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Acceptability and challenges of Online higher

education in
online higher education in the era the era of
COVID-19
of COVID-19: a study of
students’ perspective
Raj Kishor Bisht Received 31 May 2020
Revised 23 July 2020
Mathematics and Computing, Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun, India 12 August 2020
Sanjay Jasola Accepted 14 August 2020

Computer Science and Engineering, Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun,

India, and
Ila Pant Bisht
Economics and Statistics, State Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, India

Abstract
Purpose – Emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) forced the world-wide education system to
adopt online mode immediately. There are two main objectives of the paper: the first one is to know the
acceptability of online mode of examination and learning amongst students by analysing the various aspects
like difficulty, mental pressure, study pattern, etc. and the second one is to know the role of gender in adopting
online education.
Design/methodology/approach – An online survey is conducted amongst the students of Graphic Era Hill
University, Dehradun, India. Stratified sampling method has been used to select the students. First, a simple
statistical analysis of the responses is conducted, and then chi-square test of independence has been used to
know the dependency of various aspects on gender.
Findings – The two main findings of the present study are as follows: first, the online examinations were
accepted with ease and low pressure in comparison to regular examination and second, the gender has a
significant role in adopting online education with the observations that female students were more adoptable
with online education in terms of assignments, study patterns and comfort. The present work also focuses on
the challenges of online education like Internet connectivity, class interactions, etc.
Research limitations/implications – The present work was carried out during the initial time of pandemic
in India when the focus was to continue the academic process by utilizing all the available resources in the
absence of well-defined standards of online education.
Practical implications – The findings of the paper can be used for making strategies for online education
across the world.
Social implications – The findings of the paper have shown that gender plays a significant role in
adoptability of online education in Indian context.
Originality/value – The present work is conducted amid the environment of COVID-19. It reflects the
analysis of students’ responses towards the acceptability of online education under the difficult conditions
developed due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
Keywords Higher education, Online education, COVID-19, Lockdown
Paper type Case study

1. Introduction
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Shereen et al., 2020) put society into an
implausible situation. Indian government declared a countrywide 21 days and a subsequent
lockdowns in different phases to curb the pandemic. Following the instructions of the central
government, all the state governments in India closed all kinds of schools, universities,
businesses, traffic, etc. to control it. Universities are the key points of social gathering and Asian Education and Development
Studies
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2046-3162
The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their valuable comments. DOI 10.1108/AEDS-05-2020-0119
AEDS their lockdown period started even before the announcement of countrywide lockdown and it
may get stretched to a longer duration. Thus, academics may be one of the severely affected
areas due to the lockdown. In this scenario of a pandemic, students and faculty members are
forced to live within their houses. Before the outbreak, it would be an unimaginable thought
to stay at home for a quite long duration but it is the reality now.
Graphic Era Hill University (GEHU) is a leading private university of Uttarakhand state
with its two campuses, one at Dehradun and another at Bhimtal. It was the time of midterm
examination when the lockdown was declared. The university decided to conduct an online
midterm examination with two components; assignments and viva video. Various online
platforms such as Google classroom, WhatsApp, Zoom, Google Hangout, Skype, YouTube,
Email, Microsoft PowerPoint, OBS software, etc. were explored and faculty members were
asked to use the online platforms as per their convenience. In each subject, at least five sets of
assignments were prepared by faculty members and students were asked to solve the
assignments and upload them to the appropriate platform. In addition to that, students were
asked to prepare viva video, a short video presentation of each subject based on the
assignment problems. Twenty four hours were given to the students for submitting both the
e-materials. After conducting the examination, faculty members provided content through
live classes, recorded sessions using MS PowerPoint, recorded sessions on white sheets/
whiteboards, etc. These sessions were scheduled according to time table using learning
management systems like Moodle, Google classroom or directly shared on WhatsApp on day-
to-day basis. This transition to online mode of teaching and learning not only keeps academic
environment running but engaged students in learning, thus keeping them away from any
adverse mental and physical effects of lockdown.
GEHU is a pioneer university in adopting massive online open courses (MOOCs) as a part
of the curriculum. There is a flexible choice for the students of all courses in choosing a
suitable MOOC for them. Since GEHU already witnessed the digital revolution by introducing
MOOCs in the curriculum, this helped the students and faculty members of the university to
switch from regular to online mode during the tough time of lockdown. Keeping in view the
changed environment of learning, a survey amongst the students of GEHU was conducted to
analyse students’ difficulty level and mental pressure in online examination and study
pattern in online learning to know the acceptability of online education pattern. The other
objective was to check the role of gender in various aspects of adapting online education. The
structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 deals with literature review; in Section 3,
methodology of the present work is defined and in Section 4, statistical analysis and
discussion on the results have been presented. Finally, Section 5 deals with the conclusion.

2. Literature review
2.1 Beginning of e-learning in higher education
Emergence of digital technology also impacted the traditional education system. Since the
last two decades, the face to face classroom education system has been shifting towards
online education system and now the COVID -19 provided the platform for rapid adaptation
of online education. Kearsley et al. (1995) discussed the effectiveness and impact of online
education in graduate education in the early days of the Internet. In the initial period of 20th
century, online education was limited to few people of education fraternity. It was just like a
new dimension to the education system. Harasim (2000) focussed on this shifting of
traditional to online mode of education. Imparting education with a new technology is a big
challenge for faculty members as it might be compared with traditional system. Gustafson
and Gibbs (2000) discussed the role of facilitator in online education. Discussions and
interactions amongst various stakeholders play an important role in adaptation of new
technology. Wallace (2003) provided a review of research on interactions amongst teachers
and students about online education in higher education. With the advancement of
technology, it is equally important to change strategy and planning in facilitating education. Online higher
Jones and O’Shea (2004) addressed the gap between technological advancement and education in
strategic planning. Online learning lacks in two way communication as compared to the
traditional system. Learners develop their own style of learning in absence of continuous
the era of
observations. Zapalska and Brozik (2006) discussed recognizing individual learning style in COVID-19
online learning.

2.2 Developments in e-learning

Keeping the growing demand of online education, a number of online courses have taken
place with time. Dave Cormier coined the term “MOOC” for “Massive open online course” in
2008. MOOCs have received tremendous response from students worldwide (Rai, 2019).
MOOCs provide students an alternative way of getting subject knowledge with certification
though online mode. O’Connor (2014) made an analysis of the initial stages of various
approaches to MOOCs. Online courses definitely provided students a huge platform for
learning other than classroom yet classroom lectures have their own importance particularly
keeping a two-way interaction and clearing doubts of students in mind. O’Neill and Sai (2014)
examined the reasons of students for giving priority to face to face lectures in comparison to
online lectures. Due to the availability of a number of course, modules online, MOOCS have
shown a digital revolution in higher education (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2016). A number of
universities are offering MOOCS as a supplementary course to the students. Ahmad et al.
(2017) in their work provided the statistics of a university where MOOCs are offered as
supplementary to higher education. Online education has a great impact on higher education.
Students have the facility to choose the best available course for them outside the classroom.
Aithal and Aithal (2016) discussed the impact of online education in higher education system.
McConnell (2018) presented views of faculty members teaching in Chinese universities about
e-learning. Demir (2018) discussed the benefits and challenges of Facebook as an online
assessment tool. An effective online learning depends on too many factors like presentation
skill, content delivery, use of technology, etc. Crawford-Ferre and Wiest (2012) summarised
some effective practices in online instructional methods. Though, the online education is
growing day by day, yet it has its own challenges (Swan, 2017; Kebritchi et al., 2017; Capra,
2011; Vonderwell and Zachariah, 2005; Islam et al., 2015).

2.3 India and e-learning

E-learning in India has its own challenges as it is a land of diversity. There are many hilly
states, where providing higher education is itself a challenging task. Sheikh (2017)
highlighted the challenges and opportunity in Indian higher education. Government of India
has been making efforts continuously in the direction of developing e-learning in the country.
Selvakumar (2019) focussed on the past and present education scenario by considering
various aspects like access of Internet, structure, policies and schemes implemented by
government in e-learning. Naresh and Reddy (2018) explored the effectiveness and efficiency
of using e-learning in the process of teaching in higher education in India. Bhongade and
Sarode (2018) discussed various prospects of e-learning in Indian higher education. For the
students of remote areas, getting a quality education is also a matter of concern but with the
help of e-learning, the objective may be achieved up to a great extent. Ray (2020) advocated
web-based learning for Indian students to provide equal quality education to all Indian
students including the rural areas and villages. Education is one of the major thrust areas in
United Nations sustainable development goals. Indian government is committed to achieve
the goals by implement e-learning to provide inclusive education to all. Taso and
Chakrabarty (2020) tried to explore the challenges and experiences of e-learning methods
in the higher education system of India.
AEDS 2.4 Assessment in online education
Assessment is another point of consideration in online education and it has also a lot of
challenges, like use of software, hardware, Internet connectivity, etc. Sarrayrih and Ilyas
(2013) discussed the various challenges of online examinations. Online assessment may be
beneficial for quick, timely and responsive assessment, but issues like assessment of
€
descriptive questions, strategies for different subjects need to be addressed. Ozden et al.
(2004) investigated students’ perspective of online assessment and found immediate
feedback, randomized question order, item analysis of question and immediate scoring as the
prominent features of online examination. Baleni (2015) discussed the various benefits of
online formative assessment like improvement in students’ commitment, faster feedback, etc.
Kahn and Khan (2019) explored students’ perspective of online assessment and found that
technological incompetence of students and faculty alongside distrust in technology
infrastructure are some points of stress. Stowell and Bennett (2010) found opposite effect of
anxiety on students between appearing in classroom examination and online examination.

2.5 COVID-19 and higher education

As per UNESCO, on April 1, 2020, education institutions in 185 countries were closed, thus the
emergence of COVID-19 affected education globally. Association of Universities (IAU Report,
2020) provided a detailed report of the impact of COVID-19 on higher education across the
globe. In this time of crisis UNESCO (Issue Note 2.4 April 2020a) provided a detailed planning
to deal with affect of COVID-19 in education system. UNESCO (Issue Note 4.3 May 2020b)
discussed the various strategies adopted by countries to cope up with the current situation.
UNESCO has already recommended some parameters for e-learning (Chatelier and Voicu,
2018). In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, Indian national commission for cooperation with
UNESCO has made available the lists of various platforms for digital learning in India
(INCCU, 2020).

3. Methodology
We conducted an online survey amongst the students of GEHU, Dehradun, thus the set of
students of GEHU was considered as the population. Since the students were from different
masters’ and bachelors’ programs of different domains and years, thus the population was
heterogeneous. To make homogeneous groups within this heterogeneous population, we
considered cohorts of different courses as strata as a cohort of a particular course was
relatively homogeneous within itself. Thus, we used stratified sampling method for our
study. From each cohort, approximately 5–10 students having above average academic
performance (more than 60% marks obtained in previous examinations) and regular
attendance in face to face classroom teaching have been chosen by simple random sampling
without replacement to take part in the survey. A total of 431 students of more than 30
programs of different domains like Engineering, Management, Humanities, Commerce,
Computer Applications, Allied Sciences, Pharmacy, Media and Mass communication,
Agricultural, law, Architecture and planning, etc. submitted their responses out of which 175,
131, 83 and 42 students were from 2nd, 4th , 6th and 8th semester, respectively. A total of 208
male, 223 female students participated in this survey. For conducting the survey, initially a
questionnaire consisting more than 100 questions were prepared considering the needs of
students of different streams and it is discussed amongst students about suitability and
possibility of various answers. Finally, in order to get a general perception, a questionnaire
containing 23 questions (attached in appendix) has been made. The basis of questionnaire
was to find out the level of difficulty in assignment and video viva submission, use of
hardware and software, the reason behind choosing them, study habit of online material, and
effect on their study and other aspects due to lockdown, etc. For responses, various categories Online higher
as per the need of question have been framed in order to apply the test of independence to education in
check the gender-wise dependency on various aspects of online examination and study
pattern. First a simple statistical analysis of students’ responses against each question has
the era of
been performed. Secondly, to study the dependency of various factors on gender, chi-square COVID-19
test of independence has been applied with 5% level of significance.

4. Analysis and discussion

We present the basic statistical analysis of the responses of students for different questions.
For online assignment submission, responses of students were as follows: very easy – 12%,
easy – 68%, difficult – 18%, very difficult – 1% and did not submit – 1%. For video viva,
responses of students were as follows: very easy – 5%, easy – 53%, difficult – 30%, very
difficult – 6% and did not submit – 6%. Comparison of the responses on the two modes of
examination is shown in Figure 1. In this figure, we observe that student took assignment as
an easy task and video viva as a little difficult in comparison to assignment. The purpose of
video viva was to evaluate the actual knowledge of students as in case of assignment,
students have the option to take help from other resources but to deliver the content verbally
is little bit difficult if someone does not know the problem perfectly and this might be the best
strategy of the moment for real assessment. The data also prove the validity of the strategy.
Online mode has its own requirements, there may be some technical issues that may cause
disturbance or delay in a particular task. We tried to get feedback regarding the problem
faced by students in the online examination. The responses of students are as follows:
Internet connectivity – 77%, lack of hardware – 1%, financial constraint – 2% and other
reasons – 20%. Internet connectivity appeared as the major problem faced in online
examination. It may be a reason as a number of students hail from far flung/remote areas of
North Indian mountains states where Internet connectivity is still a challenge. A minor
proportion of students also indicated the financial constraint for not being able to afford a
laptop or a smart mobile phone.
The use of hardware is also a matter of concern. For usage of hardware for online
examination, the responses of students were as follows: 75% used mobile, 9% used laptop/
desktop and 17% used both. Students used various applications for submitting assignments
and viva videos. They also used more than one application. The use of various applications
reported as e-mail – 76%, Google classroom – 61%, WhatsApp – 28% and other – 9% . The
above statistics reflects that the use of mobile was on top priority and e-mail was the
frequently used application for submission of assignments and video viva followed by
Google classroom and then WhatsApp. These facts are indicating the growing use of smart

80
70
60
% of students

50
40
30 Assignment
20 Viva video Figure 1.
10 Comparison of
0 different difficulty level
Very easy Easy Difficult Very Not for two modes of
difficult submied examination
Level of difficulty
AEDS phones in higher study. The main reason of choosing these applications was the preference of
faculty members towards these applications.
Nowadays due to the advancement of technology, students are aware of various
technologies. In order to know the usages of these applications other than study, 49%
students answered that they use these applications for communication purposes, 46%
students for career purposes, 23% for entertainment and 24% for other usages. It is
interesting to know that a number of students are using these applications for career
purposes also. A majority of students reported that they got feedback from faculty members,
which is a good sign for the success of online education. The responses of feedback were as
follows: frequent feedback – 42%, sometimes – 39% and no feedback – 19%. One of the
important aspects of the study was to know the mental pressure amongst the students for
giving examination in online mode in comparison to regular examination. The responses of
the students were as follows: very high – 7%, high – 37%, low – 48%, very low – 3% and none
– 5%.
Study pattern plays an important role in the learning process. Regular study in online
mode is a matter of concern. It is also important to know whether male and female students
have the same study pattern or not. The responses for study pattern were as follows: daily
basis or regular – 53%, once in two or three days or semi-regular – 42%, sometimes in a week
or irregular 4% and not studying – 1%. This shows that majority of the students studying
online regularly. This shows the success of online education in making continuity in
education even during the worst time of lockdown. For conducting online classes, faculty
members provided contents in various ways as discussed earlier. It is satisfying to know that
a majority of students – 55% said that the online content is understandable and they have
good resources. Other responses are as follows: online content is understandable but student
is lacking resources – 17%, difficulty in understanding online content – 12%, student is not
able to clear his/her doubts – 6% and others –10%.
As the students immediately switched from regular to online mode, it is important to know
the comfort level of students with online mode of study. Students’ responses were as follows:
strongly agree –14%, agree – 57%, disagree – 15%, strongly disagree – 3% and cannot say –
11%. In a regular mode, group discussion and interaction with faculty members help
students to clear the concepts, their doubts and understand the subject deeply. Creating the
environment of a class is a challenging issue in online education. In response to the question
of whether the study is affected by missing interaction with friends and class, the majority of
the students have shown agreement with the statement. Students’ responses were as follows:
strongly agree – 17%, agree – 49%, disagree – 19%, strongly disagree – 2% and cannot say –
13%. These data show the importance of class interactions for study and it is a challenge for
online education.
During the lockdown when people were inside their homes over a long period of time,
keeping oneself busy and managing time is quite important for a good mental health. In these
kinds of situations, direct engagement with family plays a supporting role. We tried to know
the various activities in which students spent their time other than study. The responses are
as follows: spending time with family – 41%, watching mobile using Internet – 21%, reading
books – 13%, watching TV – 5% and other than these 20%. In response to the question of the
amount of time students spent directly with their family, the responses were: more than 5 h –
63%, more than 2 h but less than 5 h – 28%, more than 1 h but less than 2 h – 7% and less than
1 h – 2%. The data show that a majority of the students were spending their time with the
family members and for a good amount of time, they are directly involved with family. This is
another good sign of recognition of family values amongst students.
After discussing the primary statistics, now we analyse the data in various ways to get the
in-depth analysis. To analyse the behaviour of male and female students, we consider various
factors and their gender dependency. Here we discuss and analyse these factors statistically
one by one. We use chi-square test of independence with 5% level of significance in each of Online higher
the following cases. education in
(1) Whether the difficulty level in online assignment has some dependency on gender or the era of
not? COVID-19
To get the answer of the above question, we frame the following null hypothesis:
H0. Difficulty level of assignment is independent on gender.
The alternative hypothesis would be:
H1. Difficulty level of assignment is not independent on gender.
Table 1, shows the observed frequencies in various difficulty levels of assignment
submission. Since the frequencies are less than 5 in “very difficult” and “not submitted”
categories, we merge them with “difficult” category and then apply chi-square test of
independence.
Upon calculations, we get χ 2 ¼ 8:503 (2 degree of freedom) and p − value ¼ 0:014. The
p-value is less than 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected at 5% level of significance. It is
observed from the sample that difficulty level in the assignment is not independent of gender,
that is, difficulty level is associated to gender.
From Table 1, we can make a comparison between male and female students for their
difficulty levels in online assignment. Figure 2 shows a comparative bar diagram of
percentage of male and female students in each difficulty level.
From Figure 2, we observe that the female students have higher percentages in “very
easy” and “easy” categories while male students have higher percentages in “difficult”, “very
difficult” and “not submitted” categories. Thus the sample shows that female students feel the
online assignment easy in comparison to male students.
(2) Whether the difficulty level in video viva submission has some dependency on gender
or not?

Difficulty level Table 1.

Very easy Easy Difficult Very difficult Not submitted Total Observed frequencies
of students in various
Male 21 133 45 5 4 208 difficulty levels of
Female 29 161 32 1 0 223 assignment
Total 50 294 77 6 4 431 submission

Not submied
Levels of difficulty

Very difficult

Difficult
Male
Easy
Female Figure 2.
Very easy Comparative difficulty
level of male and
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
female students in
online assignment
Percentage of students
AEDS To get the answer of the above question, we frame the following null hypothesis:
H0. Difficulty level of video viva is independent on gender.
The alternative hypothesis would be:
H1. Difficulty level of video viva is not independent on gender.
Table 2 shows the observed frequencies of difficulty levels in the video viva.
Upon calculations, we get χ 2 ¼ 5:59 (4 degree of freedom) and p − value ¼ 0:232. The
p-value is greater than 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is accepted at 5% level of significance.
It is observed from the sample that difficulty level in video viva is independent of gender.
(3) Whether the mental pressure has some dependency on gender?

To get the answer of the above question, we frame the following null hypothesis:
H0. Mental pressure of online examination is independent of gender.
The alternative hypothesis would be:
H1. Mental pressure of online examination is not independent of gender.
Table 3 shows the observed frequencies of students in different mental pressure levels.
Upon calculations, we get χ 2 ¼ 2:82 (4 degree of freedom) and p − value ¼ 0:58. The
p-value is greater than 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is accepted at 5% level of significance.
It is observed from the sample that the mental pressure level is independent of gender.
(4) Whether the study pattern of online material has some dependency on gender?

To get the answer of the above question, we frame the following null hypothesis:
H0. Study pattern of online material is independent of gender.
The alternative hypothesis would be:
H1. Study pattern of online examination is not independent of gender.

Difficulty level
Very easy Easy Difficult Very difficult Not submitted Total
Table 2.
Observed frequencies Male 7 114 60 17 10 208
of students in difficulty Female 16 113 69 11 14 223
level of video viva Total 23 227 129 28 24 431

Table 3. Level of mental pressure

Observed frequencies None Very low Low High Very high Total
of students in different
level of mental Male 9 9 103 71 16 208
pressure of online Female 13 5 104 86 15 223
examination Total 22 14 207 157 31 431
Table 4 shows the observed frequencies of students in different study patterns. Since the Online higher
frequencies are less than 5 in “Not studying” category, we merge this with “Irregular” education in
category and then apply chi-square test of independence.
Upon calculations, we get χ 2 ¼ 7:506 (2 degree of freedom) and p − value ¼ 0:023. The
the era of
p-value is less than 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected at 5% level of significance, that COVID-19
is, it is observed from the sample that the study pattern is not independent of gender, that is,
study pattern is associated with gender.
From Table 4, we can make a comparison of study pattern of male and female students.
Figure 3 shows the percentage of male and female students in each study pattern. If we look at
Figure 3, we find that the percentage of regular pattern is more for female than male and
percentage of other patterns are higher for male than female students.
(5) Whether the comfort label of online study is same for male and female students?

To get the answer of the above question, we frame the following null hypothesis:
H0. Comfort level in online study is independent of gender.
The alternative hypothesis would be:
H1. Comfort level in online study is not independent of gender.
Table 5 shows the observed frequencies of students in different levels of comfort with online
education. Since the frequency in less than 5 in one cell, thus we merge the “strong disagree”
column with “Disagree” column and then apply chi-square test of independence.
Upon calculations, we get χ 2 ¼ 19:349 (3 degree of freedom) and p − value ¼ 0:0006. The
p-value is less than 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected at 5% level of significance, that
is, it is observed from the sample that the comfort in the online study is not independent of
gender, that is, gender has some association with comfort level of students in online study.
We can make a comparison of comfort agreement of male and female students by
combining the two categories; “strongly agree” and “agree” as we have already combined the

Study pattern of online material

Regular Semi-regular Irregular Not studying Total Table 4.
Observed frequencies
Male 97 95 12 4 208 of students in different
Female 130 85 8 0 223 level of study pattern of
Total 227 180 20 4 431 online material

Not studying
Study paern

Irregular

Male
Semi Regular
Female

Regular Figure 3.
Comparative study
pattern of male and
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% female students
Percentage of students
AEDS two categories “disagree” and “strongly disagree”. Figure 4 shows its graphical
representation. From Figure 4, we see that almost equal students were not in position to
say in favour or against this, but female students were more comfortable in online mode of
education than male students.

5. Conclusion
The present study conducted under an environment of fear in the society due to pandemic.
Immediate shifting from regular to online mode was an unprecedented move. The present
study reveals that students felt less difficulty and low pressure in online examination as
compared to regular examinations. Further, the study shows that the majority of the students
have been studying on regular basis and feeling comfort with online mode. Internet
connectivity and lack of interaction with friends and faculty members are reported as some
challenges and concerns for online education. Thus, it can be concluded that the online mode
is quite acceptable amongst students with some concerns. Another positive aspect of the
study is that the students have been using many online applications for learning and career
aspects also. The present study may be helpful in developing standards for online education
from regional to global level.
The study reveals that gender has a significant role in adopting online education. Female
students took assignment submission easier than male students; female students have more
regular pattern and more comfort feeling in online mode than the male students. Thus, the
major finding of the present study is that the female students have greater adoptability of
online educational mode than male students which represents the social impact of the
present study.
The present work was carried out during the initial time of pandemic in India when no
well-defined guidelines were there for online education and the focus was to continue the
academic process by utilizing all available resources, thus this may be the limitations of the
present work in terms of the utilization of resources but at the same time it provides the future

Comfort agreement with online study

SA Agree Disagree SD Cannot say Total
Table 5.
Observed frequencies Male 42 98 35 8 25 208
of students in different Female 20 146 31 3 23 223
levels of comfortable Total 62 224 66 11 48 431
agreement Note(s): SA: Strongly agreed, SD: Strongly disagree

Cannot say

Disagree Male
Figure 4. Female
Comparative
representation of male
and female students’ Agree
comfortable agreement
with online mode
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
scope for studying and analysing the acceptability with the improved online education as Online higher
with the passage of time and continuation of online education for a long time some standards education in
have been adopted by institutes for improvement in online education.
the era of
COVID-19
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Appendix Online higher
Questionnaire
education in
(1) Name: the era of
(2) Course: COVID-19
(3) Semester:
(4) Gender:
(5) Your level of difficulty for online submission of assignments
a) Very difficult b) Difficult c) Easy d) Very easy e) I did not submit
(6) Your level of difficulty for online submission of video viva
a) Very difficult b) Difficult c) Easy d) Very easy e) I did not submit
(7) Main problem faced by you in online submission of assignments/video
a) Internet connectivity b) Financial constraint for Internet connection
c) Not having a smart phone or laptop d) other than these
(8) The hardware you have used for online submission of assignments/ video:
a) Mobile b) Laptop c) Other
(9) The application you have used for submission your assignments/video
a) WhatsApp b) Email c) Google classroom d) Other
(10) In case of any application which is not listed above, please mention it:
(11) The reason of choosing the application
a) As directed by faculty b) I can use it easily c) I do not know others
(12) Any other reason of choosing the application, please mention:
(13) Do you use the applications/platforms for innovations other than studying, if so please mention:
a) Hobby b) Entertainment c) Communication with friends and family d) Career making
e) Any other
(14) In case of your answer is “Any other” in using applications/platforms for innovation other than
studying, please mention it:
(15) Did you get any feedback on your online submission of assignment/video?
a) Frequently b) Sometimes c) Not at all
(16) The level of mental pressure for online examination mode in comparison to regular mode
a) Very High b) High c) Low d) Very low
(17) How often you are studying online material?
a) Regular daily basis b) Semi-regular (once in 2 or 3 days)
c) Irregular (sometimes in a week) d) Not studying online material
(18) Reason of your choice in question 17
a) Online material is understandable and I have good resources
b) Online material is understandable but I have lack of resources
c) I am feeling difficulty in understanding online material
d) Other than these
AEDS (19) Your level of difficulty in understanding online material.
a) Very difficult b) Difficult c) Easy d) Very easy
(20) How much time you are directly spending with your family in a day during lockdown
a) Less than 1 h b) Less than 2 h c) Less than 5 h d) More than 5 h
(21) Are you feeling comfortable in online education from home
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Cannot say
(22) Did your study affected by missing group discussion amongst friend circle/with faculty
members?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Cannot say
(23) In which activity you are spending your most of the time other than study
a) Watching TV b) Watching mobile using Internet
c) Spending time with family d) Reading books
e) Other than these

Corresponding author
Raj Kishor Bisht can be contacted at: bishtrk@gmail.com

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