Strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and challenges of online learning in agriculture

COVID-19 has jeopardized the academic calendars of majority of the educational institutes across the world. Distance Education and online learning platforms have become a potential solution for education post pandemic situation despite many technical constraints. However, the questions about effectiveness of e-learning, especially for Agricultural courses is not defined. In this study, we focus on studying the SWOC (Strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and challenges) of online learning by students enrolled in Agricultural certificate courses offered by ODLC (Open and Distance Learning centre), ANGRAU (Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University) in the year 2021-22. The present study is conducted through an online survey of 300 randomly selected students of the five online certificate courses - Organic Farming, Bee Keeping, Mushroom Cultivation, Millets Production and Processing and Terrace Gardening in telugu offered by ANGRAU in 2021-22 which would be helpful in designing a more effective online learning environment for Agricultural courses. The results indicated that majority of the participants preferred online classes during the pandemic. The respondents who have completed the courses perceived high level of effectiveness (49.50 percent) about the two distance learning courses while 37.00 percent expressed medium level of effectiveness and a meagre 13.50 percent perceived the courses to be less effective. The SWAC analysis of the responses revealed that the major strength in online learning was the provision of session recordings for retention of learning followed by Location flexibility and Time flexibility. The major weakness perceived were Technical difficulties due to lack of power or poor internet connection followed by other network distractions and Online sessions unsuitable for practical learning. Opportunities felt were Reinforced learning with Recordings/PPTs followed by pursuit of interests outside one’s profession and Age is not a barrier for online learning. The major challenge expressed by the students was the Teacher-Student ratio. The findings of this study provide insights to academicians to redesign the courses in a hybrid mode complementing theory and practical sessions without shifting completely to online education as more number are interested to enroll for online classes rather than contact classes.