the documents except trade reports from the analysis. Search resulted in 626 docu-
ments for further analysis. Then the export documentation setting included citation
information, bibliographic information, abstract and keywords, funding, and other
details, and the same is exported into comma-separated values (CSV) with an excel
spreadsheet, and in addition to this a manual coding and data entry is applied, wher-
ever necessary. Microsoft Excel, VOSviewer software, and tableau were employed
for the analysis, with manual coding, wherever necessary.
Research Contribution to the Progress … 109

Fig. 1 Year-wise publication output on digital learning research in India

3 Results

3.1 Year-Wise Publication Output

The number of documents published on digital learning in India over two decades,
starting from 2000 to 2020, is presented in Fig. 1. It is important to note that based
on the Scopus abstract database, there were no documents published before the year
2000 on digital learning in India. Study results show that the number of publica-
tions increased over the years. From 2000 to 2003, there were only three publi-
cations; however, the publication trend started in 2004. The numbers of documents
published on an average from the year 2004 to 2009 were 12. Subsequently, the trend
is continued from 2010 to 2020, and during this time each year, there was a minimum
of 19 articles to a maximum of 87 documents with an average of 51 documents per
year. There has been an exponential growth in the publication of documents in the
year 2015 with 87 documents. From the year 2020 till the month of September, there
were 87 articles published.

3.2 Journal-Wise Publication Output

The most productive journal in terms of publications, particularly journal articles

related to digital learning in India, is shown in Fig. 2. The top 10 journals that have
published a minimum of five articles are shown in the figure. International Journal of
Applied Engineering Research ranked number one with 58 articles, followed by the
next journal, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, with 34 articles, and
110 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

Fig. 2 Journal-wise publication output on digital learning research in India

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series ranked third with 12 articles. The
remaining journals published minimum five articles to a maximum of ten articles.

3.3 Most Productive Authors Wise Publication Output

Authors who have contributed the most to digital learning research in India are
shown in Fig. 3. There were ten authors in the list of most contributed authors who
have published a minimum of five articles and a maximum of ten articles. “Raman
Raghu” affiliated to “Amrita School of Business,” Coimbatore, India ranked first
with the contribution of ten documents followed by “Achuthan Krishnashree” affil-
iated to “Amrita University,” Kollam, India, and “Diwakar Shyam” affiliated to
“Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,” Coimbatore, India contributed nine documents
each. Similarly, “Nair Bipin G” affiliated to “Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,” Coim-
batore, India, and “Nedungadi Prema” affiliated to “Amrita University,” Kollam, India
contributed eight documents each. “Bijlani Kamal” and “Nizar Nijin” affiliated to
“Amrita University,” Kollam, India, and “Nori Kesav Vithal” affiliated to “Inter-
national Institute of Information Technology,” Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India, and
“Radhamani Rakhi” and “Sasidharakurup, Hemalatha” affiliated to “Amrita Univer-
sity,” Kollam, India contributed five articles each on digital learning research in
India.

Fig. 3 Most productive authors wise publication output on digital learning research in India
Research Contribution to the Progress … 111

Fig. 4 Most productive institutes-wise output on digital learning research in India

3.4 Authors Affiliation-Wise Publication Output

Analysis of research output based on the author affiliation is shown in Fig. 4. There
were ten institutes in the list of the most contributed institute that are contributed with
a minimum of 7 documents to and a maximum of 24 documents. “Amrita University,”
Kollam in India ranked first with the contribution of 24 documents followed by
“Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,” Coimbatore, India with 15 documents and “Indian
Institute of Technology,” Bombay in India with 14 documents ranked second and
third, respectively. “IIIT, Hyderabad” and “Indira Gandhi National Open University,”
New Delhi in India contributed 11 and 10 documents, respectively. Institutes such
as “Vellore Institute of Technology,” Vellore in and “Anna University,” Chennai and
“University of Delhi,” New Delhi in India contributed nine documents each. “Indian
Institute of Technology,” Kharagpur and “Indian Institute of Technology,” Delhi in
India contributed eight and nine documents, respectively.

3.5 Country-Wise Publication Output

Most contributed countries with a minimum of 4 to a maximum of 479 docu-

ments to the digital learning research in India are shown in Fig. 5. “India” is the
leading country that contributed the most with 479 documents and ranked first.
“The United States of America,” “the United Kingdom,” and “Australia” ranked two,
three, and four with 55, 23, and 15 documents, respectively. The remaining countries
such as “Indonesia,” “South Korea,” “Taiwan,” “Malaysia,” “Switzerland,” “China,”
“Morocco,” “Sweden,” and “Thailand” contributed less than eight documents digital
learning research in India.
112 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

Fig. 5 Most productive country-wise output on digital learning research in India

Fig. 6 Most productive documents by type on digital learning research in India

3.6 Publication Output Based on the Document Type

The numbers of documents published on digital learning research in India based on

the type of documents are shown in Fig. 6. Based on the findings of the research, there
were 287 articles, and 256 conference papers contributed the most. Books chapters
and conference review papers contributed 40 and 18 documents, respectively. Other
documents such as books, editorials, and notes, etc., contributed over 25 documents.

3.7 Subject Area-Wise Publication Output

The number of articles published based on the subject is of digital learning research
in India is outlined in Fig. 7. Based on the findings of the research, there were 285
Research Contribution to the Progress … 113

Fig. 7 Subject area-wise publication output on digital learning research in India

documents published in the subject area of “Computer Science” ranked number one
followed by “Social Science” and “Engineering” with 246 and 205, respectively,
the most. Other subject areas such as “Business, Management and Accounting” and
“Medicine” contributed 64 and 61 documents respectively. Other subject areas such
as “Arts and Humanities,” “Decision Sciences,” “Mathematics,” “Pharmacology,
Toxicology and Pharmaceutics,” and “Environmental Science” are placed in the top
10 subject areas wise publication of documents with a minimum of 12 documents
digital learning research in India.

3.8 Funding Sponsor-Wise Publication Output

Most contributed funding sponsor organization on digital learning research in India

with a minimum of two documents, and a maximum of five documents are shown in
Fig. 8. Organizations such as “Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govern-
ment of India” and “Ministry of Electronics and Information technology, Government
of India” sponsored the most and ranked one and two with 5 and 4 documents, respec-
tively. Other funding sponsors such as “Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University”
from India, “Seventh Framework Programme” from Europe and “University Grants
Commission” from India contributed with a minimum of two to a maximum of four
documents.

Fig. 8 Funding sponsor-wise publication output on digital learning research in India

114 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

3.9 Keyword Analysis

Author-supplied keywords can be used to visualize the cluster analysis of the focused
research area or subject area, or topics in a particular discipline (Kolle et al., 2018).
The cluster analysis of author-supplied keywords on digital learning research in India
is displayed in Fig. 9. Mainly eight clusters of keywords were shown in the visual-
ized data represents various aspects of research on digital learning in India. Cluster I
represents the broader aspects of E-learning such as India, training, MOOCS, distance
education, digital literacy, medical education, mobile learning, digital India, simu-
lation, virtual labs, assessments, Information Management System (IMS), National
Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), blended learning, online
learning, and online education. Cluster II shows the broader aspects of blended
learning, such as higher education, online education, and Massive open online
course (MOOC), India, e-learning, information, and Communication Technology
(ICT), Assessment, and NPTEL. Cluster III visualizes the aspects of E-learning
such as India, training, education, social media, moodle, learning management
system, covid-19 pandemic, lockdown, MOOCS, distance education, digital literacy,
virtual lab, virtual classroom, ubiquitous learning, mobile learning, and NPTEL.
Cluster IV shows the aspects of MOOCS such as e-learning, India, distance educa-
tion, virtual classroom, developing countries, ubiquitous learning, online educa-
tion, higher education, medical education, and technology. Cluster V represents the

Fig. 9 Cluster analysis of author-supplied keywords

Research Contribution to the Progress … 115

aspects of moodle such as e-learning, online education, NTPEL, learning manage-

ment system, education, India, IMS, internet, digital literacy. Cluster VI visualizes
the aspects of ICT, such as blended learning, education, IMS, digital India, digital
literacy, m-learning, ubiquitous learning, distance education, MOOC, and online
courses. Cluster VII represents the aspects of India such as developing countries,
covid-19 pandemic, online education, higher education, moodle, IMS, E-learning,
digital learning, distance education, MOOCS, digital divide, and internet. Cluster
VIII represents the aspects of cloud computing such as e-learning, developing
countries, and distance education.

3.10 Analysis of the Most Cited Documents

The most frequently cited documents with a minimum of 35 citations on digital

learning research in India are shown in Table 1. The intellectual influence of research
on digital learning in India was listed based on the criteria of the most cited articles.
The article entitled “E-learning in medical education in resource constrained low-
and middle-income countries” by Frehywot et al., (2013) is the most cited article with
146 citations and the article focused mainly on constraints of e-learning in medical
education in the low and middle-income countries. The remaining documents in the
list received a minimum of 37 to a maximum of 65 citations on digital learning
research in India.

4 Discussion and Implications

Research on digital learning in India, particularly with regards to various aspects of

digital education such as E-learning, virtual labs, online learning and teaching tools,
is an emergent discipline. However, several studies in the past examined various
dimensions of digital education in the past. Bibliometric analysis of digital learning
and education in India revealed that there is an increased research output in terms
of the number of documents published over the year. Being a popular country for
the IT and IT-enabled services and as emerging economies of the world to make
digital India, it is important to know the state of the research in providing better
solutions and wider benefits of digital learning to the citizens and government. For
instance, Abu Kalam & Shamsuddin mentioned that technology could change our
traditional way of teaching and learning with multimedia technology and “Blended
learning” (Islam et al., 2014). Further, a study conducted on e-learning suggested
focusing future research on learner’s interest and develop new technology (Kakoty
et al. 2011). In this regard, cluster analysis of author-provided-keyword revealed
that there had been a research focus on the various aspects of digital learning tools
and infrastructure. This has further revealed that the E-learning aspects of online
116 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

Table 1 Top 10 most cited documents

Author(s) and Document title Journal/source title Citations
publication year
Frehywot et al., “E-learning in medical “Human Resources for 146
2013 education in resource Health”
constrained low- and
middle-income countries”
Bawane & Spector, “Prioritization of online “Distance Education” 65
2009 instructor roles: Implications
for competency-based teacher
education programs”
Coleri Ergen et al., “RSSI-fingerprinting-based “IEEE Transactions on 55
2014 mobile phone localization with Vehicular Technology”
route constraints”
Kam et al., 2008 “Designing E-Learning games “Proceedings of the 52
for rural children in India: A Conference on Designing
format for balancing learning Interactive Systems:
with fun” Processes, Practices,
Methods, and Techniques,
DIS”
Bhattacharya & “India in the knowledge “International Journal of 48
Sharma, 2017 economy - An electronic Educational Management”
paradigm”
Chandra & Borah, “Cost benefit analysis of cloud “2012 International 45
2012 computing in education” Conference on Computing,
Communication and
Applications, ICCCA
2012”
Huda et al., 2017 “Exploring innovative learning “International Journal of 41
environment (ILE): Big data Applied Engineering
era” Research”
Mishra et al., 2009 “Telemedicine in India: “Telemedicine and 39
Current Scenario and the e-Health”
Future”
Achuthan et al., “The VALUE @ Amrita “Proceedings - 2011 IEEE 37
2011 Virtual Labs Project: Using Global Humanitarian
web technology to provide Technology Conference,
virtual laboratory access to GHTC 2011”
students”
Kulier et al., 2012 “Effectiveness of a clinically “JAMA - Journal of the 35
integrated e-learning course in American Medical
evidence-based medicine for Association”
reproductive health training: A
randomized trial”
Research Contribution to the Progress … 117

education and MOOCs, moodle, ICT, and blended learning are the major focus of
the research.
For the past few years, various digital learning tools are ready to use in the market-
place. These are social and interactive digital tools such as simulations, games, virtual
worlds, and course-related or learning digital tools such as online quizzes and tests,
survey, video conference, virtual classes. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and
lockdown have given an increased market opportunity and increased importance
for these tools. A survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that
majority of the educators in India have quickly adapted to digital learning mode.
This has further enabled the educators and learners to shift from the traditional way
of teaching method to interactive online lectures using video conferencing tools
such as Google Meet, Cisco Webex, Microsoft teams, Zoom (Rajhans et al. 2020).
In this connection, their keyword analysis shows that there is an increased research
concentration over these tools.
Authors who have contributed the most to digital learning research in India are
mainly from Indian universities. Most contributed countries to the digital learning
research in India are India, The United States of America, the United Kingdom and
Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan. This shows that there is a collaboration
of authors with these countries for conducting research related to digital learning in
India.
Subject wise contribution of research on digital learning shows that there was
the contribution from the Computer Science, Engineering, Business Management,
Medicine, Arts and Humanities. Several studies on digital learning in the times of
COVID-19 show that there is an increased depression, stress and anxiety (Blake
et al. 2020). In this regard, there is no research contribution from psychology, and
it is important to concentrate the research on these aspects, and there should be a
contribution from the subject areas such as psychology and behavioral studies to
provide necessary solutions to these problems.

5 Conclusion

E-learning and digitalization of education are considered to provide several benefits

in India. In this regard Government of India has taken several initiatives to inte-
grate digital technology and E-earning based teaching and learning programs in
education with the aim of digital India. While digital education provides several
benefits for all, there are several limitations too. In this regard, this study aims to
understand the progress of the research and its contribution toward digital education
in India. The bibliometric analysis of the progress of digital education research in
India, in terms of the number of publications over the years, has increased. Topmost
journals published research work related to digital education in India are the Inter-
national Journal of Applied Engineering Research, followed by Advances in Intelli-
gent Systems and Computing and ACM International Conference Proceeding Series.
However, the research output published top-tier journals were limited. Authors who
118 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

have contributed the most to digital learning research in India are mainly affiliated
Amrutha group of institutions such as “Amrita School of Business,” “Amrita Univer-
sity,” “Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,” India and “International Institute of Informa-
tion Technology,” Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. This has further revealed that there
is no much contribution from top technology-based or management institutions in
India. India is the leading country that contributed the most, followed by The United
States of America, the United Kingdom and Australia. Subject wise contribution of
research was mainly from Computer Science, Engineering, Business Management,
Medicine, Arts and Humanities; however, there should be the focus from psychology
and decision science. Funding for digital learning research in India is very minimal.
The cluster analysis of author-supplied keywords shows that the major research
themes on digital learning research in India were E-learning, distance education,
digital literacy, medical education, mobile learning, digital India, simulation, virtual
labs, virtual classroom, MOOCS, NPTEL, Moodle, Learning Management System,
COVID-19 pandemic, ubiquitous learning. Most cited articles were mainly focused
on E-learning and medical education, virtual labs and mobile learning.

6 Limitations and Future Research

Like any other research studies, this study too has several limitations. The data for the
study were collected from an online Scopus abstract database; however, there were
several journals that published research papers but were not indexed in Scopus, and
they were not considered for the study considering the issue of certified knowledge
or publications. For example, google scholar shows more than 40,000 documents
on this topic; however, only Scopus indexed publications were considered. Future
researches should focus on well-known databases or indexed journals and articles,
such as Web of Science. Further, future studies may apply advanced bibliometric
techniques to study the co-word analysis, co-citation and co-authorship analysis
to learn more about the research collaboration of authors in the research area of
digital education in India. Despite these limitations, the present study provides a
significant contribution toward literature, both for researchers and industry, enabling
them to carry forward the research agenda of digital education and e-learning for the
practitioners and policymakers.

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Mahender Reddy Gavinolla is an Assistant Professor, National Institute of Tourism and Hospi-
tality Management, India; Guest lecturer in Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia and
Ph.D. Candidate at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, India. His research area includes
122 M. R. Gavinolla et al.

sustainable development, heritage management, and bibliometric analysis. He is the corresponding

author for this chapter.

Sampada Kumar Swain is a Professor in Tourism & Head, Department of Tourism Management
at Pondicherry Central University, Pondicherry, India. His publications include books and papers
on Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Tourism.

Agita Livina is a professor of regional development and tourism at the Vidzeme University
of Applied Sciences (VUAS), and lead researcher, director of the Research Institute of VUAS,
Latvia. She is a chairperson of UNESCO chair on Biosphere & Man in the university and chair
of the Eco Council. She was a Fulbright scholar on research in 2012 at the University at Buffalo,
the State University of New York.
Computer-Based Multimedia in Teaching
Listening: A Review

Z. W. Adanech

Abstract Though multimedia in teaching listening is crucial, it is not well under-

stood in most EFL classrooms. Earlier, teaching listening is passive since teachers
read books or the listening course handouts for the learners, and they answer the
activities immediately (comprehension approach). This teaching method happens in
most EFL classrooms: high schools, colleges, and even in the university classrooms.
This might be because either the curriculum does not comprise it, computer labs
may not be facilitated with the internet access, the classroom size, or the institute’s
location. Currently, teaching listening is changed into computer-based multimedia
technology. However, it is observed that EFL learners did not get such an opportu-
nity to take an advantage of these inputs in the listening classrooms. The main aim
of this paper is to present computer-based multimedia inputs in teaching listening
i.e., teaching listening either by presenting the material through the computer screen
with the speaker, presenting the material verbally on the screen (narration) with
pictorially as statics, or presenting the material through an animation visually with
narration auditorily. Therefore, the current paper reviewed the literature about the
uses of computer-based multimedia in teaching listening, multimedia approaches,
modality and redundancy effects in teaching listening, and sample empirical research
conducted on this area with its gaps in the literature. In conclusion, multimedia has
alternative options in teaching listening, teachers can use any of the three multi-
media modes while planning a lesson to teach listening. Researchers also give atten-
tion to refer to the three multimedia approaches and the two effects while they use
different multimedia inputs to collect data. Moreover, curriculum designers take
into consideration including multimedia instruction while they develop instructional
materials.

Keywords Computer-based multimedia · Multimedia approaches · And the

former teaching listening

Z. W. Adanech (B)
Department of English Language and Literature, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 123
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_9
124 Z. W. Adanech

1 Introduction

Listening is the most useful skill in language learning; however, it is the least skill,
especially in the EFL classroom contexts. Researchers accredited the uses of listening
skills compare to other major language skills for language learning. Gibbons (2015,
p. 183) described that listening is a key to language development: understanding what
is said in a particular situation provides important models for subsequent language
use. Buck (2001, p. 32) pointed out that though listening is an important skill and
due to providing the practical complexities of spoken texts, it is neglected in many
language learning situations. In addition, Braun (2007, p. 299) stated that in the
classroom, students always do more listening than speaking; listening competence
is universally “larger” than speaking competence. Considering these researchers’
suggestions, the modality that teachers are going to select to teach listening is vital.
So that, teaching listening through multimedia is the best option, and it can be applied
easily in EFL classrooms.
It is observed that, though multimedia in teaching listening is crucial, it is not well
understood in most EFL classrooms. Many research studies revealed that learners
do not have exposure to practice listening. The reason is that listening is considered
to be passive in these classrooms. The learners listen to their teachers’ voice only
while he/she reads the listening texts from the course books, they may listen to audio
alone, or they may listen to the powerpoint presentation to cover the course content
rather than for learning to listen. Therefore, teachers have been teaching listening
facilitating through books, audio alone, or powerpoint presentations. Thus, learners
do not have a chance to learn listening through the multimedia inputs. Harmer (2010,
p. 133) suggested that students need to listen to TV, radio, or other media since they
have an experience of listening to the voice of their teacher only. Brett (1995, p. 81)
elaborated that the traditional vehicle for the language inputs was a book, watching
TV, conversation, and the audio cassettes; now the combination of media selected
such as text and illustration, subtitle and sound, and video. Brown (2006, p. 5)
mentioned that in the past, the teaching of listening bases a series of post-listening
comprehension questions, in which learners had no idea of why they were listening
too.
Many authors and researchers verify that technology-supported language learning
and teaching is an important e-tool for second or foreign language learners. Almost
all of these e-tools are computer-based. Vandergrift and Goh (2012); Dudeney and
Hockey (2008); Buck (2001); Inoun (2010); Erben et al. (2009), Jones (2008), and
Beatty (2010). Thus, teachers have to update themselves and plan the listening lessons
to teach through either of the combinations of multimedia inputs.
This paper reviewed the uses of computer-based multimedia in teaching listening
particularly, in the EFL classroom contexts. The first section provides a brief overview
of previous and current trends of teaching listening. The second section presents
the three multimedia approaches. The third section discusses modality and redun-
dancy effects on learning to listen. The fourth and fifth sections reviewed the uses
of computer-based multimedia in teaching listening and the recent sample research
Computer-Based Multimedia in Teaching Listening: A Review 125

paper presentations on multimedia in teaching listening and some empirical studies

with its gaps in the literature. The final section provides the conclusion.

2 The Past and Present Trends of Teaching Listening

Experts in the field discussed the former and the current trends of teaching listening.
Formerly, listening instruction was a product, but currently, listening instruction is a
process. As Vandergrift (2004, p. 3) acknowledged, the former listening instruction
“Listening to learn” was a product, and the current listening instruction “Learning
to listen” is a process. On the other hand, Flowerdew and Miller (2005, p. 85)
asserted that the traditional way of teaching listening taught in separation, the devel-
opment of listening has seen as before they forget an activity unintentionally. Brown
(2007, p. 197) reviewed that hundred years back classrooms had non-computer-based
teaching, they used teaching aids, such as a piece of chalk and a chalkboard. Vander-
grift (2004, p. 4) reviewed the three teaching listening instruction approaches. These
are the audio-lingual approach, comprehension approach, and the common approach.
The practices of these approaches have listened and repeat, question answer, and
real-life listening in real-time consecutively. Anderson and Lynch (1988, p. 15) also
argue that the traditional method of improving listening skills, which was getting
the learners to listen to a text and answer subsequent comprehension. Vandergrift
and Goh (2012, p. 12) profound that listening as a product tests the listening ability
of learners, rather than the understanding of the social and the cognitive nature of
developing listening skills. Lynch and Mendelsohn (2002, p.180) stated that tradi-
tionally listening is a passive process by which the listener receives information sent
by a speaker, but more recent models view listening as a much more active and
interpretive process.
The current teaching listening focuses on either using authentic listening materials
or teaching listening through technology. Vandergrift and Goh (2012) pointed out that
the rapid spread of technology has opened up new avenues for listening development.
Jones (2008) reviewed literature starting from the late 1970s to early 1980s and
propounded that new technology tools came up with applicable verbal and nonverbal
(visual) information for aural comprehension. Moreover, learners are also fascinated
to learn their courses through technology. Dudeney and Hockey (2008, p. 28) reveal
that many learners these days are far more used to working with computer-based text
and information than traditional paper-based forms of texts.

3 The Multimedia Approaches

Researchers defined multimedia. According to Pangaribuan et al. (2017, p. 213),

multimedia refers to an electronically delivered combination of media including
video, audio, text, images, animation, and interactive content forms. For Clark and
126 Z. W. Adanech

Mayer (2011, p. 70) multimedia presentation refers to any presentation with words
(spoken text or words printed on the screen that people read) and graphics, such as
photos, drawings, maps, charts, graphs, or dynamic graphics, that is, video, anima-
tion rather than words alone. Similarly, Mayer (2009, p. 4) defined that multimedia
refers to teaching learners through words and pictures than words alone. In addi-
tion, Wang and Liu (2013, p. 338) defined multimedia in the context of teaching
listening; multimedia refers to lectures with the help of a computer. Harasim (2012)
mentioned the multimedia tools such as audio, video, animation and even avatars can
use for online courses to enhance discourse. From these definitions of multimedia,
we can conclude that multimedia inputs are valuable when the presenter uses them
in combination rather than using a single modality.
Mayer (2009) acknowledged the three multimedia modes. These are the delivery
media, presentation mode, and the sensory modality (p. 7). The delivery media i.e.,
the presentation of the given material using two or more devices such as amplified
speaker, computer screen, projectors, video recorders, blackboards, and the human
voice boxes. In computer-based multimedia, the material is presented through the
computer screen and the speaker (p. 8). The presentation mode refers to the material
presented through words and pictures. In computer-based multimedia, the material
is presented verbally on the screen text or narration, and pictorially as static graphics
or animation (p. 8). The sensory modality focuses on auditory and visual. This is
presented either in the computer-based environment (an animation presented visually
and narration presented auditorily) or in the lecture scenario the speaker’s voice
process in the auditory channel and the slides from the projector processed in the
visual channel (p. 9). According to the suggestion of these researchers, applying
combinations of these inputs play a great role for EFL learners, and engage them in
active learning. Therefore, this paper mainly focused on computer-based multimedia
within the three multimedia modes.

4 The Modality and Redundancy Effects in Teaching

Listening

Scholars reported the uses of multimedia theory, specifically with regards to modality
and redundancy effects on learning, and how to present any multimedia presentation
through these effects. According to Clark and Mayer (2011), and Mayer (2009),
the modality effects refer to presenting spoken texts on the computer screen with
graphics rather than presenting on-screen texts with narration form. On the other
hand, redundancy effects refer to learning from narration and animation along with
the same printed texts that match the narration. For Zheng (2009), modality effects
refer to partly visual and partly auditory, and they are better for learning rather than
a single media i.e., either visually or auditory, on the other hand, redundant effects
refer to similar information presented in two or more media such as words in both
auditory and written form.
Computer-Based Multimedia in Teaching Listening: A Review 127

As it is recommended in multimedia theory, to make an effective multimedia

presentation, modality and redundancy effects play a great role in learning. It is
possible to relate this theory with teaching and learning listening too. When we look
at the redundancy effects, as the name indicates, redundant media in the listening text
materials are not necessary. In other words, it is helpful to minimize the cognitive
load of the listeners, and it may create confusion for the learners. As Zheng (2009,
p. 7) suggested, redundant information can interfere with learning. Moreover, the
modality effects also an important alternative to find appropriate listening texts for
classroom use. They are helpful to select audiovisual and video listening resources for
teaching listening. Based on these effects, a teacher can select audiovisual materials
or videos for classroom use. In this technology era, there are infinite listening web
resources that are accessible on the internet. As Hubbard (2009, p. 6) points out
that thanks to the World Wide Web, today learners of almost any language can find
a wealth of authentic audio and video to listen to for both language and culture.
Golonka et al. (2014) also points out technological innovations can increase learner
interest and motivation since it provides learners with increased access to the target
language input, interaction opportunities, and feedback.
To sum up, when teachers select different listening texts from the internet for class
use, they have to consider the two effects for more effective teaching and learning to
listen.

5 Computer-Based Multimedia in Teaching Listening

In the contexts of teaching listening, computer-based multimedia, visually supported

media (video), audio with animation, or pictorially supported audio is better than
audio media only or teachers’ voice only. Anderson and Lynch (1988, p. 58) point
out that visual support materials assist the interpretation of listeners. Ur (1992, p. 29)
recommended that visual materials are helpful to bring life to the listening situation
and it supports the comprehension of the language. Buck (2001, p. 253) pointed
out that recent technologies have available which allow the provisional of visual
information along with the audio and multimedia tests are appearing, and the spread
of the internet is helping to speed the current trend. Vandergrift and Goh (2012,
p. 219) suggested that visual media has an impact on listening development since it
is a part of the listening context and fully supports comprehension as it would be in
real-life listening contexts. In addition, Eysenck and Keane (2010, p. 182) point out
that visual modalities are combined to facilitate understanding of what the speakers
are saying. In addition, Underwood (1989, p. 104) pointed out that visual materials
(pictures, maps, charts, etc.) can be helpful to students, especially if the topic is not
related to something from their everyday lives.
Experts suggested that listening videos are better for learners than audio-alone
listening materials. Underwood (1989, p. 96) pointed out that the use of video in
listening over audio, to understand what the listeners hear and see the physical context
such as lip movement facial expression, and gestures of the speaker; they contribute to
128 Z. W. Adanech

the immediate act of comprehension and to build successful listening for the listeners.
Buck (2001, p. 123) points out that it is increasingly common to present listening texts
in a video format because visual information supplements the audio information, and
this is a more realistic replication of real-world listening. Moreover, Flowerdew and
Miller (2005) reviewed the uses of video from mid-1970s (the past two decades),
and they pointed out that researchers’ finding; video is useful for listening. Thus, it
often encourages the motivation to listen, offers a rich context for the authenticity
of language use, the spoken features text accessible to the learner related to radio,
and aids learners’ understanding of the actual context in which the language is used
(p. 172). Furthermore, they suggested that teachers are expected to select a proper
video for the kind of listening skills exercises, and they have to incorporate the lesson
with the video. Buck (2001, p. 47) also reviewed many researchers’ ideas in the use
of non-verbal signals in video and multimedia. He quoted that visual support can
aid language learners, especially for those who are less proficient learners, though
visual support increases motivation and attention levels, it is open to doubt to use it
since it has a little effect on understanding detail, sometimes it contradicts the verbal
information, and listener. On the other hand, Harmer (2010, p. 136) recommended
that though the video is richer than the audio, the teacher can use videos through
four techniques to language learners. These are playing the video without the sound,
playing the audio without the picture, freeze the frame, and divide the class into half.
According to harmer, these techniques help the learners to predict what comes next,
what the characters are saying, and what the speakers look like.
As we can see, the above researchers concluded that video and visually supported
audio materials have an effect on listening comprehension.

6 Review of Research on Multimedia in Listening

This paper reviewed research paper presentations on multimedia effects in teaching

listening and empirical studies on listening comprehension using video and audio
media. Researchers presented the effects of multimedia in learning and teaching
listening comprehension. Panganbuan et al. (2017) studied research on the effec-
tiveness of multimedia applications on students listening comprehension. Then,
they found that multimedia application is effective than conventional media. Simi-
larly, Guan et al. (2018) presented a research paper on the advantage of computer
multimedia-aided English teaching. Then, they found that computer multimedia can
improve students’ ability to listen and speaking skills. Datko (2014) also presented
a paper on teaching listening using multimedia and concluded that multimedia has a
positive impact on teaching listening. According to Meskill (1996, p. 183), the last
two decades research paper, presented the features of multimedia; these are visuals,
texts, video, schema, and chunking; these features can support listening development
alone and in combination. Moreover, Mayer and Moreno (2002) presented a paper
on aids to computer-based multimedia learning. They referred to the cognitive theory
of multimedia and concluded that learners can process multimedia information.
Computer-Based Multimedia in Teaching Listening: A Review 129

On another hand, other researchers conducted experimental studies on the effects

of computer-based multimedia, i.e., audio alone and video media on listening
comprehension of EFL learners. Londe (2009) studied the effects of video media
in English as a second language listening comprehension tests of undergraduate and
graduate studies using two video formats and audio alone. The researcher found that
video media is a more authentic medium for testing listening comprehension than
audio-only. Gowhary et al. (2015) studied experimental research on the effect of
video captioning and video without captioning on Iranian EFL learners’ listening
comprehension. They found that providing video captions for Iranian EFL learners
could be effective for listening comprehension than a video without captions. Latifi
and Mirzaee (2014) also researched visual support in assessing listening comprehen-
sion. Thus, they found that video group subjects did significantly better than audio
group subjects on the listening comprehension test. Woottipong (2014) researched
the effect of using video materials in the teaching of listening skills for university
students. Then, the researcher concluded that video can enhance listening comprehen-
sion skills. However, Rashasoor et al. (2016) studied using audio and video listening
materials to improve ESL undergraduate’ listening comprehension, and then they
found that audio exposure is a better language input than video exposure to enhance
listening comprehension. Muzammil (2015) conducted research on audiovisual expo-
sure as opposed to audio exposure alone. Then, he found that as there is no significant
achievement between the two groups.
As it is reviewed research papers, multimedia is very important for learning, but
there is a gap in the review of related literature. For example, researchers compared
to video (presenting the material with the speaker) and audio (presenting the material
with pictorial/visual) or audio without the visuals. They revealed different conclu-
sions on the use of video and audio as support of listening comprehension. Latifi and
Mirzaee (2014) Londe (2009); Woottipong (2014); Gowhary et al. (2015) concluded
that listening to video is significant than listening to the audio; whereas, Rashasoor
et al. (2016) concluded that listening to the audio is significant on listening compre-
hension than listening to the video media. Muzammil (2015) concluded that there is
no significant difference between video groups and audio alone groups. The conclu-
sion of these research findings might be because of the learning preferences of the
learners; some want to learn through spoken words, others from written texts, and still
others want to learn through visually supported materials. Clark and Mayer (2011,
p. 83) recommended that multimedia is more applicable for learners who have low
knowledge (novice) than high knowledge (experts). Therefore, researchers have to
consider these researchers’ recommendations to look at the multimedia effects on
novice and expertise participants to add the literature. Moreover, they have to specify
the media (the two effects) that they used for experimental studies.
130 Z. W. Adanech

7 Conclusion

This paper attempted to redirect about computer-based multimedia in teaching

listening and some important issues related to it. First, it presents the difference
between the current and the previous trends of teaching listening. Formerly, listening
was considered as a product and passive skill, but presently, it is considered as a
process and active skill. Secondly, it reviews the modality and redundancy effects.
The modality effects refer to texts with graphics, whereas the redundancy effects refer
to presenting on-screen texts with narration and printed texts. Thirdly, it discusses
the three multimedia approaches. These are the delivery media, presentation mode,
and sensory modality. In the delivery media, the material is presented through two
or more devices; in the presentation mode the material is presented through words
and pictures, and in the sensory modality audiovisual material is presented. Next,
it highlights the uses of computer-based multimedia in teaching listening in EFL
classrooms. It helps the learners to develop listening skills through the integration of
text, audio, video, graphics, and animation. Finally, it presented some of the sample
recent research papers both the contribution to use multimedia in teaching listening
and the gaps in the literature.
To sum up, teaching listening is a bit challenging since it is not observable. As
Brown (2007, p. 259) pointed out that listening comprehension is not externally
observable. Therefore, applying computer-based multimedia in teaching listening is
very important especially in EFL learner’s contexts; it makes the teaching–learning
process effective, interactive, and student-centered. Wang and Liu (2013) stated that
teaching through multimedia turns the teacher-centered method of teaching into a
student-centered classroom, and it helps teachers to have an interactive classroom.
As a result, EFL teachers have to update themselves to teach listening through multi-
media inputs and to address the learning preference of learners, that is, some of them
are visual learners and others are auditory. Zheng (2009, p. 17) collected different
scholars’ research papers and found that for implementing multimedia instruction,
the individual difference in working memory capacity has to be focused. Therefore,
researchers give attention to refer to the three multimedia approaches and the two
effects while they use different multimedia modalities to collect data. Moreover,
curriculum designers take into consideration including multimedia instruction, at
least for higher education institutes while they develop instructional materials.

Acknowledgments I would like to thank my husband Dr. Alemayehu Chufamo, to my dear

friends Prof. Dr. E. Uma Devi, Prof. Dr. D.P. Sharma, and Dr. Ballekallu Chinna Eeranna, for
their encouragement and generous assistance in writing this paper.

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Z. W. Adanech has MA in English Language Teaching (ELT) and a lecturer at Arba Minch
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published articles and books.
Does Learner Control Prove Effective
in the Systems of e-Learning? A Review
of Literature

Zahid Hussain Bhat

Abstract E-learning platforms are experiencing major improvements in curriculum

and corporate preparation. Through the development in online learning platforms,
learning influence of the teaching phase has arisen as a core element in technology-
based learning. However, the methodological work on the role of learner control in
e-learning has not progressed enough to foresee how autonomous learning influences
e-learning efficacy. In order to expand research on the function of learner control
in e-learning and to analyse its effects on e-learning efficacy, this review explores
literature on learner control to derive a conceptual construct as a theoretical model to
explain how learning regulation impacts the success of e-learning. This review offers
fresh insights into the function and aspects of learning regulation in online learning,
with consequences for both learning processes and learning outcomes.

Keywords e-Learning · Learner control · Cognition · Motivation

1 Introduction

In several organisations and educational establishments, online education (or e-

learning) has become popular as a means to digitally provide personnel and students
with instruction (Allen & Seaman, 2013; DeRouin et al., 2005). The portion of e-
learning used in structured schooling in five hundred enterprises worldwide rose to
forty percent in 2013. Similarly, colleges have started providing internationally open
online classes (Allen & Seaman, 2013). During the same period, recent develop-
ments in online learning technology have improved the autonomy and self-control
of learners, such as self-paced virtual and async techniques (DeRouin et al., 2005;
Sahay, 2004; Shroff et al., 2007). The power of learners, in this setting, applies to
the autonomy of decision, equality of learners and self-rule; expressed by way of
sense of independence over their “usage and consequences of technology” (Sahay,
2004). Ever since the seventies, individualisation of teaching and allowing dynamic

Z. H. Bhat (B)
Assistant Professor, Department of Higher Education, AAA Memorial Degree College, Cluster
University Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 133
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_10
134 Z. H. Bhat

learning have been embedded in learner autonomy as learners are granted autonomy
over some facets of their own experience of learning, which includes the order, mate-
rial, activities of teaching (Steinberg, 1989; Williams, 1996). In recent times, it is
claimed that the advent of e-learning environments would open up new possibil-
ities for learner autonomy by growing the versatility of the learning method and
having access to a broad spectrum of knowledge in diverse areas of space and time
(Sahay, 2004). Furthermore, learner-centric settings are seen as encouraging learners
to engage effectively in the knowledge phase and to liberate themselves from present
information (Bell & Kozlowski, 2008). Thus, the deciding element in the success of
e-learning over the learning phase is self-control (Klein et al., 2006; Sitzmann et al.,
2006).
For some time, the effect of learner control on the success of online learning
remained a study problem (Kraiger & Jerden, 2007; Williams, 1996) and also learner
control is earmarked as a significant factor for learning performance and the resulting
contentment with e-learning programs (Clark & Mayer, 2011; Piccoli et al., 2001).
Research studies, however, have so far not been able to create a strong affirmative
correlation amid the supervision of learners and the effects of self-measured online
courses, indicating that every learner is not talented enough to make educational
choices equally (Granger & Levine, 2010; Kraiger & Jerden, 2007). Learner control
has been connected to increased agitation and distress in addition to producing
feelings of alienation during the learning phase (Chou & Liu, 2005; Scheiter &
Gerjets, 2007) as well as bewilderment and disruption arising from the proliferation
of knowledge in e-learning settings.
The convincing research assessing the effects of learner control on learning effec-
tiveness advocates the usefulness of learner control for some learners under certain
circumstances. Attempts to understand the ineffectiveness of learner regulation with
regards to online learning show that certain people are extra prone to miscalculate
their skills and miss important information, expecting more regulation than they can
manage comfortably (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002; Piccoli et al., 2001). Only recently,
study has begun to concentrate on defining the fundamental processes of successful
regulation of learners (Orvis et al., 2010; Vandewaetere & Clarebout, 2011). Conse-
quently, the main aim of this study is to provide understandings into the fundamental
processes of successful learner-controlled online learning to answers some research
questions:
i. The role of learner control in the efficacy of e-learning.
ii. Under which circumstances is e-learning regulated by learners effective?
Through incorporating the available literature on the regulation of learner and
stemming a coherent and vindicated research paradigm on the efficacy of online
learning, this review makes contribution in this regard. The goal is to have a new
focus across the respective study streams on learner management and e-learning and
to align past studies (Schwarz et al., 2007). The system presents a fresh viewpoint
on the fundamental processes that affect the effects of learner control on the efficacy
of online learning, and greatly expands earlier studies of learner control (Kraiger
& Jerden, 2007; Williams, 1996). Furthermore, in order to differentiate between
Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning? … 135

various forms of management, the learner management definition is formalised from

an information system (IS) viewpoint. Much of the literature has so far viewed learner
regulation as a black box, analysed in an undifferentiated fashion for various forms
of control (Granger & Levine, 2010; Schwarz et al., 2007).

2 Learner Control Dimensions in Online Learning

The efficacy of an e-learner regulated by learners by way of enhanced learning process

and performance is backed by many claims. Learner control proponents contend that
e-learning efficacy would occur as a consequence of individualised learning raising
the engagement and learning commitment of personal learning (Kraiger & Jerden,
2007; Piccoli et al., 2001) and the emotional and cognitive behaviour of learners
(Klein et al., 2006; Schwarz et al., 2007). Self-control enables learners to select the
best path of learning compatible with their expertise and degree of experience, to
learn free, and to adapt the method of learning to their particular needs and styles of
learning rather than being limited in their learning style (Scheiter & Gerjets, 2007).
In addition, learner control will improve the efficacy of online learning initiatives
by up surging learning results at the same time and growing the necessary learning
time by customising learning material (Granger & Levine, 2010; Vandewaetere &
Clarebout, 2011).
In comparison, another theoretic statement illustrates the possible detrimental
impacts on learning mechanisms and results of learner regulation. Disorientation,
disturbance, and cognitive fatigue, which can occur during the learning process, are
the difficulties relevant to learner management (Granger & Levine, 2010; Scheiter &
Gerjets, 2007). For example, confusion and disruption may emerge from the liberty
and responsive instructional scheme which is a part of online learning managed
by learners. “Both will happen when consumers find themselves to have so many
options involving a “perceived needless effort” (Shroff et al., 2007). For certain situ-
ations, “difficulties in knowledge selection, knowledge sequencing, and timing”,
which contribute to intellectual fatigue, can be induced by the need to monitor the
e-learning method (Scheiter & Gerjets, 2007). In regards to self-directed learning in
distance education, related questions have been raised. Specifically, unguided self-
discovery-based learning continues to contribute to misunderstanding and inadequate
information because students have a reasonable amount of previous knowledge or
gain external feedback from their learning process by scaffolding (e.g., structuring).
In addition, a great degree of presumed involvement of teachers (as assessed by
fixed learning priorities and subjects) has been discovered to enhance the intellect of
learning culture and connection with students (Scheiter & Gerjets, 2007; Shea et al.,
2006).
The various aspects of regulation involved in each learning operation need to
be considered in order to determine the various effects on online learning efficacy.
Learner control is linked to earlier methodological advances in distance education
and self-directed learning in that both ideas emphasise the individuality and learning
136 Z. H. Bhat

and the personal accountability of the process of learning. This research emphasises,
however, on the facets of learner regulation given by the instructional transmission
(Kraiger & Jerden, 2007; Williams, 1996). “In this regard, previous research charac-
terised learner influence in terms of those characteristics of the learning method under
the influence of the learner, including control over the direction, flow, or instructional
events” (Williams, 1996) and regulations over “instructional presentation” (Piccoli
et al., 2001). From a wider point of view, the supervision of learners applies to the
equality of decisions over one’s job and schooling and the right to select the desired
course of action. In this post, this wider perception is employed but tailored to the
different features of the e-learning programmes (Sahay, 2004).
While learner control is neither unique to education nor specific to technology-
based teaching, a defining characteristic of online learning is the capability for
learners to self-determine their learning experience (Granger & Levine, 2010; Klein
et al., 2006; Sitzmann et al., 2006). E-learning presently allows a variety of diverse
facets and levels of learner access, compatible with the growth of emerging learning
systems and e-learning platforms (DeRouin et al., 2004; Piccoli et al., 2001). In spite
of its pivotal position in online learning-based teaching, though, learner supervi-
sion from the viewpoint of e-learning frameworks has not been formalised so far.
Therefore, from the fundamental systemic aspects of online learning structures, a
collection of five conceptual aspects of learner regulation is extracted (Piccoli et al.,
2001; Sharda et al., 2004; Sitzmann et al., 2006).

3 Effects of Learner Control

The literature review indicates that learner influence has a clear beneficial impact
on learning performance in aggregate terms. A thorough review of the multiple
control dimensions, though, shows that not all learner control dimensions are simi-
larly successful in increasing learning outcomes. Although time and speed manage-
ment, as well as navigation and design control, appear to maximise learning results
(e.g., Chang & Ho, 2009; Fisher et al., 2010; Yeh & Lehman, 2001), the effects of
content control and assignment selection are immense. Few researchers have exam-
ined the influence of learner regulation on learning processes in contrast (Rienties
et al., 2012). Nevertheless, the findings indicate that learner influence, independent
of the particular dimension, have either detrimental or negligible impact on learning
processes. In addition, few experiments have examined the impact of influence over
the position and interaction of learning (Rienties et al., 2012; Sun & Hsu, 2013).
Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning? … 137

3.1 Effects on Learning Process

The literature review indicates three key indicators represent learning processes:
time expended on a job, the cognitive efforts applied during the task, and encourage-
ment for specific activities. In scientific studies, time spent on job, plus the extent of
individual practise expended on a job, has earned a comparatively greater amount of
interest and is postulated as a measure of the total learning motivation of an individual
(Brown, 2001). Learner management continues to decrease the time spent on task of
an online learning course of aggregate words. For instance, multiple works reported
that, when granted influence over material and task selection, learners expend little
time in their process of learning (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002; Stiller et al., 2009).
Decreased time on task, however, may contribute to either lower or higher learning
results. Lower learning findings, on the one side, mean that self-managed learners
seldom make the finest choices and complete the learning phase too rapidly (Bell
& Kozlowski, 2002). On the other side, learning results, which are perceived as
an improvement in learning performance, stay unchanged or sometimes improved.
Thus, in subsequent learning outcomes framework, the effect of learner control on
the time spent on job needs to be evaluated furthest. Through the cognitive effort
which the learner makes use of throughout the learning process, mental effort is
evaluated. To examine in what way learner control be used to lower the demand for
cognitive resources of learners throughout the process of learning, the primary explo-
ration depicts ‘cognitive load theory’ (Stiller et al., 2009). While learner regulation is
supposed to enhance the cognitive effort of learners as learners are supposed to frame
continuous decisions about how to continue with their learning process (DeRouin
et al., 2004; Scheiter & Gerjets, 2007), in this regard, maximum studies record an
inconsequential impact (Tabbers & Koeijer, 2010; Hasler et al., 2007; Swaak et al.,
2001).
Few researchers have studied the effects on job motivation of learner regula-
tion. The encouragement of activities is generally conceptualised as commitment
to on-task or off-task or as task involvement (Brown, 2001). Theoretically, learner
management improves the on-task focus of learners by demanding appropriate deci-
sion making (Tabbers & Koeijer, 2010). While Hasler et al. (2007) recorded that
self-controlled learners displayed a high degree of on-task focus in a shared online
course, other research (Bell & Kozlowski, 2008; Orvis et al., 2009) establish no
important association between management of learners and motivation for assign-
ments. A strong association exists, however, amid on-task devotion and the effects
of affective and cognitive learning (Orvis et al., 2009; Schmidt & Ford, 2003).
138 Z. H. Bhat

3.2 Effects on Learning Outcomes

The findings of this review indicate a beneficial impact of learner control on

cognition-based outcomes of learning with respect to speed, control over time, navi-
gating, and architecture, in comparison to earlier studies of learner control (Kraiger
& Jerden, 2007). Researches reporting a favourable association between learner-
control and cognition-based learning results typically grant the learners a control
over the pace of process of learning (Hasler et al., 2007; Stiller et al., 2009; Chandler
& Mayer, 2001) For instance, Behrend and Thompson (2012) reported in a study
on the Microsoft Excel course for students that providing control over programme
design had a positive impact on learning performance. Studies in which learners
have influence over many dimensions (i.e., high influence of learners) appear to
yield beneficial results on cognitive outcomes (Rienties et al., 2012; Sun & Hsu,
2013; Yeh & Lehman, 2001).
Several research often report a detrimental or negligible impact of learner influ-
ence on the effects of cognitive learning. In terms of influence over material and
mission selection, non-positive relationships have clearly seen (Bell & Kozlowski,
2008; Schnackenberg & Sullivan, 2000), although several research also report detri-
mental consequences of influence over navigation and architecture (Fulton et al.,
2015). In order to address the possibly detrimental influence of learner regulation,
study has also explored the implications of additional feedback and support systems.
However, the effect of such characteristics on learning performance is reported to
be minimal (Yeh & Lehman, 2001). Bell and Kozlowski (2002), for instance, stated
that assistance structures that provide advice and input throughout the learning phase
enhanced the efficiency of learning initially throughout the preparation, but during
the later stages had no substantial effects.
A number of tests of emotional and motivational responses and behaviours before
and after learning are used in affective effects. Regardless of the degree and dimen-
sions of control given, there is a clear indication that learner control is correlated with
affirmative emotional responses to a task and the method of e-learning. These effects
on affective results comprise of affirmative happiness impacts (Fisher et al., 2010;
Sun & Hsu, 2013; Zhang et al., 2006) and mood, decreased distress and increased
self-efficiency (Bell & Kozlowski, 2008; Chang & Ho, 2009). A small degree of
learner regulation was typically explored by research that recorded unfavourable or
negligible results on affective outcomes (Behrend & Thompson, 2012; Schnacken-
berg & Sullivan, 2000). In addition, as learners are equipped with influence over the
simulated contact with the teacher or fellow participants, satisfaction with the course
improves dramatically (Sun & Hsu, 2013). There also exists proof that the effects on
the outcomes of cognitive learning of learner management are partially linked to the
influence on its affective outcomes (Fisher et al., 2010; Orvis et al., 2009).
To summarise, previous claims that the level and form of learner influence
has distinct impacts on both learning processes as well as learning outcomes are
confirmed by the findings of the literature review (Granger & Levine, 2010).
However, while beneficial influences on affective results are visible along with little
Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning? … 139

impact on cognitive outcomes, there is an uncertain effect of learner influence on the

process of learning. Consequently, next attention is given to the secondary influence
of learner regulation on the activities of learning controlled by human or situational
influences.

3.3 Indirect Effects of Learner Control

Studies have explored the fundamental methods which assess the efficacy of learner-
controlled online learning by using multiple controlling variables in their studies,
besides assessing the direct impact on processes of learning and performance. Three
types of variables deal with the effects of learner influence on the success of e-
learning: perceptual factors, factors linked to motivation and environmental factors.

3.3.1 Perceptual Factors

In a learner-controlled environment, cognitive factors apply to individual capacities

which make reasonable decisions about learning and also self-regulate their learning
process (Zimmerman, 2008). As indicated by previous studies and studies on self-
managed learning in correspondence education, the literature review supports the
important positive impact that previous experience and cognitive capacity have on the
efficacy of learner-controlled teaching. More advanced learners who exhibit higher
learning ability gain more from the supervision of learners, realise it simpler to
self-manage their learning phase and produce enhanced learning outcomes (Hughes
et al., 2013; Kostons et al., 2010; Scheiter et al., 2009). New learners, on the other
hand, gain less from the extra independence provided by e-learning managed by
learners and are further prone to encounter confusion throughout the learning phase
(Hatsidimitris & Kalyuga, 2013; Scheiter & Gerjets, 2007). Yet, poor proof remains
that the efficacy of learner influence is moderated by personal learning experience
(Brown, 2001).
The capacity to self-control the learning process is especially critical in accom-
plishing effective learning results due to the comparatively independent learning
process and the flexibility of personal selection in learner-regulated online learning
(Zimmerman, 2008). Self-managed learning relates to meta-cognitive techniques that
are important to consider and enhance the personal learning mechanism for preparing,
tracking, and modifying the learning process (Hughes et al., 2013; Kostons et al.,
2010).
Cognitive patterns and human desires for control often assess the efficacy of
learner control on online learning. Cognitive modes of learning apply to the multiple
forms in which knowledge is interpreted and processed by people. Learning styles
assess the willingness of a pupil to utilise learner power through their effect on
self-learning and intelligence values and personal learning methods (Scheiter et al.,
2009; Hoeffler & Schwartz, 2011). To some degree, styles of learning rely on the
140 Z. H. Bhat

cultural context of a learner. Furthermore, learning patterns are correlated with some
characteristics of personality. For example, extraversion and openness to experience
contribute to improved success in a state of strong learner control, while in a state of
weak learner control, learners with personality characteristics less than the average
score will perform better (Orvis et al., 2010).
This review too indicates that personal control likings arbitrate learner control
efficiency. Matching personal control preferences with the level of control obtained
improves the commitment to learn along with the results of cognitive and affective
learning (Wang & Beasley, 2002; Vandewaetere & Clarebout, 2011; Rienties et al.,
2012). Although, some experiments often suggest that mismatching of expectations
boosts learning efficiency, suggesting that the optimum degree of regulation may not
be selected by at least some learners (Scheiter et al., 2009).

3.3.2 Motivational Factors

Specific target focus, specific attribution of performance, and personal attitude

towards completing a learning process are variables linked to motivation. The target
orientation of an individual may be split into objectives linked to mastery and success
(Brown, 2001). Mastery-oriented learners are likely to devote more time to be more
closely engaged with the learning activity with the learning content, whereas success-
oriented learners are more worried about their success of learning compared to others.
In contrast to mastery-oriented learners, learners with performance orientation are
thus anticipated to interact less intensely with a learning process and, thus, to have a
lower job motivation. However, there is no strong evidence to support this suggestion
in research that investigates the impact of success and mastery orientation on learning
processes (Brown, 2001; Ely et al., 2009; Orvis et al., 2009; Schmidt & Ford, 2003),
rendering it challenging to conclude about the role of target alignment in learner
regulation. Further, Brown (2001) identified a major association among self-efficacy
and performance orientation, and indicated that low self-efficacy in learners’ leads
to negative impacts of performance orientation on task motivation.
Attributional types and self-efficacy play important roles among the several mech-
anisms that affect personal motivation by their impact on personal perceptions of
outcomes. The motivation for tasks is defined by whether people assign their indi-
vidual achievement to core talents rather than outside influences, and their self-
efficacy in the good performance of a given task (Bandura, 2001). Learners attribute
the effects of their actions to multiple internal and external causes, like their indi-
vidual capacity, initiative, chance, and the complexity of the learning challenge,
according to attribution theory. Increased learning enthusiasm and personal initia-
tive were caused by a greater degree of internal ascription compared to external
ascription. In comparison, learners having poor self-efficacy prefer to resist learning
conditions that they find outweigh their capabilities (Bandura, 2001).
Learner-controlled settings typically need greater degrees of self-efficacy and an
individual provenance style (internal locus of control) relative to system-controlled
guidance (Chang & Ho, 2009; Hughes et al., 2013). Vande-waetere & Clarebout
Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning? … 141

(2011) established that self-efficacy and ascription persona have insignificant impact
on the process of learning and its results. There may, however, be further association
results with similar motivational factors, like learning self-direction, because self-
efficacy determines how an individual handles learning activities (Brown, 2001). A
greater degree of self-efficacy, for example, can encourage learners to avoid appro-
priate courses, thereby dipping their learning results (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002). In
order to evaluate the impact of overconfidence on learner-controlled decision making,
more study is therefore required. Eventually, the task motivation of learners is often
linked to their common approaches towards the job of learning and the direction
of online learning. Higher effective results are recorded by learners who show a
favourable outlook towards a course topic reach higher success standards and are
more likely to pursue their course (Scheiter et al., 2009).

3.3.3 Environmental Factors

In recent years, motivational and cognitive influences have gained growing focus,
few studies have specifically explored the impact of the external context on learning
performance. The nature and course content, along with learning environments
that may arbitrate the efficacy of learner-controlled teaching, involve environ-
mental factors. Granger and Levine (2010), for instance, indicated that compli-
cated learning activities are very less appropriate than simplified activities for self-
controlled courses. Scheiter et al. (2009) and DeRouin et al. (2004) have hypo-
thetically proposed that the performance rates of learner-controlled e-learning are
improved by supportive learning environments, such as peer help in group learning
and the support of supervisor in organisations.
To sum up, research suggests that the success of learner-controlled online learning
hinges upon human motivational and cognitive features, while the minimal research
of environmental influences does not enable to make clear conclusions.

4 Developing a Theoretical Context

From the study of literature, two main conclusions appear. First, while studies vary,
regulation and self-sufficiency in online learning appear to improve affective and
cognitive effects, depending on the particular control dimension. Second, some
circumstances, including human traits and environmental variables, rely on the effi-
cacy of learner regulation. Mainly in situations, learner control is likely to be effective
when learners:
a. Possess strong self-regulatory and cognitive skills,
b. Are competent regarding the subject,
c. Have a constructive mindset regarding the challenge and are driven to achieve
it, and
142 Z. H. Bhat

d. Favour a self-directed learning mechanism.

These results enable the following theory to be drawn from the above literature
analysis: This review establishes a context that involves the suitable circumstances
which paves a way for the successful e-learning, and connects them to learner regu-
lation, process of learning and outcomes of learning, with the review of literature
acting as basis and drawing on motivational and cognitive learning theories.
Past studies have claimed that the unclear effects of the impact of learner control
on the efficacy of online learning are attributed to the absence of analytical constructs
from where the construct of learner control may be extracted (Scheiter & Gerjets,
2007; Williams, 1996). In order to close this distance, Kraiger and Jerden (2007)
suggested a framework to explain person attributes and the training features which
facilitate the interaction among learner influence and learning performance. While
a link between objective and perceived control is also introduced by the model, it
fails to answer how learner-control impacts the learning outcomes. Various learning
mechanisms have been suggested as mediators between technical influences, instruc-
tional architecture, human factors, and various learning results by other frameworks
which technically analysed the efficacy of online learning (Alavi & Leidner, 2001).
Additional environmental variables are differentiated amid affective and cognitive
outcomes (Piccoli et al., 2001; Sharda et al., 2004).

5 Conclusion of This Study

Online learning (or e-learning) programmes offer extensive tools for learners to
monitor their processes of teaching and learning. While the implementation of e-
learning services is seen as critical in contemporary times, the capacities and feasi-
bility of these services are still unexplored. The literature review indicates variables
that are important for successful online learning managed by learners. A paradigm
that conceptualises the influence of learner control on the efficacy of online learning
programmes was developed based on the defined variables. This structure is based
on and expands preceding models (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Piccoli et al., 2001;
Sharda et al., 2004) by presenting a fresh viewpoint on the function and effects of
the independence and self-control offered by present online learning frameworks.
In particular, a key aspect in this context is the instructional and technical nature of
the e-learning environment. In order to establish five distinct aspects of learner regu-
lation, prior categorisations of online learning structures (Piccoli et al., 2001) were
used. The facets were subsequently employed to analyse the effects of learner influ-
ence on learning process and learning outcome in depth. The system often contains
personality variations as well as program and environmental characteristics that miti-
gate the impact of learner influence on the learning process and performance. This
structure thus helps to place the variables affecting e-learning regulated by learners
and provides a new viewpoint on the determinants of effective online learning.
Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning? … 143

Queries on how, when and to which extent the learner autonomy influences
learning process and effects have been addressed to a greater degree. The conclu-
sion of this review indicates that contradictory outcomes from previous review of
literature (Kraiger & Jerden, 2007; Steinberg, 1989; Williams, 1996) may well be
clarified in depth by considering various aspects of learner regulation and expanding
the review to the moderating function of human variations and environmental influ-
ences. Specifically, the various dimensions of learner control have dissimilar impacts
on affective and cognitive learning results. Although not all aspects of learner regu-
lation can be useful, others have major effects for the success of e-learning. The
majority of research in this study indicate that a strong association occurs amid time
and speed and control over learning processes and performance. However, the influ-
ence of control over the collection of material and activities is unclear, indicating
that this type of control can be used with caution.
The degree to which learner-controlled e-learning is successful is defined by the
existence of such motivational and cognitive attributes, such as patterns of learning,
cognitive ability, recognition of performance, and self-management skill. When
determining on the level of independence that learners should be granted, organ-
isations and educational establishments using online learning programmes ought to
consider these considerations. Failure to do so will contribute to detrimental conse-
quences of learner regulation, such as confusion and burden, which will prevail in
the long run, thereby worsening increasing attrition rates in online learning (Shroff
et al., 2007). As a consequence, online learning systems need to be tailored for people
(adolescents in lower/higher school or practitioners at work), topics (complicated or
basic) and context of learning (private institution, technical learning or university).
Although the purpose of this review was to reunite past results than opening up
fresh areas for potential research, this review offers a beginning for a variety of fields.
The optimum degree of learner regulation applies to the first research opportunity. So
far, no research we are aware of has sought to investigate how e-learning performance
is defined by the degree of learner control. A fair extent of regulation, for instance,
can render the learning process excessively difficult. Therefore, a potential direction
for future study is to explore whether an inverted U-shape follows the relationship
between learner control and learning results. A non-linear correlation amid learner
control and learning outcomes will too benefit to understand the contradictory effects
of previous research on the interest and efficacy of learner-control. The plurality of
research in this review explored a small degree of learner control which included
navigation control, material, selection of task, and speed in most instances. Only a
handful of the more current experiments have explored interaction regulation or the
place of learning. Further studies into these aspects could improve our awareness of
the effects of high degrees of control.
In shared learning contexts, a second direction for potential study involves
the influence of experiences. As e-learning platforms are combined with social
networking elements that facilitate interactive learning and information sharing,
virtual contact between learners and instructors turns out to be more preva-
lent (DeRouin et al., 2005). Previous study has shown that it improves affective
learning effects by having influence over relationships in collaborative environments
144 Z. H. Bhat

(DeRouin et al., 2005; Sun & Hsu, 2013). The effects on cognitive results, however,
have not extensively been studied. Collaborative learning, on one side, allows for
constant exchange and information creation in a virtually linked community. Further-
more, teamwork within a community theoretically requires reciprocal motivating
reinforcement and thereby enhances engagement and persistence. On the other side,
learners who do not properly monitor their simulated contact can suffer from an
unequally distributed knowledge overflow and disparate learning outcomes within
the community (Rienties et al., 2012).
While the paradigm of this study indicates a correlation amongst self-regulation
of learners, perceived control of learners, and processes of learning, the position of
perceived control was not fully investigated. To allow control choices to be used
effectively, the available findings demonstrate that knowledge of control is impor-
tant. Consequently, if they have little knowledge or understanding of their control,
bestowing the learners with options about their learning process is probable to have
no impact (DeRouin et al., 2004). The degree to which perceived control is related
to the level of actual control is still uncertain, and how perceived control influ-
ences learning outcomes. For instance, Vandewaetere and Clarebout (2011) find that
perceived influence is connected to the enthusiasm and happiness of a learner, but
not to the scores of the course. In addition, as learners grow familiar to the online
learning method, the degree of perceived control will decrease with time, possibly
declining the influence of perceived control on online learning efficacy (Sun & Hsu,
2013).
Given the circumstance that online learning has in recent times progressed in many
organisations where conventional teaching approaches are substituted or comple-
mented the existing limited and partially obsolete number of research on learner
management in a professional atmosphere makes it challenging to draw deduc-
tions regarding discrepancies within instructive environments. Although Kraiger
and Jerden (2007) concluded that learner influence in job environments is more
successful, this review noticed little obvious variance in the impact on learning
process and its outcomes, whereas some research recorded positive/negative effects
on results (Behrend & Thompson, 2012; Rienties et al., 2012). However, a closer
analysis shows that online learning systems employed in work environments enable
reasonably high levels of learner autonomy, including autonomy over experiences
and also the position of learning (Joo et al., 2013). This review proposes that the func-
tion of the organisational learning climate, including the degree of autonomy granted
to staff, the influence of organisational expectations, the accessibility of resources,
and the methods used to provide training, be further explored in future research on
this topic. This study also recommends exploring the effects of learner management
on e-learning attrition rates as a final incentive for potential study.
Does Learner Control Prove Effective in the Systems of e-Learning? … 145

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Digital Humanity for Nepali University
Teachers

Eak Prasad Duwadi

I postulate that if we harness digital humanity, humanities education can strike back
in the world. I present a perspective on globalization and humanities from a loca-
tion, which perhaps enjoys a little reputation in terms of the volume of humanistic
education. I presently belong to a department in Kathmandu University School of
Management. Being a language and communication faculty, I also give some litera-
ture and composition lectures and run workshops across several schools. One of the
benefits is that I can do needful research there besides having the rights to design
and update the syllabus.
Therefore, I am unaffected whether the number of intakes multiplies or dwindles.
Another benefit is that I get a chance to collaborate with faculties from STEM back-
grounds. Not only do I ask for their help for understanding and applying technical
concepts, but they seek my help for developing sustainable projects in return. I do
not feel inferior to them anyways.
In this paper, first humanities education is defined. Then, the importance of human-
ities education is discussed. That is followed by crisis in the humanities education
section. Next, causes of crisis are analyzed. Then, the way-forwards to remedy the
challenges are listed coherently. Finally, conclusions are made, and the references
are added.

1 Defining Humanity Education

According to Cambridge Dictionary, “Humanities are the tales, ideas and phrases
that assist us to understand our existence and our world.” It introduces us to people
we have never met before, locations we have never visited before and thoughts we

E. P. Duwadi (B)
Kathmandu University Nepal, Dhulikhel, Nepal
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 149
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_11
150 E. P. Duwadi

would possibly by no means have idea of. The human sciences have been first utilized
to trivium including study of grammar, rhetoric and good judgment in the fifteenth-
century Italy. Scholars added a new issue while reading Greek and Roman books
and their languages for native people. At the identical time, they learn about of the
liberal arts was still restrained usually to men of the ruling classes, which have been
regarded on unsuitable for female.
There had been additionally heated discussions about the acceptable placement
of Humanities and professional skill guides in historical times. The three areas of
curriculum are mentioned in Plato’s major, work The Republic. However, the debate
over the relative fee of the three main direction areas specifically grammar, rhetoric
and logic continues as always. Later both Greek and Roman philosophers continued
to strengthen Plato’s views. This is recognized as the liberal arts curriculum that
develops extensive competencies vital to working as a free citizen such as analyzing
and discussing public issues.
Humanities these days incorporate many other traits viz. anthropology, clas-
sics, records geography, linguistics, languages, politics, literature, performing arts,
theatre, dance, philosophy religion and visual arts. Therefore, Humanities are no
longer just about studying English literature.
Importance of Humanities education does no longer sojourn you from turning
into an employee in any part of the world as they increase communication capa-
bilities expanding the horizon of imaginations mental authority and flexibility
(Alexandra, 2). Whether you have to be Humanities Major or not, as you can examine
liteterature books every time you want.
Humanities do no longer stop you from turning into an employee in any section
of the world; they improve properly conversation skills, wealthy imaginations, intel-
lectual authority and flexibility (Alexandra 2). Whether you must be Humanities
principal or now not does now not matter, but you can read literary books whichever
streams you select to study.

1.1 Importance of Humanities Education

For Ron Miller, the Humanities imply for storing a passionate heart, not just a calcu-
lating mind. This potential persona schooling no longer just competence of devel-
opment is essential (34). Liberal arts graduates have special wonderful capabilities
required for job possibilities and distinct competencies that convey giant benefits in
the historical off work (Smith, 19). On the different hand, STEM (Science Technology
Engineering and Mathematics) graduates may also have higher financial status, but
they may additionally forget the artwork of living, as it is solely liberal arts graduates
who are skilled in this way.
Humanities help us to suppose about what is no longer vital in our existence and
how we can make them healthy. By inspecting how others have lived and what they
think about life, they predict a fantastic strategy to answering what is right/wrong or
what is in/appropriate for our heritage and our past connecting us to other humans
Digital Humanity for Nepali University Teachers 151

and their lifestyles. Humanities help us emerge as extra tolerant, and address the
challenges we face together in our households or communities at large.
Global markets are also in a determined need of liberal arts knowledge, socio-
economic growth improvement challenges and intelligent options to complicated
international power. They require an aggregate of abilities derived from Humanities
social sciences even in STEM fields to layout and supply holistic and absolutely
knowledgeable solutions. It has also been discovered that development businesses
claim that technology-based engineering tasks fail due to lack of grasp of cultural
contexts.
Projects developed by the STEM graduates are all fantastic in phrases of thought
and design, however implementations are marred due to a lack of human perspectives.
This indicates that no international development problems for socio-economic, can
be wholly solved barring actual evidences, knowing, and discerning how nearby
stakeholders and other Humanities graduates are experiencing this.

2 Crisis in Humanities Education

Recent records on first time graduate show that liberal arts Majors earn lots less than
these with expert-oriented ranges in subjects such as enterprise and engineering and
Maths. In many states in the US, direction funding to Humanities education in latest
a long time is more and more low. The variety of Humanities students is dwindled.
That is now not exceptional in our university and university classes. For example,
more than 200 students would come to take English literature category in the central
campus of Tribhuvan University, a pioneer college of Nepal, the case is now not
an exception someplace else due to the fact it represents the vogue of international
trade.
The scenario is no longer so exceptional in other campuses throughout Nepal,
many programs which include psychology history and political sciences are superbly
unpopular. Therefore, some of the faculties’ gross earnings are being drawn from their
respective colleges. Students pick to be a part of STEM subjects to Humanities,
according to them, doing so will lead to the greener pasture both in or outside Nepal.

3 Causes of Crisis

For Aristotle, “Educating the idea barring educating the coronary heart is no educa-
tion at all”. John Dewey says that we can no longer learn anything from the literature,
artwork and idea of the previous that cannot be better supported by means of science.
Wilfred McClay solutions expectantly that analyzing of the classics reminds us “that
the ancients knew things about humankind that modernity has failed to abolish, even
if it has managed to forget them” (Smisey 41). Nonetheless, numerous elements
reason the crisis in Humanities education:
152 E. P. Duwadi

4 Lack of Interdisciplinary Collaborations

The fascinating components among them are English, history, politics, civics,
language, and literature education, philosophy, psychology and sociology as well. It
is associated to you seeing that humans are the topics inside the Humanities disci-
plines. It is essentially fascinated in people and with subjectivity; this is no longer
solely illustrating your questions of the means and purpose of life, however it is
uniquely properly suited to explore how to live and work with other people with
diversity.
In sensible terms, if the job requires being able to work with and determine
people, Humanities degrees can make us highly perfect for it as they allow empathy
and requires students to regard problems and understand humans with complexity
and having an appreciation that no single answer is right. This is the cause why many
STEM faculties now are trying to find the assistance of Humanities majors to hone
their educational writing and projects. That is the scenario in my personal technical
university, the place many schools from science and engineering regularly request
us (Humanities Professors) to edit their files and thesis earlier than submitting those.
However, Humanities colleges ordinarily pass over to advantage from the know-how
and talent from the STEM professors.

5 Lack of Proper Pedagogies

According to Ron Miller, from Pestalozzi to Dewey, Olcott to Steiner, Montessori

to Neil and Holt, these academic critics presented inspiring views on schooling for
the fullness of humanity, the schooling of freedom, wisdom, compassion and lively
participation in society World (23). Rainsford Alexandra believes that learning is
what happens when youth play for hours on the street, create their very own games,
create their personal policies and solve their problems among themselves (4).
Learning comes when children are allowed to experiment, with skill confusion
and bizarre things, and in all likelihood punctured loops or pebbles. Learning is what
occurs when a child sits for hours and draws, or kicks, throws a ball, or performs
with balls for hours. Learning comes when a toddler is enjoying video games (now
mobile games) or helping any person else. Learning additionally happens at a time
when we are no longer conscious that this is happening. Learning comes with an
innate curiosity that we all once had.
Understanding takes place because of verbal and non-verbal communication, and
now not “just” the baby and the student. Learning takes place in the course of rela-
tionship building, realizing the person sitting throughout from you by encouraging
trust, partnerships, and connections.
Digital Humanity for Nepali University Teachers 153

6 Lack of Simplicity

Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, Franz Kafka and Nikola Tesla continually used
easy language, and they are favored writers for many. Students of English are often
counseled to “Read novels,” but novels had been now not designed to instruct English.
It is also shown that the giant majority of people, who limit their reading to fiction,
do not increase powerful rhetorics.
Another instance is James Joyce’s Ulysses that is written in a flow of consciousness
and is used to replicate the protagonist’s thoughts. It is seen that many readers do
no longer want to do more work. They additionally do now not like to study the big
variations of Puranas or Vedas. However, the rule is much less we study something,
the less familiar it is, and the more difficult it is to understand. Most of the readers
select simple language alternatively than complex dialectal nowadays.
Things are improving in tutorial interests currently in Nepal and India as well.
Unlike in the past, college students understand about time period papers, journals,
conferences, research, plagiarism, presentation, MLA Research Handbook, and so
forth, however in reality, they are hardly materialized.

7 Lack of Understanding of Digital Humanity

Meredith Hindley reveals, “In the years following World War II, the sciences—phys-
ical, biological, and social—embraced computers to work on complicated calcula-
tions, however it took the Humanities a little longer to see the cost of computing” (4).
In Humanities, evidence-based periods that mirror data-driven processes to the inter-
actions of technological know-how with learning, giving you coaching to make future
pedagogic decisions or have interaction in comparable research, are notably missing.
Moreover, hardly ever few instructors of Humanities recognize what energetic getting
to know pedagogy is.
Years of research demonstrates the effectiveness of active learning methods over
typical lectures. Active gaining knowledge of strategies ranges from rapid and handy
to extra great activities. Learning Design (lesson plan) is missing from many teachers’
tables. In fact, from thinking to delivery, superb and enticing studying experiences
require designers who are both innovative and analytical.
Emergent Technologies are quite new to the instructors of Humanities in a creating
country. In addition, experimentation with rising applied sciences in instructional
contexts can grant unique pedagogical insights. Beyond being without a doubt inno-
vative, the use of rising applied sciences needs to be supported by evidence-based
lookup that focuses on the technologies have an effect on learning. Lack of school
improvement is another setback in our institutions. Faculty improvement is involved
with the guide and ongoing improvement of instructional college at the institutional
or unit level.
154 E. P. Duwadi

Lack of suited assessment of college students is any other key motive that blem-
ishes Humanities education. Learning administration systems and different online
getting to know systems provide opportunities to interact college students with
innovative or choice assessments. They also can grant systematic get admission
to ordinary evaluation data, as well as records that was beforehand unavailable or
challenging to track.

8 Because of the Arrival of Machines

STEM topics are comparatively new and still beneficial to many, “To be triumphant in
this new information-based and fantastically technological society, college students
want to strengthen their skills in STEM to stages lots past what used to be regarded
acceptable in the past” (National Science Foundation).
Recent reviews from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences located that
declining guide for the Humanities should damage commercial innovation in the
United States and underminecivic engagement. The variety of Americans with the
liberal arts stages such as history and English is at an all-time high. The proportion of
these with liberal arts tiers is declining as majority of them at an increasing number
choose career-oriented Majors such as business and Engineering.
New facts show that liberal arts Majors earn much less in their first job than other
Majors. The Florida Governor has proposed to reduce in country training expenses
for students in trades with right job prospects while permitting training prices to
rise for Humanities students. STEM schooling is one of the cutting-edge thoughts in
education, but some human beings are not sure if the benefits outweigh the practicable
risks (Sabrina Rung, 1).
However, the study of the humanities has existed here due to the fact time immemo-
rial, so they are no longer new to students. Due to the presence of many liberal
arts graduates, college students can also find restricted opportunities. However,
we have a responsibility to study about the previous and examine from it. Human
schooling teaches us many transferable skills. Besides art and history, graduates can
join publishing houses, media houses, PR, charities, corporate houses, diplomatic
missions, etc. Humanity additionally teaches the artwork of writing, so it is very
handy for any experts to share their ideas. Moreover, we can create compelling argu-
ments and rhetoric with these compelling elements. Above all, Humanities foster the
information economic system and makes the economic system precisely measured
in phrases of the advantages to the gross home product.

9 Way-Forwards

To make sure a future for the Humanities in greater training throughout the globe,
let us take the following actions:
Digital Humanity for Nepali University Teachers 155

1. Though with ease siloed earlier, discover collaboration in new interdisci-

plinarity by creating something new by wondering throughout boundaries.
2. Contribute for our continued existence by way of supplying tangible compe-
tencies including right verbal exchange skills.
3. Be clear and specific in our directions to attain any audience as some issues
arise from ambiguous and doubtful instructions.
4. Promote digital humanity in your college or university faculty with exciting
instructional video games activities, technology, and multimedia resources.
5. Respond with accurately holistic and numerous solutions: Publicly reward
high-quality conduct showing that we are celebrating their achievements as
well.
6. Encourage reading, writing, speaking, listening, necessary questioning and
analytical skills with the aid of growing literary groups.
7. Create products: Whether it is a poem, short story, or a composition, please,
create something to motivate your students.
8. Reflect: Sera (2018) advises instructors to explore their own teaching via vital
reflection to improve modifications in attitude and awareness. The faith can
advantage their professional boom as teachers and enhance the help they supply
to their students.
9. Love your profession: The high-quality way to get college students interested
in your challenge is to love it wholeheartedly that your passion for the field is
mirrored in your attitude.
10. Division like Sturtevant (2018), I additionally agree that the responsibility lies
with the Humanities disciplines to organize, to enter the public arena, to work
collectively outdoor the tall buildings of our schools and universities.

10 Conclusions

I agree with Cottle (2015) that we find out about Humanities to get better perspectives.
It affects jobs and lifestyles skills, our international standpoint and the splendor
and records of human experiences. Therefore, the need of liberal arts education is
nonetheless applicable in the present day context the entirety that got here earlier
than impacts who we are these days is as a society (Bookthoughts, 1). The find out
about of human beings and way of life includes many types that have taken on in
time and place.
Naturally, most of this occurs due to the fact of reverse reflection, which is now not
memorizing dates however extra than that. Philosophy, literature, politics, music, law,
language, religion, architecture, lifestyle and society are covered under the umbrella
of Humanities.
Perhaps the intention of schooling is not to grow to be rich, however to study
during life. To exhibit enthusiasm, to take calculated risks, to be capable to resolve
problems, to assume critically, to be in a position to see things differently, to be
capable to work independently and intelligently we want a deeper perception of the
156 E. P. Duwadi

world. Others are creative caring and willing to provide it back to their community,
have solutions, have honesty and self-respect, have moral coverage, talk well, write
well, examine well, work well, and virtually revel in life and work.
Humanities instill these characteristics in the hearts and myself readers in students
this is the reasons why I recommend the significance of liberal arts education or route
in winters are of increased significance in the twenty-first century too

References

Bookishthoughts, J. (2016). Why Study the Humanities? YouTube, uploaded by Jean Retrieved
January 8, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBvE23OM7s.
Cottle, K. (2015). Oh the humanities! YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks. Retrieved January 5,
2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0vidIWkymo.
“Humanities” (17 February 2010). About humanities. Retrieved March 4, 2018, from https://gdbkic
m10262015.wordpress.com/.
Serra, R. (20180. What is reflective teaching and why is it important? Retrieved from http://www.
richmondshare.com.br/what-is-reflective-teaching-and-why-is-it-important/.
Sturtevant, P. B. (2018). The humanities must unite or die. Retrieved from https://www.insidehig
hered.com/views/2015/11/06/humanities-must-work-promote-their-worth-public-essay.
Improvement of Teaching Quality
in Open and Distance Learning Through
Peer Mentoring: A Case Study
on Bangladesh Open University

Sodip Roy and Santosh Kumar Behera

Abstract Twenty-first-century teaching-learning has been witnessing a wider

acceptance of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in higher education. At the
same time, it places the quality assurance into the forefront to make this provision
more effective and relevant to all stakeholders. However, the difference between
conventional and ODL education is minimizing gradually, such as philosophy, target
groups and instructional design explicitly differ till today. And, teachers in ODL
institutions require some different types of skills and qualities than the teachers in
conventional universities. Principally, mentoring among the faculty members can
offer that initial know-how techniques to novice teachers coming from non-ODL
background. Therefore, this study aims to examine how peer mentoring necessarily
contributes to enhance the teaching quality of Open University teachers with refer-
ence to Bangladesh Open University. To investigate the issue, this study applied some
qualitative methods interview and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) among purposive
number of mentor and mentee teachers of Bangladesh Open University (BOU). After
exploration, it was found that most of the teachers particularly the novice teachers
have acquired many skills and knowledge on open and distance education initially
through peer mentoring in informal settings. Participants of the study hope for formal
mentoring in the universities at large in Bangladesh.

Keywords Quality · Teaching quality · Peer mentoring · Open and distance

learning · One to one · Intangible · Retention

S. Roy
Department of Political Science, Open School, Bangladesh Open University, Gazipur 1705,
Bangladesh
S. K. Behera (B)
Department of Education, Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal,
713340, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 157
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_12
158 S. Roy and S. K. Behera

1 Introduction

Quality of teaching has gone to the bleeding edge of advanced education internation-
ally within the past decades (Harvey & Williams, 2010). The twenty-first century
learning also concentrates highly on the quality of education. In this face of global
competition, effective teaching and learning are inevitable in upgrading excellence
and increasing the scope of higher educational institutions (Department for Educa-
tion and Skills, 2003). Jasman et al. (2013) demonstrated that a university’s standard
can be determined according to its teaching quality. Most of the institution maneuvers
to employ every possible initiative to high up their quality: both using formal and
informal approaches of quality management and tools. Initiatives of teaching quality
enhancement oftentimes depend on the intrinsic profile of the institution. Moreover,
there are wide ranges of strategies to sort out the quality of particular institution. And
some strategies may vary in case of Open University and conventional university. But
it is widely accepted that modern quality management encourages teamwork among
the teachers for desired quality achievement (Henard & Leprince-Ringuet, 2008).
But universities in developing countries strive for quality; they cannot invest much
in the formal strategies and approaches. In this situation, many informal strategies can
offer the optimum benefits to that quality enhancement. Mentoring is such a tool that
equally supports developing the basic ethos of teaching significantly (Wexler, 2020)
as well as methodological techniques of Open education through teamwork. It offers
a much broader set of benefits for the early and mid-career faculty in the university
(Rees & Shaw, 2014). In case of ODL institutions, the collaboration of learning is a
must for the academic staff particularly between the senior and the novice (Kennedy
& Duffy, 2004) because ODL entails many different types of components of teaching
and learning than conventional institutions. Thus, this method requires mandatory
collaboration among the teachers that cannot be always learned from formal training.
While achieving quality is crucial for the universities, educators and the univer-
sity themselves look for many quality management tools that often do not focus
on academic issues but on policy issue. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB)
has adopted and adapted many policies and strategies under the Higher Education
Quality Enhancement Project. But it rarely encourages the informal tools to uphold
the specialized knowledge of the individual institutions (Higher Education Quality
Enhancement Project (HEQEP), 2016). In this context, the study aims to investigate
how the academic staff of BOU cope up with a different type of teaching-learning
environment and grow their teaching quality with many technical skills and exper-
tise without mentionable training and workshops. And, the study expects that it will
strengthen the spirit for peer mentoring in BOU. This study believes further that it
may attract the attention of policy-makers to formalize peer mentoring in improving
the teaching quality of BOU without spending any extra for it.
Improvement of Teaching Quality … 159

2 Literature Review

Teaching quality is a comprehensive attribute of a teacher. There is no fixed and

one-go process to enhance quality of the university faculty members (Martens &
Prosser, 1998). The process encompasses both individual and collective maneuvers
throughout his/her career in an academia. The institution as well as the teacher
individually goes through the process of training, research activities, generating and
sharing of knowledge and experience both in formal and informal platforms. Hill
et al. (2003) defines ‘Teaching quality’
“as a composite term to indicate the quality of teachers in terms of explicit qualification of the
faculty and implicit teacher characteristics such as ability, commitment, motivation supported
by the adequacy of hiring procedures, faculty availability, professional development and
recognition of teaching abilities” (pp. 15–20).

This qualification has intrinsic and achieved values. Most of these attributes
require recognition and rewards from the respective institution to flourish further.
Put differently, many traits of teaching can be improved through interpersonal and
daily practices. Accordingly, Hall (2002) marked out that mentoring is
“intentional relationship focused on developing self of relatively unseasoned protégé through
dialogue and reflection; an implicit focus on the development of the next generation in the
context of interpersonal relationships” (p. 147).

Rosser and Egan (2005) emphasized on professional development through this

personal relationship and it is a challenge in some cases to make effective those
informal approaches of quality development. It creates a debate whether teaching
quality should excel with formal quality management or these informal practices
(Rosser & Egan, 2005). Moreover, some scholars like to explain the quality of
teaching by differentiating their role as managers-administrators and academics-
teachers (Crebbin, 1997). Quite similarly Chen et al. (2014) argued that teachers are
the sole responsible for teaching quality. They identify several components such as
teachers’ characteristics, quality of teaching materials, classroom and environmental
support, control of the learning climate to look at sincerely (Chen et al., 2014).
Thus, the scholars like Felder and Brent (1999) reluctant to follow formal quality
management tools at least in improving teaching quality.
On the other hand, formal tools suggest and apply strategies in the academia in the
developed countries to uphold the quality of higher education (Lomas, 2004). To this
group quality management practices the six components: focus on customer satisfac-
tion; focus on processes; continuous quality improvements; employee involvement;
fact-based management; management commitment (Kennerfalk, 1995). However,
some may find slight variations of these components with teaching quality. Jung
(2005) in a comprehensive study observed two issues- ‘course materials production’
and ‘student support services’ to ascertain the quality of ODL. Furthermore, ODL
teachers need to embrace new technological know-how regularly to keep pace with
the twenty-first century learners.
160 S. Roy and S. K. Behera

Teaching requires both psychological readiness as well as expertise on particular

discipline. In this regard, peer group of teachers share experience, receive emotional
support and offer scope to change attitudes and behavior (Hobson et al., 2009).
Mentors directly help the novice in teaching and learning, planning, observing,
providing feedback on pupil’s work in such a setting (Stanulis et al., 2018). Ramdass
and Nemavhola (2018) argue for specific competencies in distance education such as
developing study materials, conducting assessment and facilitating of learning. Prac-
tically mentoring includes pedagogical and instructional issues such as instructional
design, reflections of lessons and focusing conversation and question around them
(Wexler, 2020). The informal relationship becomes more effective for protégé even
than formal mentoring (Gibson, 2004). Since improvement of teaching quality is
an unending process, mentoring generates favorable environment to outgrow many
elements of teaching quality (Chitpin, 2011). Sultana and Kamal (2002) call for
professional sincerity among the staff to minimize the gap between the philosophy
of distance education and the reality. Besides, Malik (2015) emphasized on inventing
innovative methods for instruction and code of ethics in ODL but did not mention
any particular method to achieve those qualities.
It is clear that the aforesaid relevant literature emphasizes seldom on how the
ODL teachers can acquire necessary skills and qualification on self-learning module
writing, performing in audio-visual programs, intensive tutorial and so on at the
beginning of their career, which is crucial for a large number of academics in this
provision. Therefore, the study considers the issue and attempts to investigate the
following research questions:
• RQ 1. How the protege cope up with the different teaching learning environment
of BOU?
• RQ 2. What extent peer mentoring can help them to grow as ODL teachers?
• RQ 3. Why does peer mentoring matter for ODL teachers in the developing
country like in Bangladesh?

3 Methodology

The qualitative approach was adopted in this study. In-depth interview and Focus
Group Discussion (FGD) of the targeted respondents are considered as methods of
the study. Working in the same environment has contributed to add many important
data in the overall study. Primary data has been collected through Key Informants
Interviews (K.I.I.) and FGD in three different phases between October and December
2019. To this purpose, interviews are executed based on two different semi-structured
interview checklists for mentor and mentee. Interview tools comprised of twenty-
five questions for the participants. It has a purposive sampling in which not only
the mentors but also the mentee teachers have been selected based on some criteria:
mentors are senior faculty members at least at Associate Professor level whereas
mentees are novice teachers, both mentee and mentors are from the same discipline
in one peer group.
Improvement of Teaching Quality … 161

3.1 Demography of the Respondents

The average length of an interview was twenty minutes and fifteen minutes for mentee
and mentors, respectively. One FGD was conducted to substantiate the interview data.
The six person group of mentor and mentee FGD was also guided by a checklist. It
has been attempted to maintain all standard of an FGD. One of the research assis-
tant assisted during the entire meeting. The primary data was filtered several times.
Repeated translation, that is first from Bengali to English and again from English to
Bengali was done to fix the accuracy of the final data in presentation. The study neces-
sarily collected many secondary and observational data too. For secondary data, it
explored relevant literature on teaching quality, faculty mentoring and peer mentoring
both from library and online searches. Finally, both the primary and secondary data
were coded in line with the study objectives and analyzed afterward according to the
theme emerged from the field (Hopwood, 2004). Anonymity and confidentiality of
the data has been observed with standard research ethics (Tables 1 and 2).

4 Findings

Bangladesh Open University has the largest educational network throughout the
country with five hundred thousand learners in sixty more formal and non-formal
programs in one and half thousand tutorial centers (Bangladesh Open University
(BOU) Diary, 2019). It imparts education both in ODL and face-to-face (f2f) methods.
BOU operates in six schools with one hundred sixty faculty members who teach
approximately ten thousand students at the campus in Dhaka. Faculty members

Table 1 List of Mentor (M) teachers

Respondents Gender Qualification Experience (appro. in Discipline
year)
Professor (M1) Male Ph.D. 16 Bengali
Professor (M2) Female Ph.D. 20 Home Economics
Professor (M3) Male Ph.D. 20 Accounting
Professor (M4) Male Ph.D. 20 Math
Professor (M5) Female Ph.D. 20 Physics
Professor (M6) Male Double Masters 20 Economics
Associate Professor Male Ph.D. 15 English
(M7)
Associate Professor Male Ph.D. 10 Sociology
(M8)
Source Field Study, 2019
162 S. Roy and S. K. Behera

Table 2 List of Mentee (Protégé) teachers

Respondents Gender Qualification Experience Discipline
(appro. in year)
Assistant Professor (P1) Female Masters 10 Bengali
Associate Professor (P2) Female Masters 15 Home Economics
Lecturer (P3) Male Masters 02 Accounting
Assistant Professor (P4) Female Masters 06 Math
Assistant Professor (P5) Female Masters 08 Physics
Assistant Professor (P6) Male Masters 07 Economics
Lecturer (P7) Male Masters 03 English
Assistant Professor (P8) Male Masters 07 Sociology
Source Field Study, 2019

provide the key educational services in self-learning modules, curriculum, audio-

video lectures and instructional design for the tutor in the designated study centers.
The study finds that fifty percent of faculty members are young. Meaning that future
of the university’s performance depends on the grooming of these faculty members.
It further reveals that young teachers are not receiving enough training on ODL.
Mentees have been learning many necessary skills and knowledge of ODL from the
seniors through informal meetings among them. They can realize the impact of those
meeting on understanding the vision-mission of ODL, instructional design, role and
responsibilities, module preparation, tutorial classes, script writing, recording of
audio-video lectures, etc.

4.1 Peer Mentoring as Coping up Strategy for Protégé

The study primarily examined that how the protégé adjust and serve in different
requirements of the university other than their graduation university. BOU is the
only ODL University in Bangladesh and it had no higher degree programs a decade
ago. Resultantly, it has no scope and culture to recruit teacher from own gradu-
ates. All newly recruited teachers come from conventional universities, having no
skills and knowledge about ODL. During the in-depth interview, almost every novice
teacher had pointed out the issue of their no prior knowledge about the university.
Mentee P4 and P6 mentioned that they were frustrated and puzzled by knowing the
teaching-learning mode of the university and they felt very helpless about acquiring
the minimum expertise to cope up with this environment. But their mentors (M4 &
M6) were very supportive to them. During the several meetings with them respec-
tively, mentors discussed about the basic issues about BOU learning modes, and
development and distribution of learning materials. M1 and senior professor of Open
School said that he was much sincere about the freshmen in the faculty. Mentee P1
agreed that she used to get the necessary support from M1 on rules and regulations
Improvement of Teaching Quality … 163

of the university, benefits of the teachers and scope of growing their career in the
faculty.

4.2 Fundamental Scope of Peer Mentoring in BOU

4.2.1 Peer Mentoring, Module and Scripts Writing

BOU provides study materials to almost all of her learners. And, it has a reputation
in producing quality self-learning study materials ever since. It follows a standard
production cycle of total eight steps (Sultana & Kamal, 2002). Almost every mentee
of this study expresses their gratitude to their respective senior faculty members.
They have received guidance from them in every step from pre-writing to publishing
of the production cycle. Mentee from Economics (P6) and Sociology (P8) mention
that
“We were new in this profession and had no experience of publishing study materials before
but now we are authors and coordinator of the respective courses. We think, it would not
possible without direct support of our seniors” (Interview with mentee, 2019).

Two other senior protégé argues that however they have some experience of
academic publications; they could not reach the standard level of language for self-
learning materials in which their mentor helped them a lot. Mentee (P5) opines that
she had no knowledge of preparing learning modules for the learner particularly in
ODL but she was assigned to write one module for a group of learners. The School had
arranged just a two-day workshop which she found insufficient. In this situation, she
approached a professor in the School and received support in module development,
meaning of the icons, necessary instructions in the lesson, importance of different
audio-video links with those lesson, etc. Professor and mentor (M2) contended that
she had the scope to contribute in curriculum development for one of the programs
and shared her experience intensively with her junior in the same discipline in School.

4.2.2 Peer Mentoring and Recording of Audio-Video Lectures

Recording of audio-visual lectures is an essential task for teachers in ODL. Recorded

materials are broadcasted both in TV and radio channel as well as uploaded in
different online platform. It requires special training and expertise. A faculty (P3)
from Accounting expressed with gratitude that initially he was very nervous to
record his maiden video lectures. Then the concerned producer of the video lectures
advised him to consult and practice the lecture first with a colleague. Accordingly, he
approached his senior to help him for demo recording in the office room. He practiced
several times and the mentor directed him on different moves of the recording. He
however had some weakness of presenting something in front of the camera; it disap-
peared soon after following guidance from the friendly senior. FGD revealed that
164 S. Roy and S. K. Behera

one to one mentoring produced good output for many of them to enhance teaching
quality of the faculty members in this university. All of the mentors and mentees
from English and Sociology candidly admitted that their pair worked very well and
enriched each other particularly on course material development. Mentee (P7) from
English defends that he was struggling to make the video lectures attractive. After
consulting with his senior consecutively for few days he learned how to add some
visual impact and effective link with that lectures. He improved a lot in his videos
scripts too.

4.2.3 Peer Mentoring and Research in ODL

Since the advancement of technology, ODL universities in the developed coun-

tries have been applying more sophisticated technology in delivering their academic
services. So research is essential for an institution to upgrade services and provide
update information to the stakeholders. Faculty members are engaged with individual
research on ODL at BOU too. University authority also motivates the academic staff
in research on ODL for which it provides fund in senior-junior team. One of the
mentee (P5) from the Physics department acclaimed to her senior for assisting in a
research project. She was also informed in details for the first time about blended
learning, know-how techniques of open educational resources (OER) and the impor-
tance of ICT in ODL (Interview with mentee, 2019). Despite that a mentor (M8)
from Sociology share his experience that
“most of the junior initially are reluctant to involve themselves to research on ODL issues,
however I motivated many of them about the vision and philosophy of ODL and why it is
important to conduct research and how it can benefit their profession and career” (interview
with mentee, 2019).

Most of the mentors believe that it is their duty to inspire the protégé in research
and academic conferences on ODL and M6 is doing so since long (FGD 2019). One
more mentor (M3) admitted that he liked to share their experience of working in the
university administration with junior in the School. He thinks that it can enhance
their capacity in the management of teaching-learning environment of the university.
One of the mentee (P6) of Economics opines that he was scared about examining,
scrutinizing and managing other examiners initially however after a several setting
with his senior colleague she obtained the skills to conduct exam and assessment-
related tasks shortly.
Improvement of Teaching Quality … 165

4.3 Necessity of Peer Mentoring in BOU

Initially, novice teachers are found very difficult to acclimatize in the distance educa-
tion environment. They were not familiar with the modular system of delivery, prepa-
ration of special curriculum for the distance learners, wider application of technolo-
gies such as learning management software, application of many open sources of
material for themselves and the learners in Open universities. But it was mentors
who motivated them the job responsibilities, facilities, challenges which helped their
retention in job. Protege had the chances to discuss their issues in conversation and
question during peer mentoring. Like other mentors, M8 claimed that novice teachers
have no scope to know about ODL from other than BOU faculties particularly from
their graduating universities. During the FGD, young faculty members admitted that
they came to learn the difference between lecture method and tutorial method for
the first time from their senior colleagues. Later on, they followed those instruc-
tions about how to implement module in tutoring sessions. A junior faculty might
acquire knowledge about their discipline-related issues from any universities of the
country but it is difficult to get support on technical issue of module development,
recording audio-video lectures and tutoring system in ODL. M7 argued that as an
ODL faculty member, we have to keep update with those education technologies,
blended learning, OER, e-learning tools. Mentor M6 stated that
“BOU is an exceptional education provider in Bangladesh that requires exceptional skills
for her faculty.
It is our responsibility to develop our junior colleagues with this effective medium of
education.”

4.4 Challenges of Peer Mentoring in BOU

The HEIs in Bangladesh do not practice mentoring largely. There is no formal

mentoring in BOU too. To the M8, novice teacher oftentimes cannot understand
whom to visit and when to visit a professor. Most often it happens that a novice
teacher does not feel comfortable to visit comparatively senior faculty members
from other than his/her own school (Interview with M8, 2019). Some of the mentors
and mentee had different observation about their relationship. Oftentimes peers could
not adjust with each other. Consequently, team works like the module production are
hampered and delayed. That also affected a little bit to the satisfaction and retention
of the newly appointed teachers. A numbers of novice teachers leave the BOU job
every year. Pointing out this retention issue, M4 said that it happened here because
of two reasons: recruitment of graduates with degrees from conventional universities
and lack of proper teaching-learning environment of the university.
Both the student and teachers maintain direct lobby with the mainstream polit-
ical parties in Bangladesh. Thus, there is lack of trust and respect among them.
Most of the junior faculty criticized this political factionalism that caused weak
relationship among the faculty members (FGD, 2019). In addition, since there are
166 S. Roy and S. K. Behera

no full-time students in the main campus of this university, most of the meetings
among teachers covered by non-academic issues. Overall, no culture of mentoring
in Bangladeshi universities also affects informal interpersonal academic relation-
ships in BOU. Furthermore, novice teachers show hardly their interest to ODL. They
tend to busy with formal and f2f teaching instead of modular and tutorial system of
teaching (FGD, 2019).

5 Discussion

Teaching in Open University needs different types of orientation than that of tradi-
tional universities (Ramdass & Nemavhola, 2018). ODL institution follows distinct
curriculum, instructional design,ˆ methods of delivery such as audio-video lectures,
distribution of learning materials in printing and electronic media. And, mentoring
is less frequent in ODL (Morgan & Smit, 2001). Some of the teachers needed a
clarification about mentoring during the data collection. But there is some informal
mentoring that has been occurring unknowingly as mentoring. BOU faculty members
also provided guidance in tutoring, teaching, module development and recording
media program to their junior discipline mates. However, the study revealed that
mentor and mentee undergo some challenges among them, officially and practically
they have to work together particularly in developing modules and helping each in
recording interactive audio-video lectures. Thus, they develop an interpersonal rela-
tionship between them eventually. It has been noticed from observation during the
fieldwork that most of the mentee can overcome their initial challenges with the
help of their senior colleagues in the same discipline. Both the senior and junior
colleagues have to ask for academic cooperation for recording audio-video lectures.
Consequently, discipline-wise informal mentoring happens in the BOU quite manda-
torily. Therefore, mentoring can contribute a lot to the sustaining and refining of ODL
teaching’s effectiveness (Van der Merwe, 2011).
There are evidences that mentoring in a formal structure of mentoring can bring
forth significant improvement among the respective faculty members (Darwin &
Palmer, 2009). Most of the best cases of mentoring are found supervised and
patronized by higher authority of the university. In a complete informal setting, the
objectives of mentoring remain unachieved due to personal ego, time mismatch,
racism (Harris & Lee, 2019), sexual sensitivity so and forth. For instances,
teachers in Bangladeshi universities are mostly divided into pro-Awami Leaguer
and pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party politics (Ahmmed, 2013) which affects the
academic collaboration and mentoring activities largely. Furthermore, mentoring is
not completely a voluntary job; there are provisions of compensation for assigned
faculty members (Chalmers, 2011; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). Teachers are not well
paid in Bangladesh. Consequently, they want to skip any extra load of academic
and non-academic activities. In the case of BOU, it is the novice teachers who play
the lead role in keeping the peer mentoring alive because they must have to fulfill
some conditions of lecture recording and production of course materials during their
Improvement of Teaching Quality … 167

probation period. They frequently visit the senior faculty members; however senior
teachers do not warmly welcome the junior every time.

6 Conclusion

This study has focused on informal peer mentoring and improvement of teaching
quality at BOU, and found that the protégé are benefited from such type of mentoring.
Mentees received necessary basic knowledge about module development, tutoring,
know-how about recording lectures from their senior colleagues in the same disci-
pline. Those coaching and guidance surely cleared their confusion about ODL and
boosted up their confidence at large. It has an impact to their understanding of ODL,
preparation of learning materials, and research to upgrade the ODL services. Mentors
are also happy to practice and share their expertise with the mentee. They believe
that their contributions are somehow making up the crisis of necessary training for
the novice. However, both the mentors and mentee get benefit from mentoring; there
are some challenges to continue the practice. Most of the protégé at the beginning do
not show their interest at this system of learning as well as political division affects
the teaching-learning environment of the university. Moreover, mentoring is so far
considered as a thankless job in our HEIs in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study recom-
mends formalizing mentoring and building up a community of learners among the
teachers at BOU. Commitment of the academic staff to quality can be a driving force
to the entire process of upholding the standard of HEIs in Bangladesh. The exam-
ined context is too complex that government intervention is must for the change.
During this study, it is found that Institutional Quality Assurance Cell of UGC has
been working to improve the quality of education in the university (Higher Education
Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP), 2016). But special attention should be on the
improvement of teaching quality. Put differently, any institution can achieve better
learning outcomes by upgrading the quality of the teacher (Phillips, 2008). As part of
its several new tools of teaching-learning under the project, it can formulate a policy
guideline and patronize mentoring in the HEIs. Concomitantly, more research can be
carried out in the academia on why mentoring is not well-practiced in Bangladeshi
universities. It is high time to apply the international quality management tools to
determine the standard of the universities to set timely vision and mission. Tellingly,
GoB has to comprehend for sustainable development through the lens of quality
higher education and knowledge-based society.
168 S. Roy and S. K. Behera

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Learning to Online Learning:
Techniques, Challenges
and Opportunities

Upagya Rai, Anurag Upadhyay, and Richa Singh

Abstract This work is an exploration of techniques, challenges and opportunities

of online/e-learning. It helps develop an understanding about how the transition from
traditional face-to-face method of teaching happened and how it was perceived by the
teaching community of student and teachers. Online/e-learning has a bright future in
India as by 2021 it will become the second-largest Internet using country. Thus this
sustainable and transparent medium of knowledge dissipation will be able to reach
the remote part villages and all the knowledge and information of the world will be
accessible to all who aspire to study.

Keywords Learning · Ethics · Online/e-learning · Technology · Pedagogies

1 Introduction

Technical improvement and better affordability of computers led to fast passed devel-
opment of online learning/e-learning. Online learning/e-learning is also called as
virtual learning, distance education, Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC). In this
new ecosystem technology is an enabler of transparent and effective dissipation of
knowledge beyond the boundaries of schools and colleges, countries and continents.
All a student or a teacher need is a working Internet connection and a device either
a computer or a mobile phone also called as smartphone. The historical evolution
of e-learning can be traced back to as far as 40 years. The term online learning/e-
learning specifically came into existence since 1999. Online learning/e-learning for
education primarily means Internet-based delivery of content. Rodrigues et al. 2019
explains online learning/e-learning as an innovative web-based system-based on
digital technologies and other forms of educational materials whose primary goal
is to provide students with a personalized, learner-cantered, open, enjoyable and
interactive learning environment supporting and enhancing the learning processes.
What is learning? Learning is identical to change; it is defined as a perma-
nent alteration in behavior. Learning can be like acquiring a new skill, an attitude

U. Rai (B) · A. Upadhyay · R. Singh

IILM University, Knowledge Centre, Golf Course Road, Gurugram, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 171
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_13
172 U. Rai et al.

or imbibing a new rule, this change is different from change that happens due to
processes like aging or experience, which is another way of learning. Thus it would
be safe to say that all type of learning is driven by intentional activities on the part
of the person to understand and remember something new and unique. Examples
that explain learning are riding a bike, learning to read, signing, paint or fix the
kitchen counter. The process of learning is explained by theories like behaviorist—
stimulus leads to response, the neo-behaviorist—human mind, the gestalt—insight,
whole is greater than the sum of its part, the cognitivists—learning to think and the
humanist—active nature of learner.
Learning is an internal process that can be facilitated by the process called
teaching. Teaching is a process that happens outside of the learner. Several years
of experience comes in form of models that helps us understand how to learn and
teach? The term Pedagogy is derived from a Greek word paidagogia which is a
combination of “ago” means “I lead” and “paidos” means “boy, child” combining
together to mean “leading a child” so in pedagogical model, the process of learning is
more teachers centric or driven by teacher where the focus is on acquiring the subject
matter through a standardized curriculum prepared to fulfill the societal need, student
have a rather passive participation. On the other hand, Andragogy comes from a Greek
word “andr” meaning “man” and “agogos” meaning “leader of”, thus androgogy
means “leading man”, thus in andragogical approach emphasis is on how and what
the learner is learning. In another model proposed by Further Education Unit (FEU)
in 1981, Experience, Reflection, Learning Model to Optimize Learning suggested
that learning process is of three phases: student experience, organized reflection and
need for specific learning. Adults have certain expectations with the learning, they
expect to be taught, to work hard, vocation-related study, to be treated as an adult.
These expectations of an adult learner also should be evaluated from individual’s
need and expectations, it becomes important that a student is treated as an individual
and their learning should be related to the overall development. These models also
helped us understand that teaching is an event that happens outside of the learner and
is designed in such a way that it facilitates the process of learning that happens inside
of the individual. In the process of learning motive and behavior come together, only
behavior can be observed and learning happens internally. Teacher is a facilitating
agent during this internal process of learning; this role can be categorized into tradi-
tional role (teacher-centered) and modern role (student-centered). Experience of the
students plays a major role in the process of learning; usually the process of teaching
and learning is built upon the previous experiences students have acquired. Experi-
ences can be acquired by participating in the activity or by solving a problem, this
is termed as direct experience in which student plays an active role whereas teacher
facilitates the process of leaning by giving input so that the students don’t deviate
from the path of learning. Experience can also be acquired by indirect methods in
which the teacher plays an active role by carefully curating the content and designing
the activities around the curriculum to steer the process of learning.
It is also imperative to understand that the process of learning is individual specific,
i.e., every student learns at his/her own pace and every student has their very own style
of learning. Better understanding about students learning style can be very helpful
Learning to Online Learning … 173

for both students and teachers. A good match between students learning style and
teaching style is important for active learning process. Cassidy in 2004, learning
style is also called as cognitive style, sensory preference and personality type. In
1997, according to Strong, and Perini Jung in 1927 expressed that people have major
difference in ways they envision, the way people made decision, how active and
reflective they are. In the year 1892, the term learning style was first used by Thelen.
According to Kolb 1984, “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created
through the transformation of experience”. In his theory, he gives ways and methods
how a curriculum can be structured and taught in order to maximize student learning.
Kolb’s learning theory works in two stages a four-stage cycle of learning described
as: concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualization
(AC), active experimentation (AE) and four separate learning styles described as:
Diverging (feeling and watching—CE/RO), Assimilating (watching and thinking—
AC/RO), Converging (doing and thinking—AC/AE), Accommodating (doing and
feeling—CE/AE). Other work in the domain of learning style categorises learning
styles into four main sections: visual, auditory, reading and writing and kines-
thetic learning. Another broader classification categorises learning styles into three
prominent sections: cognitive (analytical/global, field-dependent/field-independent,
impulsive/reflective styles of learning), personality (extraverted/introverted, random
intuitive/concrete sequential, clouser-oriented/open oriented) and sensory (visual,
tactile/kinesthetic and auditory). Fatt (2000) describes that by making students aware
of their unique learning style, learning styles that are required according to specific
subject discipline can revolutionise the learning and teaching process. Fatt also
emphasizes that by providing a match between the learning environment and learning
style students will learn better and faster whereas, the mismatch will be a cost that
will be incurred by both the teachers and learners. Silver et.al. 1997, reported that
learning styles evolve as the individual professes in age, it is not fixed. Individual’s
learning style can also be an amalgam of learning styles.
Over the year’s role of teachers have witnessed a shift from traditional to a modern
in the current situation. In the traditional role, teachers were considered as a center of
all information and knowledge. While in its modern role teacher acts as a facilitator,
who helps student learn themselves. This new role requires new approach from
teachers, device strategies keeping in mind the potential, learning style of each and
every student. The process of teaching and learning is changing in today’s world
from blackboard mode of teaching it is now a technology-assisted teaching. With all
these changes the role of teacher is changing and evolving.
Technology and Education: the history of use of technology in education can be
traced back to the interdiction of educational film in 1900s or in 1920 the mechanical
teaching machines by Sidney Presser. World War II was the first of its kind when
technology was used on large scale to train soldiers using movies and other medi-
ated materials. In 1900s, there were many schools that introduced computer-based
learning (CBI) to teach abstract and domain-specific problem-solving. With emer-
gence of multimedia and ubiquitous technologies, students were now growing in the
digital age by 2000s. Since then teaching and learning process has witnessed a new
174 U. Rai et al.

progression with addition of technology, as a medium of dissipation of information.

Technology is crucial in today’s teaching, particularly in the times of COVID 19
pandemic, technology has been used as a tool to make education accessible to count-
less students. Advancement in technology has directly or indirectly influenced the
methods of teaching and learning. With changing technology the appearance of the
classroom has drastically changed in last 20 years. Before 1990 it was more face
to face, after 2000 it was a combination of face-to-face and online learning (mixed
mode) and now progressively teaching and learning are moving toward widespread
e-learning. Technology is used in education to improve the quality, make it effi-
cient, best, and true. It is a systematic way of intellectualizing the implementation
and assessment of process of teaching and learning. The term technology is derived
from a Greek word “techno” meaning willingness, skills and “logos” means science.
The application of technology in education needs understanding of several different
aspects, of computer, of pedagogy, of psychology, of dictate. Technology in educa-
tion functions as a tutor, as a tool to teach and as a tool to learn. Clements and Sarama,
2003; Glaubke 2007; Dynarski et al. 2007 suggest that the software and programs
used as a tool in teaching and learning process should focus on few crucial points:
educational value of the program, how engaging the program is for children, how
easy the program used for teaching is for both, the teachers and students, is program
interactive for the child, the program tracks the progress of the child. Clark Richard
1983, tried to compare lectures and computer-guided instruction, and the result indi-
cated that both are effective based on the way they are used. Other researches done
by Dynarski et al. 2007; Kulik, 2003 found that there are some major differences
between traditional and technology-assisted teaching and learning. Center for Educa-
tional Research in Pittsburgh, discovered that the teaching done with the help of tech-
nology can be better tailored according to the individual needs of the students, which
is difficult to achieve by the traditional method of teaching. Education technology
is one big system; it provides better interaction, reception of information through
visual, auditory, kinesthetic and reading/writing. Technological uses in education
encourage students to become independent, motivated and take ownership of his/her
work.
Teachers have to be motivated to use the same because the use of educational
technology in teaching provides better interaction with students, better reception of
information because the students receive knowledge visual, auditory and kinesthetic
way. Among other things, an educational technology motivates students to work
independently where the student is more motivated to return to learning and working
because modern technical equipment is widely available at any given moment. There
are several other benefits of use of technology in teaching and learning; technology
has benefits for both the teachers and the learners. Technology allows teachers to
do things that were not possible in a traditional classroom setting, e.g., creating a
simulated environment, giving real-time data while explaining it, showing videos and
animations, etc., use of technology has enabled teachers to change the course structure
and delivery methods, efficient way of functioning and managing the workload,
technology is an aid that helps the teacher in making the classes more fun, engaging,
interactive, it provide flexibility, technology helps teachers cater to the different needs
Learning to Online Learning … 175

of variety of students at their own pace and their own learning style. Technology
works as a leveling field for learners, each and every student is at the same level for
technology, it does not form any opinion or biases like humans, be it a smart learner
or not so smart learner technology will not discriminate. Learning for learner is not
confined to a classroom ant more, technology opens the learning space for anyone
anywhere, be it national or international, seminar, training or other professional
courses.
According to K. Walsh 2009, five reasons to integrate technology into teaching.
It is an important component for professional development in today’s world when
the businesses are hiring individual equipped with knowledge to technology, tech-
nology has the power to engage the learners for longer duration of time as it can
engage various faculties at the same time like visual, auditory, kinesthetic, writing,
technology is here to stay and not going away. It would be safe to predict that tech-
nology is an important component of today’s teaching process. Use of technology in
the education and learning processes cannot be denied; usage of Brail for visually
impaired students and other technological usage for students with special needs like
autism. Educators believe that usage of technology in learning process will help bring
positive change in the pedagogical processes and assist students better if they want
or need special assistance.

2 Ethics, Technology and Teaching

Ethics are rules that individual follows when no one is watching. Like ethics was
an integral part of teaching and learning process in traditional mode it remains an
integral part with new mix mode (face to face and e-learning) or complete online
learning. Numerous benefits following the use of technology in teaching and learning
process also bring some ethical concerns to the forefront. Teachers and learners both
need to learn how to use technology in an ethical manner.
Be careful while downloading, clicking a link or sharing information, as we all
aware about viruses and malware are readily available in this online space. Use
information only from the websites that are approved by the teacher or organi-
zation. Copyright laws have become important than ever before when operating
in online/digital domain, basic understanding of these rules and laws will protect
students and teachers. Digitals space also makes it easy for people to make nasty
comments or say hateful things to other individual because no one can see the face
of the person who is doing this, it is important to be informed about the damage
cyberbullying can cause to an individual’s image and self-esteem, individuals in the
digital space should be encouraged to report cyberbullying incidents to teachers,
counsellors and administration as these have potential to do harm outside of digital
world. With increasing footprint in digital/online world it is becoming a trend among
organizations to gather information about the candidate from their social media inter-
action and profiles, so students and teachers must understand the self-image important
and one must keep in mind these future prospects while sharing the content online.
176 U. Rai et al.

Giving credit to the original source must be inculcated among students from the very
beginning; both the teachers and students must respect the copyright laws and must
not engage in plagiarism. While communicating it is very important to be aware of
personal and professional way of communicating, as there is good chance that that
this gap between personal and professional will be blurred in online/digital medium.
Social media can be point of major ethical concern as one have to understand that
this space is not a private and anonymous space and have a potential to cause harm to
the person if one overshares information. Any amount of emphasis on maintaining
confidentiality of the obtained data which is collected by organizations and schools
is not sufficient; organizations are gathering lots of information about the individual
they are employing by various social media spaces and online application forms,
keeping that data safe and letting the individual know about how and when their data
will be used. Technology-related ethical concerns and issues should be discussed
with students, they must be informed about the dos and don’ts in a class happening
online and not face to face. Students must be informed that they must not use others
computers without authorization, they must not snoop around other computer files, it
unethical to use this digital domain to bear false witness, be effective and thoughtful
and responsible digital author, even in digital space be sensitive to other individuals,
follow netiquette (etiquette for Internet users).

3 Education Technology in India

1971, fifth five-year plan was the time when the government of India, ministry of
education and social welfare for the first time realized the importance of education
technology and included “Education Technology Program” in order to have qualita-
tive improvement in education. The above-mentioned project has four sub-schemes:
Establishing an Education and Technology Unit in the ministry of education and
social welfare. A Center for Education (CET) in NCERT. Funding to states for Educa-
tion Technology Cells. Encouraging institutions to take up Education Technology
Program. So, Educational Technology Unit started in 1971, CET and NCERT were
established in 1973. Educational Technology Cells in different states came into exis-
tence from 1972–73 onwards. The education technology project was inter-agency
co-ordination, systematic planning, scientific evaluation of efforts made by Educa-
tion and Social Welfare, Ministry of Information and broadcasting, Indian Space
Research Organization and others, with an aim to provide benefits of technology
to rural areas and large groups, improving education quality, remove stagnation and
introduce innovative ways of teaching and learning. Information Communication and
Technology (ICT) for education is an umbrella that includes Internet, digital tele-
vision, computer (hardware and software), cell phones, satellite communications,
wireless and other services associated with the use of such technologies like email,
blogs, conferencing.
Learning to Online Learning … 177

Online Learning: Education that takes place using Internet is called as online
learning/e-learning. Online learning is a type under a big umbrella called as distance
learning which encompasses correspondence courses, telecourse, CD ROM course,
Mobile Learning. Online learning includes technologies as WWW called as World
Wide Web, email, chats, text messages, video conferencing delivered using computer
and Internet. E-learning is more innovative and has bought back the joy of learning
by enhancing the learning experiences of students. E-learning resources are avail-
able to all. Types of online learning are: Partially Online course or mix mode
(face to face and online), fully online course. Models of online learning are: Wrap
around model—online reading, activities and discussion “wrapped” already existing
published material. Integrated Model—learning happens through learning manage-
ment system (LMS), subject material is also accessed through online formats like
video conferencing, collaborative online activity and online assessment. To some
extent, this model dissolves the distinction between learning and teaching.
Pandemic and online learning: COVID 19 pandemic caused the closing of educa-
tional institutions all around the world. These extraordinary circumstances forced 1.5
billion students and 63 million educators to resort to e-learning and make changes
to their traditional ways of teaching, especially in a country like India where 70%
of its population lives in villages with scanty or no Internet connectivity as reported
by Census of India’s 2011. A news report written and published in The Print by
Angana Chakrabarti and Yimkumla Longkumer on 6 August 2020 indicates that
as many as 39 school and college students in Nagaland have been trekking 3 km
through a dense forest to participate in their exams. Technological platforms like e-
PG Pathshala (e-content), SWAYAM (online course for teachers), NEAT (enhancing
employability) were created by the government of India to facilitate and enable online
education. Various other projects like National Project on Technology Enhanced
Learning (NPTEL), National Knowledge Network (NKN) and National Academic
Depository (NAD) were started to increase connectivity with institutions and acces-
sibility to content. Private universities were able to transit easily to online medium of
teaching one of the leading private university shared the data about students strength
benefiting from e-learning in their institution is more than 40,000 + online lectures,
12,000 + e-learning resources, 3,000 + virtual classroom instances, 4,000 + online
assignments, 1,000 + virtual videos and more than 500 + virtual programming
labs (Galgotia University. Lectures are given via online platforms like Google Meet,
Zoom, etc. So, the academic activities are much less affected”, says L S Shashidhar,
professor and dean of research at Ashoka University. Some universities adapted by
having online sessions on need basis for clarification of doubts, etc., using their
open-source learning management system. According to a directive from UGC, it is
now mandatory for all the universities to have a division of 25–75, 25% online and
75% face-to-face method. The thrusted change due to pandemic can be used as an
opportunity by educationist and policy maker in India to revolutionized education
sector. In a report published by Internet and Mobile Association of India and Nielson
in November 2019, it is found that for the first time Internet users in rural India are
more than the urban cities. Rural India has 227 million active Internet and urban India
178 U. Rai et al.

has 205 million active Internet users, which is 10% less than rural India. This makes
India second-largest country with active Internet users. This indicates that e-learning
has a potential to reach 503 million people at the same time. Online education market
India is expected to become $1.96 billion by 2021 and the number of enrolled users
in online courses are expected to grow about 9.6 million by 2021.online/e-learning
is a cost-effective option for Indian population as the cost of classroom teaching is
expected to increase by 175% in near future. Thus, e-learning has become a sustain-
able and transparent option for nearly 48% of Indian population between the age
group of 15–40 years. This young, aspirational population with humble background
and means should be the target for e-learning and teaching.

4 Techniques/Strategies of Online/e-Learning

Traditionally trained face-to-face medium, teachers were expected to learn new tech-
nology and modify their pedagogical techniques to meet the new normal i.e. online/e-
learning. The sudden transition to online teaching medium was difficult for both the
teachers and students but familiarity with the social media platforms helped into
this transition. New medium of online/e-learning was adapted slowly but steadily,
it evolved with experience, trial and error, and researchers sharing and suggesting
new methods and ways to enhance online teaching–learning experience. Innovative
strategies to engage an online/e-learning class, like taking feedback or response from
the students in the middle of the lecture, plan quiz at regular intervals to check the
progress of the students, share your screen and content so that they can follow as
you progress, encourage them to share their queries and questions via chats and
messages in the middle of the class and then once you finish talking can be followed
with a discussion. Methods like think-pair-share, brainstorm, buzz session, exit slips,
etc., can also be incorporated to create a supportive and encouraging environment
for learners. E-learning is an opportunity as it can ensure that every student with a
laptop and mobile will have access to quality education that is recognized, accred-
ited and approved by Distance Education Council of India (DEC). This access to
education ensures opportunities of employment and bright future; e-learning is also
beneficial for a professional as it helps them update their skill as and when required, e-
learning bridges the existing gap between educational level and industry expectation.
Apart from being cost-effective and time-effective online/e-learning also encourages
students to learn at their own pace, is a great way to ensure better understanding and
enhanced retention. Online/e-learning is futuristic, sustainable and transparent.

5 Challenges/Experiences of Online/e-Learning

Online/e-learning has its own challenges, there is a high probability that students
find it easy to get distracted during online education, there is also a possibility of
Learning to Online Learning … 179

choosing a course which is not recognized or is fraudulent, courses that require

lab work or hands-on learning cannot be done online, lack of social interaction is
another challenge of e-learning process, language to the course can also be a limiting
factor for e-learning and teaching, procrastination can also be a concern, data also
reveals that the dropout rate is higher in digital medium of education compared
to traditional on-campus method. Teachers associated to higher education system
were participating in this discussion which was trying to explore their experiences
with teaching and learning process using technology as a medium. Some of the
insights into experiences, challenges and concern they perceived and encountered are
presented here. Participant 1: “Initial days of online teaching was full of challenges
due to lack of exposure to this medium of knowledge dissipation we were clueless
and it took some time to figure out how to conduct and manage the class online”.
Participant 2: “there was sudden change in the workload due as how to teach online?
Was major concern in the initial days then preparation for the class also took some
time, so as a teacher I was learning and teaching at the same time” Participant 3:
“there was a feeling of loss of control over the conduction of class because during
the teaching process by online medium you cannot see or monitor your students
participation if the webcam is off or not working due to network issue”, Participant
4: “I felt that I am distanced from my social life and my interaction with my students
is blocked by a wall” Participant 5 I sensed a lack of warmth which I use to feel in face
to face teaching, no eye contact and absence of nonverbal cues bothered me a lot and
it took me some time to get used to this new way of interaction”, Participant 6: the
whole idea that there was over dependence on the Internet/technology part was a point
major psychological concern for me personally and a sense of uncertainty as in when
life will be back to normal bothered me a lot”, Participant 7: for me initially it was
difficult to learn this e-learning medium and I also felt that my creativity was restricted
because of this online teaching and learning process, there is no scope of suddenly
incorporating something while you are teaching online as it disrupts the flow, whereas
in face to face medium there was certain sense of trust so there was a scope to
experiment which I felt was lacking in this online teaching, Participant 8 “traditional
evaluation method not working, we had to come up with innovative ways to evaluate
which was a challenging task because there was to ensure that the evaluation not
prompted or facilitated by other ways and means”. The experiences presented here
are from the teachers who are working in Higher Education. Obtained insights and
input indicate that initial barriers to online teaching were primarily psychological in
nature, with exposure and experience and feedback there will be a positive change in
the perception toward e-learning. Online learning is challenging for students as well,
if they make changes self-motivation, discipline, being organized, developing active
engagement practices like taking notes, asking and answering questions, participation
in quizzes, join a discussion group or community of students, keep yourself updated
and informed about the progress of the class are few ways to keep up with e-learning.
180 U. Rai et al.

6 Opportunities of Online/e-Learning

Indian education system can use this opportunity to invigorate the stagnation in the
education system due to outdated curriculum, rote learning and cost of education,
quality of teachers and lack of infrastructure. Formal education in India still consti-
tutes of traditional model of teaching and learning, current pandemic has created a
compulsive possibility and opportunity to revive the education system. The current
scenario is also working as an enabler for teachers and educators to learn new and
innovative ways to deliver their content with the use of technology. Online learning
has various advantages: accessibility, personalized learning, develops cognitive abili-
ties, cost-effective, promotes research, opportunity to gain technical skill, opportunity
to all, learning at one won self-pace, narrow geographical boundaries.

7 Future Trends of e-Learning

It involves hybrid modals a convergence of online and offline education model, addi-
tion of new and offbeat subjects like cyber law, forensic science, data analytics,
artificial intelligence, etc., will gain popularity with this e-learning medium, digital
feature to award the students by badges, discounts will become popular, educa-
tional institutions will collaborate with the industry to co-develop the content
making it more popular and decentralize it to great extent, platform like Byju’s,
Khan Academy, EduPristine, Dexler Education, Educomp Solutions, IGNOU,
NIIT, Edukart, Simplilearn, Zeus Learning, Meritnation, Excelsoft, Tata Interac-
tive Systems. The future of e-learning is bright in India, with changing perception
and exposure e-learning/online learning is going to go long way.

8 Conclusion

Recent trends of use of technology as an important tool to enhance the teaching

and learning experience also help us conclude that: technology is not a substitute
for a teacher in any class, no matter how technologically advanced that classroom
is, even when teacher is using the technology as a very potent tool, technology is
no substitute to creativity of a teacher, it is teacher who must make use of his/her
creativity and use technology as an agent to facilitate that process. Teachers must do
their due diligence before using or trusting any information shown on Internet and
he/she should use technology to improve the ethics in teaching.
Learning to Online Learning … 181

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Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive
Development: A Psycho-social Approach

Manju Singh and Praveen Singh

Abstract Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, digital learning has become very popular.
All school-going students and college university scholars are engaging themselves
through online media platforms to increase their skills, knowledge and education
level. It is argued that classroom teaching is irreplaceable with the digital education
mode, although digital education came with a solution to carry forward educational
activities in these conditions. Digital education is praised that it makes the education
system effective and efficient as compared with the traditional education system.
Thus, the Indian education system is going through a ‘knife-edge equilibrium’ of
the transition phase. This research paper tries to answer the questions, i.e. social-
ization takes place through the real world or the virtual world socialization takes
place? Is digital socialization is against cognitive development in the real world?
Is the digital world socialization is dominating real-world socialization? Is there a
functional correlation between real-world socialization and virtual socialization?

Keywords Education system · Virtual socialization · Cognitive development ·

And digital environment

1 Introduction

Over time, children develop strong way of thinking, logical and moral thinking,
analytical and reasoning skills and turn out to be proficient of abstract thinking and
erect rational decisions owing to real-world socialization. Socialization is of two
types, i.e. real-world socialization and digital world socialization. We have made
learning and education as banking system. Banking system is dangerous for learning
(Freire, 1970). The cognitive and psychological development of children depends
on the physical environments with quantifiable and perceptible physical and indi-
vidual characteristics in which children reside, study, engaged in recreation and work
(Graetz, 2009; WHO, 2014).

M. Singh · P. Singh (B)

Department of Sociology, Banasthali Vidyapeeth, Niwai, Rajasthan, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 183
D. Mishra and Y. Chuang (eds.), Learning How to Learn Using Multimedia, Lecture Notes
in Educational Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1784-3_14
184 M. Singh and P. Singh

Vygotsky (1978) emphasized the primary responsibility of social interactions in

the cognitive development of children. The Indian education system is going through
‘knife-edge equilibrium’ of the transition phase. Children’s overall development
inevitably heralds their learning as per Piaget’s equilibration. Individual development
cannot be tacit without allusion to the social, cultural and higher mental development
(Piaget, 1959; Mcleod, 2018).
Digital education, social media and early exposure to media content development
for children (young and older) having a larger impact on the cognitive development
of children which further affects parent–child engagement (Pempek and Lauricella
2017). Although many worries about children’s familiarity with the Internet have
been articulated by parents, stakeholders, in policies and in academic researches.
Children stumble upon many online threats and opportunities subsequent to their
reaction to the approach used by them to deal with negative online experience
(Haddon, 2017). The quality and quantity of parent–child interaction may decrease
the negative impact of media (Pempek and Lauricella 2017).
There are a small number of researches available on the learning environment and
impact of information technology. The charisma and appliance of technology trans-
form the training environment. Digital Education and the use of mobiles, computers
and other web-based instruments for education generate the ‘cocktail party effect’
and distract the students (Cherry, 1953). Four cognitive determinants of environ-
mental preference are coherence, complexity, legibility and mystery (Kaplan &
Kaplan, 1982). Virtual learning environment be deficient in a number of ways such
as rationality, legibility and consistency. An online teaching platform or environ-
ment which is designed to support creativity, learnability, efficiency, collaboration,
satisfaction, memorability, commerce and entrainment leads to the cognitive devel-
opment and having a long-lasting impact on the psycho-social development of the
children whereas, the absence of these components in the online teaching platform
or environment leads to the brick-and-mortar classrooms systems (Neilson, 1993).

2 Origin of the Research Problem

Digital Educational Environment plays an important role in the cognitive develop-

ment of children which further depends on the screen times of the children. Increased
screen time, Internet addiction and cyber-bullying are the major concerns of the
digitalization of education in these days. The parent–child interaction and teacher–
student interaction are reducing due to increased screen time and also due to the
decreasing concentration level of the children. Nowadays children remain up-to-
date about the advanced level of cutting-edge technology available in the market-
place (Blumberg & Brooks, 2018). This further leads to concerns of the parents,
teachers, government, policy makers about the pros and cons related with the use of
digital educational environment on the psycho-social and cognitive development of
the children.
Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development … 185

Sociology of digitalization became very prominent while addressing the issue of

digital educational environment due to the replacement of real-world socialization
activities with the digital world socialization activities due to increased screen time of
the children including whole family members. This is also argued (Firth et al., 2019)
that technology has a long-lasting impact on the mental development of children
and even increased screen time further leads to Internet addiction among children.
This is also pointed out that those who use more Internet in their daily routine were
thinking of online stuff while they were offline. Thus, digital world socialization can
generate both sustained and acute modification in the development of cognition and
psycho-social development. Most of the time ‘addiction of the technology’ having
multiple effects as children feel difficulty in restricting the Internet use or online
activity although it hampers their important work, their study and even financial
well-being (Turel et al., 2011).
Education is intended to shape our life by enhancing thought-provoking creativity,
analytical skills, cognitive aptitude and ethical values. Technology diverts the focus
from real-world problems to the virtual world and social media platforms which
sometimes lessen our analytical and critical thinking skills and aptitude. Basically,
ICT is becoming the part and parcel in modern time education which can play a very
important in the cognitive and mental development of children.
The augment of digital educational environment emerged as a controlling tool
which provides immediate satisfaction to the children and all other who are engaged
in the digital platforms either by spending time in these platform or by reacting to
the conversations. It appears as a form of ‘stimulus–response’ therapy which tries
to control the brain functioning of the children and also affects the cognitive and
psychosocial development of the children as it was also observed that children and
stakeholders using the digital platform have very instant response to every alert
they receive and sometimes they wait impatiently about the notification alerts. The
qualities of digital educational devices are very much improved in the twenty-first
century although it is not the devices, but users who impatiently respond to the alert
notifications. People nowadays are also busy with their smartphones while they are
interacting with other family members or in social gatherings or on the dinner table.
Instead of real friends, they are spending more time with online platforms.
On the one hand digital educational environment helps the users/students/children
to take all knowledge, information, study materials and skills at one place along
with taking advise of the experts of the fields to whom they can’t interact in-person
or face to face. On the other hand, these digital educational instruments are very
costly that poor people can’t utilize the service as we have seen many cases of poor
people selling their animals to purchase one smartphone in the family of two to three
children where only one child can only take the advantage of the smartphone at one
time. This situation leads to the social problems of gender inequality; increases the
divide between rich and poor (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982; Bonetti et al., 2010).
186 M. Singh and P. Singh

3 Literature Review (Technology and Cognitive

Development)

It was observed that children have ten hours and forty-five minutes of online, social
media and digital platform exposure each day (Rideout et al., 2010). Studies also point
out that eighty-seven percent children use online digital educational platform, social
platforms every day (Pew Internet). It was observed that an adolescent normally sends
sixty-seven text messages daily whereas another study found out that eight percent of
adolescents sleep their phone by their side (Lenhart, 2010, 2015). The data shows the
increased screen time of the children and their addictive behaviour in relation with
technology. These situations generate questions of influence of technology and digital
learning environment on the cognitive development, psycho-social development of
children.
Nowadays the scenario of online digital educational environment is changing in a
high speed which further changes the mindsets and viewpoint of teachers, parents and
children about learning as future belongs to the online learning (Erhan et al., 2014).
In online platforms, children can listen to same lectures many times with the same
pace which is recorded by the teachers for them. This option helps the students for in
getting good grades by giving them extra control, benefits and interactivity (Kumar &
Vigil, 2011). Digital educational instruments also help the students by providing the
required information in short span of time and also in an easy way. Visual intelligence
proficiencies of the children have also been enhanced by the digital educational envi-
ronment (Subrahmanyam et al., 2000). It was also observed that digital educational
environment plays an important role in the development of cognition, psycho-social
development of the children (Dua et al., 2016) which further leads to the increased
educational, creative and analytical achievements although it reduces the volume
of social interactions and social life of the children and adolescents (Straker et al.,
2009).
Nowadays children find digital learning environment much more suitable for
their learning instead of traditional approach of learning, i.e. paper-pen approach
and the main reason behind this is that children find digital learning environment
more interesting and easily understandable in comparison of traditional classroom
approach (Harris & Reid, 2005; Attree et al., 2011). Video lectures having a long-
lasting impact on the mind of children and they remember the lesson for a long
period which they have learned using digital educational environment. However,
digital learning environment is impacting the children’s learning behaviour and also
reshaping the academic performance, grades, learning methodology, thinking style,
reading habits, social interactions, social life and social and family relationships in a
positive way if digital learning environment is moderately used (Willoughby, 2008;
Cavanaugh et al., 2016).
It is observed that the digital learning platforms are mostly used by the children of
families having a sound social and financial background (Peter & Valkenburg, 2006).
The poor families who are only concerned with the daily earning of their bread and
butter can’t afford this luxury of making available the digital learning environment
Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development … 187

for their children. It is also observed that the children of poor families afraid of using
these digital learning instruments due to their high capital intensive nature. This
situation leads to the emergence of a great divide among rich and poor. The situation
of female child in the poor family is more vulnerable towards educations in the case
of digital learning platforms which further exclude the poor and female member of
the society from the learning process which is a sign of start of a class struggle.
Digital learning environment helps the children in developing the twenty-first-
century skills, on the other hand, there are impending depressing coercions on the
social and personal life of the children in the form of child online safety, child online
abuse, cyberbullying, badly chosen content for children, online financial frauds,
Internet addiction, reduction in the physical activities, social isolation, problem of
improper sleep and disturbance during sleep, eye-burning issues (Hinduja & Patchin,
2010; Straker et al., 2009). It was found that every third children who are using
the digital learning platform experienced the cyberbullying and parents and family
members of around 63% children in the age group of 10–14 years remain in fears that
their children are interacting with strangers or unknown individuals through online
platform which may further harm them and their children (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).
This further harms the cognitive and mental development of children as many studies
suggest that the parents are very much concerned and also worried about the increased
screen time, regular and steady affection to digital environment instruments, i.e.
computers, laptops and smartphones by their children (Grushka et al., 2014).
Hence, through the above review of literature, it can be concluded that digital
learning environment plays an important role in cognitive development and mental
health of children if used in a positive and controlled way and we are able to limit
our screen time, it will going to help in the cognitive development of children in a
positive way. In this age, children are not in the situation to understand the addictive
nature of this digital environment and fall in the trap of technology which later have
very negative consequences on the development of their cognition. Parents, teachers
and other stakeholders have to play the role of guide and torch-wearer for children
while utilizing the digital learning platforms for getting good results. On reviewing
the above literature, it was found that the basic problem lies in the excessive use
(technology addiction) and using the digital platform without guidance and any
knowledge. In addition, it was also found that this is the digital era and we can’t
simply ignore its use and sustainably develop.
Another important area of gap includes the gender inequality and exclusion of the
poor people from this modern education system, which leads to the creation of many
social problems in the society and hamper the mental and cognitive development of
children.
The cautious and modest use of digital learning environment can reduce the nega-
tive impacts on children. In a nutshell, there is much scope of promotion and devel-
opment of digital learning environment by understanding the special needs of the
children residing in rural and tribal areas including the gender dimension, equality,
equity in the digital learning environment. Keeping this broader concern, the present
study is designed to find out the components of digital learning environment, which
are actually making an impact on the cognitive development of children.
188 M. Singh and P. Singh

4 Research Methodology

The study on the Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development: A Psycho-

Social Approach is of practical significance due to the increased screen time of
children after the introduction of online teaching in this period of COVID-19
outbreak.
Through this research paper, the conceptual construction of digital environment,
cognitive development and psychosocial approach will be assessed. Research ques-
tions derive from on-field observation and review of literature. Digital and non-
digital environment are two spaces of interaction based on technological and non-
technological devices used for making communication. These spaces are close
to virtual and real world respectively. For our understanding, digital environment
comprises electronic media, cyber technology, audio-visual mediums and social plat-
forms. Secondary data will be collected on the basis of reports and studies of various
agencies.

5 Hypothesis

1. Socialization takes place through the real world or virtual world socialization
takes place?
2. Is the digital socialization is against cognitive development in the real world?
3. Is the digital world socialization is dominating real-world socialization?
4. Is there a functional correlation between real-world socialization and virtual
socialization?

6 Objectives

The stated objectives are:

1. To study the psycho-social perspective of the Digital educational environment
for cognitive development.
2. To conceptual construction of digital environment, cognitive development and
psychosocial approach.
3. To highlight the development taking place in the digital environment and plans
for enhancing the digital environment for cognitive development.

7 Discussion

Socialization is of two types, i.e. real-world socialization and digital world social-
ization. We have made learning and education as banking system. Banking system is
Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development … 189

dangerous for learning (Freire, 1970). Because bank can lend only what they have,
on the other side education require endless efforts to provide quality education along
with initiating art of creative learning among the students. We have to think about that
is it possible to make digitalization sector-specific. The main purpose of education
doesn’t finish by the excessive use of the digital platform, but to impart knowledge,
skills and attitude among the students.
When a person is teaching in the class, teacher is a very different person as
compared with the same identity taking classes through online platform. The present
research studies the impact of the digital education environment on psycho-social
and cognitive development of children and adolescent.

7.1 Device and Distraction

Digital Education and social media enhanced the psychological distress among chil-
dren. Increased level of stress, anxiety and depression among adolescents has also
been digital educational environment (Keles et al., 2019). Worldwide 20% children
experience mental health problems (WHO, 2017). Digitalization of education trans-
forms the way of collecting lecture notes, study materials. Even face-to-face interac-
tion is also preferred online instead of attending class in person through educational
applications through remote devices to access relevant information. Although digi-
talization of education has transformed the way of learning these days, but there is
also a shady elevation of the existence of personal network devices in the educa-
tional institutions. The situation becomes worse at the time when students indulged
in activities distinct to their coursework. During online classes, it is also observed
that some students’ try to distract other students and create an environment that is
not good for learning and ignore all the instruction given by the teacher or instructor
(Nilson & Weaver, 2005). In these situations, it becomes tough for the teachers to
complete the syllabus on time and sometimes due to these types of disruption in the
online classes, teachers’ fail to revise their syllabus. This scenario further creates
fear in the mind of students who always come up with good grades and some other
students who require guidance and motivation from teachers. This further leads to
the situation of depression, stress anxiety and fear from examinations among the
students which leads to unpleasant consequences on cognitive, psycho-social and
mental development of children. These are the main reasons behind the poor educa-
tional achievement, amplified threat of drug abuse, increase in school dropout ratio,
weaken school associations and psychological problem (Morgan et al., 2017).
190 M. Singh and P. Singh

7.2 Psycho-social Perspective of Digital Educational

Environment

Digital education and social media are regarded as ‘double-edged sword’. It is

observed that there is a link between digital education environment, excessive use
of social media and psychological problems, which further leads to the under-
development of cognition among children (Lannotti et al., 2009; Rosen, 2011;
Lenhart et al., 2015). This is mainly due to the increased screen time of the chil-
dren which is also uncontrolled by the parents by giving the logic of their busty
schedules. Study finds out that the majority of parents accepted the fact that they
have ignored their children many times whenever they came to them for sharing
their thoughts and day’s schedule with them. Due to this children become addicted
to the digital world with online friends and online games where they have people
to listen their thing and to whom they can play. It is also observed that the exces-
sive use of Internet leads to ‘deskbound behaviour’, which further raised the risk of
psycho-social, health and mental problems.
It becomes very difficult for very small children to attend lectures online and
enhance their skills and develop Interest in learning from web-based or video-based
online educational learning programmes. In schools, the class teacher in the class-
room during face to face learning helps the students (both small and big) to easily
understand the difficult concepts by providing direction to students, but through
online teaching, due to connectivity issues, it becomes difficult to address the all
problems at the same time due to high cost of Internet. Thus, socialization takes
place through the real world or the virtual world. Even due to the enhanced use of
technology, virtual world socialization helps in the process of socialization of adoles-
cents and the development of their cognition. It’s a matter of time that in the modern
generations the significance of societal activities, events and opinions which are in
the favour of children’s learning from digital platforms. Both real-world socialization
and virtual work socialization go side-by-side in the cognitive development of chil-
dren. It is also argued that modern parents have limited their role only to the supplier
of digital educational instruments to their children instead of providing them good
guidance, support, motivation and a positive environment for development of their
cognition.

7.3 Digital Educational Environment and Digital

Socialization

Media literacy became a very important aspect in the development of cognition in this
modern world due to the enhanced use of the digital learning environment. Increased
screen time and technology use having multiple impacts on the development of chil-
dren’s cognition. There are various approaches that can be employed to increase
digital literacy and for the development of analytical skills amongst students which
Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development … 191

further empower youth in utilizing digital learning environment and also protects
from possible coercion of sexting, cyber-bullying and targeted advertising (Hobbs,
2004). It is also necessary that children should be sensitized and trained about the
technological aspects and social intricacy of the Internet and digital learning envi-
ronment. Parents, teachers and other stakeholders should also involve in the process
of making aware their children about the basic code of ethics while using the digital
learning environment and Internet networks so that children learn about how they
have to behave with others and unknown persons. Children should also be taught
about financial frauds happening while using the online platforms so that they can
learn to which extent they can disclose their personal information to the known
and unknown person while using the digital educational environment and digital
platforms or internet. Haddon et al., (2012) also confirm that children from the age
group of 9–16 years having higher risks of cyber threats while using online platforms,
Internet and digital educational platforms. This can also be seen from the latest blue
whale game which influenced the children in negative sense and also promote them
to end their life. In this modern world, digital world socialization is dominating
real-world socialization due to excessive use of digital technology in education.
There is a functional correlation between real-world socialization and virtual
socialization. As technology is playing a very important role in today’s modern life,
‘Digital Socialization’ can lead to the balanced cognitive, psycho-social develop-
ment of children. Children don’t follow the advice of their parents, but follow the
actions of their parents and nowadays, all members of the family are busy on their
smartphones instead of talking in person. Thus, digital socialization/virtual social-
ization are eventually replacing real-world socialization although it will take another
century to totally replace real-world socialization. For the balanced development of
cognition, psycho-social development, there should be a family digital/media plan
including the fixation of screen time limit. Parents should also have to follow this
plan so that their children can also follow this plan and adopt this as their habit in
their nature. This will definitely strengthen digital socialization all over the world
including underdeveloped country.

8 Future Plans/Suggestions for Improving Digital

Environment in Cognitive Development as Per
Government of India

Only digitalization of education is not solving the problem of digital education envi-
ronment. Digital educational environment can have a positive impact on the overall
society when we as a society will be able to provide the equal quality of digital class-
rooms in rural and tribal areas as compared with the urban and advanced areas by
maintaining gender equality and considering gender neutrality; otherwise this digital
educational environment will increase the inequalities in the society (Lakshmi, 2016).
Quality e-content will be developed in regional languages also which will further
192 M. Singh and P. Singh

fulfill the purpose of new education policy. Government has already set forth their
priorities for the development of e-content for all students from grade 1–12. For
digital socialization, efforts should be made to make online learning easy and within
the reach of children of all strata along with developing the skills of the teacher
too through orientation and refresher programmes so that they can also be equipped
with the knowledge, attitude and skills to provide learning through digital platforms
effectively. PM e-Vidya outlines the variety of learning scales to enhance the reach
of the teaching and learning practice all over the country including rural, urban, tribal
and all parts for all categories of the students.

9 Conclusion and Suggestions

Over the last few years, digital technology has played a pivotal role in helping trans-
form the education sector and its positive impact is being felt by the students, teachers
and parents alike. The education sector exemplifies how technology is playing the
role of a force multiplier as various e-learning initiatives have helped in parting
education to students throughout the country. The DoSE&L, MHRD has launched
various digital initiatives like PM eVidya, Diksha, Swayam Prabha Channel, Shiksha
Vani, E- pathshala, NROER (National Repository of Open Educational Resources),
MOOC Courses. These digital initiatives of the DoSE&L and state governments have
helped in building a bright future of approximately 25 crore students. The COVID-19
pandemic threw big challenges and the school education system has tried its best to
adapt to the situation. The importance of e-learning has been understood even more
clearly now and it is imperative that the adoption of technology even more now and
the adoption of technology must continue with the learning needs of the students with
equity in the long run. Living in lockdown, the government felt that education at any
level should not be ignored and thus adopted online education for almost all students
with equity with infrastructure, finance and social standing present in the country.
The digital educational environment can’t fully take the place of classroom teaching,
school and teacher. These are the alternative arrangement, which further requires an
in-person approach of teaching for effective cognitive development of children and
building the great future of the nation. Although, the future lies in learning lesions
online from this exercise and each state will have to collaborate with others to repli-
cate and enhance the experience for the students. While the education is moving
towards blended learning through online and offline mode, it shall be the endeavour
of all stakeholders in the field of education to make sure that every student should
learn through digital platform and no stone remained unturned to increase the reach,
for want of affordability and accessibility of quality of education.
Each time a situation that is not under our control arises anywhere in the world,
access to continued and qualitative learning becomes the crucial factor in school
education, requiring an immediate and appropriate response.
Role of Digital Environment in Cognitive Development … 193

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thanks Dr. Rajiv Gupta, Senior Consultant- Centre
for Child Protection for providing help by sharing his views on this topic. The authors also affirm
that there is no disagreement about the publication of this research paper on the theme of ‘Role of
Digital Environment in Cognitive Development: A Psycho-Social Approach’.

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