Overnight Transformation To Online Education Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons learned

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online education has become the mainstream offering at all levels?from primary schools to higher education institutions. The pandemic has forced more than 1.6 billion learners, close to 80 percent of the world's enrolled students, to stay physically away from their educational institutions in 161 countries, missing their traditional in-person classroom lectures and related academic activities. Since the beginning of 2020, the pandemic has been a significant challenge to educational institutions and imposed severe restrictions on their traditional mode of conducting academic and assessment activities. Educational institutions were forced to swiftly transform into online offerings for their students, making the significant transition from their traditional mode of educational services. This article discusses the challenges and the benefits of online education and presents a framework for online education transformation, developed through a case study at an Indian Educational Institution. The article also highlights lessons learned and offers a few helpful recommendations.