STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF OFFLINE AND ONLINE TEACHING ON A COMPUTER NETWORK COURSE IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19

Abstract

Contribution: This article compares traditional teaching and online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic of Computer Network course. This comparison is with respect to summative and formative assessments along with Student participation, in-class and out-class activities, attendance, feedback and different pedagogies.

Background: This Course was conducted in traditional mode during Academic Years 2018-19 and 2019-20. The Course was conducted in online mode during Academic Years 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to COVID-19 pandemic. Authors taught 597 students over these four years. Computer network course is one of the important and core courses in computer engineering.  This course was offered in the first semester of the third-year computer engineering at MKSSS’s Cummins College of Engineering for Women, Pune, India. During COVID-19 scenario, the teaching and learning processes shifted towards online teaching. Moving from traditional teaching to online teaching had its own challenges. These challenges are discussed in this paper.

 Methodology: Outcome Based Education methodology is employed to find course outcomes using summative assessments.   Statistical analysis of formative assessment is also performed.

Findings: The study period saw an increase in attendance, particularly during online classes. Student participation through discussions and question-answer sessions were marginally improved over the four academic years. There was improvement in course outcome attainment for the majority of the course outcomes.  There was a significant improvement in the overall summative assessments observed over the course of four years of teaching.