Recently conducted online survey by University Grants Commission (UGC) on the effectiveness of online higher education in Bangladesh to formulate an ‘Online Education Learning Policy’ has avowed that public universities in Bangladesh are not yet capable of conducting their academic activities online due to lack of technical facilities and funds. I undoubtedly agree with the suggestion of UGC to facilitate the provision of free internet and other facilities for the universities so that a sustainable online education system could be developed. On the contrary, online education is now a global demand of the time and we have start immediately of for sake of our nation as well as to increase the skill and competence of university students to meet the challenges to INDUSTRY 4.0. ‘Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow’ (Helen Keller). Taking into account the on ground reality of public universities in Bangladesh, we may consider online education system as the sunshine and its’ implementation problems as shadow. Efficient internet connection and availability of devices are the prerequisites of online education. A good number of students of public universities in Bangladesh have lack of electronic devices, suffered from low speed of internet, faced disruption of electricity, been unable to bear the cost of internet and been stressed in current situation. Consequently they have lack of motivation to engage in online education. To solve this problem, faculty members should be creative as well as innovative enough and university authorities should be supportive to the students in order to engage and motivate them.
Live class by ZOOM or GOOGLE HANGOUT is only a part of delivering lecture in online system which is partially helpful excluding practical and lab based courses. Online education refers to any sorts of learning, interaction, knowledge sharing, creative idea generation and assessment via the Internet facilities with digital contents and access to unlimited reading materials that encompass flexible instructional delivery system. In this system, faculty members are considered as educators rather than instructor or teacher and students are considered as learners who are able to access information anytime and anyplace because of increased availability of the Internet and computer technology in the era of EDUCATION 4.0. A number of studies in developed countries have shown that students learn and engage as effectively in online as they do in the traditional classroom. However, keeping in mind about the negative impact of digital divide, public universities in Bangladesh should develop effective system which will provide equal opportunities for every student to engage in online education.
University authorities are very sensible, considerable and lenient enough to take care of students’ problems and shortcomings by understanding on ground reality of remote areas. Providing of financial help to the needy students in the quickest possible time by Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) in the history of public university of this country is a good illustration. Although university authorities are well aware about students’ state regarding electronic devices and internet connections, decision regarding online education is a matter of considering philosophical stand about positive vs. negative attitude. If the authorities take the positive stand and decides go on with the available resources of university, teachers and students as per the demand of current situation, a number of alternatives can be explored. Public universities should also think ethically about the value for public money as a public institution to serve the students and nation.
In era of public management, universities can be considered as service organization where students are the core service receivers and university authorities including faculty members are service providers. Faculty members of public universities having top results in their degrees and recruited fairly through competitive examinations are unquestionably the top meritorious citizens of Bangladesh. Adaptability is one of the major excellences of a praiseworthy person. I wish all the meritorious faculty members are capable enough to adjust themselves with online education system within a shortage possible time although they need some quality training on this new technical arrangement. If the committed and devoted faculty members of public universities of Bangladesh can show their self-motivation to serve our education industry in the current situation, a good number of students will definitely feel positivity to engage in online education from home with taking sufficient safety measures.
From my experience, possibly the given live lectures and recorded tutorials can engage almost 90% students in online education. Approximately 50% students can take participation in live class and other 40% students can download it later from any uploading digital platform. Lectures must be recorded both in video and audio format in order to reach maximum number of students because audio files can be accessible by any multimedia device and requires less megabits to download. Students can be given exercise in such a lenient way that will be very helpful for them to be engaged. For the evaluation, we may formulate open book questions or assignments in such a creative format that can be answered with less preparation as well as from real life experiences or own ideas/views or previous studies or general knowledge related to the particular course to prevent students from unnecessary internet browsing and searching reading materials. However, in order to equal assessment, we have to provide sufficient hints in given task, enough time to answer and flexible deadline for submission. Students might use flexible formats for the both computer and android phone in order to better download and upload with hand writing photos if necessary.
University authorities will actively consider the students having no electronic devices and recognize the students who can manage the challenge from remote area. Our positive spirit and willing powers are our main strength now. In this circumstance, the following actions are recommended to take comprehensively in order to engage maximum students of public university in online education- (a) conducting online live or recorded class for academic interaction; (b) maintaining archive of recoded lectures, video tutorials, reading materials and references; (c) playing the parental role and taking extra care of needy students by faculty members in order to cope up with new system; (d) being sensible and taking supportive financial and administrative decisions by university authorities; and (e) connecting all the students by social media or any other possible means for uninterrupted communication with students. Flexibility for submissions should be given, lenient style should be followed and necessary adjustment of non-tuition fees as well as financial assistance should be provided in the current student-center model of education. Every student must get equal treatment. By adopting all these attempts comprehensively with positive spirit, almost all students of public universities of Bangladesh can be engaged and motivated in online education that will be resulted in ‘No one Left Behind’.
(M. M. Ashaduzzaman Nour is Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Bangladesh University of Professionals. Email: [email protected])
