“Am I audible?” became the new “Good morning children!” for every student last semester. All owing to the fact that a health crisis was looming large over our heads with no certainty of the future. However, educational institutes managed to continue imparting education even in these tough times. The new makeshift arrangement to deal with the pandemic was E-learning/online learning through platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. The “new normal” replaced our classrooms with our comfy bedrooms. Instead of actually seeing the professors, we saw them virtually on our laptop/phone screens. Likewise, the professors instead of interacting with us in person had to settle with talking to our display pictures which were usually just our initials. The initial experience of the online classes was nothing short of a rumpus. A lot of professors faced difficulties in getting used to the online platforms as not all of them were technology savvy. Whereas the students, being themselves, took immense pleasure in disturbing the class through their…mischiefs.
Removing certain students from the class, muting the professor while they were speaking or playing some loud music by turning on their microphones were just a few of the many pranks that the students resorted to. Everyone was of the impression that things would get normal soon and that the online classes were only a temporary measure. This was perhaps the reason which prompted the students to have their fair share of fun. With no prior experience of online learning and the added ruckus created by many students, our university was forced to cancel the online classes with the hope of resuming physical classes on campus in a month or so. However, with the pandemic only getting worse and an unforeseeable future, the university administration decided to resume with the online mode of learning. This time students were more cooperative as they were aware that the new mode of learning was their only option and no more just a temporary measure. And resorting to such unruly behaviour would only jeopardise their future. Professors too were better equipped with technology as they had learnt from their initial classes’ experience and had greater control over student activities. Adapting to the online mode learning was still no cakewalk. Whenever a new strategy or method is adopted for anything, it is bound to have shortcomings and it was no different with online classes.
