Preference for Mode of Learning for Knowledge and Skills by Professional Management Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Abstract

Learning of skill and knowledge are differentiated and acknowledged as the outcomes of education. The COVID-19 pandemic phase has disturbed the teaching in classroom, curriculum and academic calendar of educational institutes across the world. Blended learning is an integration of offline and online approaches of sharing subject resources online after classroom learning. Students pursuing professional management course at the university campus and a reputed private college were considered for sample selection. Only those sample respondents with attendance for both modes of learning were considered. The whole population of 360 was invited to participate in the survey, and 294 student participants’ responses were shortlisted for analysis. The instrument was standardized after conducting a pilot study. Descriptive tools, correlation, regression and ANOVA were applied for analysis. The learning in classroom shows strong preference with all the variables having a positive opinion. Furthermore, preference for classroom learning had not changed during the COVID-19 pandemic phase. The classroom learning variables were significant with the COVID-19 effect except for flexibility. The learning of skills with labs or workplace place exposure was preferred over skill learning with an online demonstration. In future, educational institutes should focus on training faculty in the techniques and delivery of online learning, implementing changes in the curriculum that are suitable for online mode of teaching and employing emerging information and communication technologies. JEL Classification: I230.