Inside Online Classrooms: Teachers’ Online Teaching Experiences during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As a preventive measure to control the spread of the novel coronavirus nationwide lockdown was imposed in India in March. Since then schools in Delhi have been closed and online teaching is being done to prevent academic losses. Teachers went through a sudden shift from classroom teaching to online teaching. Online teaching is new to teachers. In the absence of any standard protocol or a structured approach, it is being delivered in varied ways. The current study explores the experiences of teachers and the opportunities and challenges felt during online teaching. This qualitative study was done using an online questionnaire and telephonic interviews with eight teachers working in different private and government schools in Delhi. Teachers mainly relied on WhatsApp to connect with students and found online teaching interesting and interactive. Major challenges highlighted were the non-availability of smartphones and the internet, the speed of the internet, and the lack of student motivation.