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The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India reframed the present structure of higher education such as syllabi, examinations, and assessments. Due to the pandemic, many educational and research institutions are building a knowledge and skill-based curriculum and designing new credit-based courses, while encouraging students to attend online courses as a way to meet the recommendations of NEP. Any e-learning platform or online course has four basic components: Videos, Activities, Additional Reading Material, and Discussions, with Additional Reading Material being a more important component. Online courses that are open to everyone (MOOCs) can be adopted irrespective of the students' specialization or area. The instructor provides the reading material to the learners as a fixed, recommended list irrespective of the learner's interest or specialization. Instructors are finding it difficult to cater to the diversity of learners' interests and learning styles. In this paper, I have focused and analyzed the additional reading material and digital reading patterns of learners in various MOOC platforms by conducting online surveys. I concluded that there is a need to use learning eXtension Trajectories (LxT) in the learner-centric MOOC model where an instructor can identify various supportive domains and provide a shortened list of resources comprising various media to the learners.

This paper presents simple and intuitive strategies for effective online assessment of a freshman engineering course. The proposed strategies for unproctored online exams include creating multiple sets with identical options, using image-format questions, maintaining short duration of exam, and employing a rotational assignment. Unlike a single-set paper where the class average was found to be disproportionately high, the proposed strategies helped in correctly restoring the class average. Feedback and results from 141 students show a significant statistical difference in the scores obtained using the proposed multi-set quiz framework, as opposed to conventional single-set papers. The paper also presents a simple setup of remote proctoring using dual-video and screensharing to replicate in-person classroom exams without the need of commercial proctoring services.

Several communities in India have defined the contours of the extent and quality of women's education based on the shifts in the demands of marriage within the community. The following paper traces a similar pattern in the educational trajectories of first-generation women of the Meena community across the rural and urban areas, to access the state government's women's college in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, India. The relevant data has been collected through fieldwork conducted in Sawai Madhopur in the year 2017. The paper explores the complicity of the women's college with the institutions of family and marriage that result in a complete elimination of the classroom as a meaningful space of learning for women. The paper focuses on these and other such costs that Meena women bear for access to education.

This paper examines the predicament of the Dalit youth in their pursuit of higher education through a qualitative study in a low-income locality of Delhi. In absence of control over material resources historically, education offered promise in liberating socially excluded groups for its instrumental link with modern occupational structure. The policy of universal public education backed up with affirmative action in India has formally aided its access across sections. Even as the participation of the hitherto marginalized groups has been increasing manifold, privatization and marketisation in the education sector under the neo-liberal regime have transformed the educational landscape. Dalit youth is largely segregated into low-quality distance and social sciences education. The paper discusses various constraining and motivating factors embedded within and outside the neighbourhood and educational institutions which shape their educational interests, choices, and decisions. It elaborates on how cumulative socio-cultural, spatial, and historical disadvantages continue to shape the process of educational exclusion, even when these groups live in a metropolitan city amidst educational institutions. However, we also stress that the state policies, informed mentors, shared aspirations, and diversity in socio-cultural interactions hold the potential to alter and widen educational aspirations, access, and outcomes.

The current educational scenario is changing and inclining more towards digital technologies for teaching-learning. Interactions during the classrooms or virtual sessions are vital for students' learning engagements. Learner-learner interactions and educator-learner interactions during online classes are to be promoted and sustained for a better teaching-learning experience. The use of social media in education is noted in previous research. This paper aims to explore the role of social media in learner-learner interactions and its impact on students' learning engagement. A theoretical model is proposed in the study through a review of existing literature. The model testing is done with data of 344 respondents through a self-designed structured questionnaire. The respondents are selected from an urban city in western India. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are applied for the hypotheses testing and regression analysis. The results indicate that the learner-learner interactions, as well as the educator-learner interactions, are imperative for student learning engagement in online teaching. Also, learner-learner interactions are positively affected by the students' self-efficacy concerning the technology. The study also noted that the use of social media improves learner-learner interaction and student learning engagement in a technology-mediated learning environment.

The 'See the World -- Winchester' programme was funded by the UK Turing scheme in 2021-2022 and aimed to broaden the horizons of historically marginalised students who may not otherwise have had access to extracurricular opportunities such as international travel. The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, the authors reflect on the successes, failures and challenges involved with running internationalisation activities during a time of travel disruption. Secondly, this article presents findings from a small-scale evaluation that sought to measure the impact of short-term mobility with historically marginalised or under-represented students. The paper is useful for institutions looking to run international mobilities with students during a period of travel disruption using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. In addition, the findings highlight the experiences and benefits to students participating in short mobilities, which include, a cultural experience, opportunity for personal growth and development, enhanced employability, and ultimately, broader horizons.

In the last few decades, universities in India have witnessed the joining of a record number of students from marginalized communities and oftentimes struggle. This expansion of access has brought about changes within classrooms and college campuses, sometimes giving rise to contention and causing numerous conflicts as well. Centered around my experiences of teaching in a working-class college in Bangalore, a metropolitan city in Southern India, this paper offers reflections on education in challenging circumstances. Further, the essay explores the possibilities of democratic pedagogic practices through the theoretical framework of Maitri.

Purpose: The study aims to ratify skills necessary to bridge the gap between the existing models and emerging needs of a technology-enabled workspace; especially in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: This paper extends the ongoing debate on a relevant employability framework suitable both for higher education institutes and corporates. To remain resilient to future catastrophes similar to the ongoing pandemic, the relevancy of established employability skills to suit the changing scenario needs to be established. Findings: The partial least squares (PLS) technique has been used to present a framework confirming the importance of digital competencies, business fundamentals and behavioral skills. In-depth discussions with specialists ratified the proposed framework and recommended potential changes in curriculum and pedagogy. Research limitations/implications: This study validates an explicit and comprehensive employability skill framework and useful recommendations in teaching strategies, which may provide a broad skill base for graduates to prepare for the volatile business environment in the long run. Practical implications: The study has been able to put forth significant employability skills as deemed significant by the three stakeholders. This will provide guidance to higher educational institutions (HEIs) to come up with a broad skill-base for the fresh graduates and prepare them for the volatile business environment and encourage life-long learning to remain productive in the long run. Originality/value: The study is unique as it incorporates the perceived importance of the competencies assumed by each stakeholder, namely, employers, faculty and management graduates, which was unfortunately lacking in earlier researches.

Purpose: This study aims to gain insights into how students perceive online examination practices and evaluation, as well as identify the key factors that impact their intentions toward online exams. Design/methodology/approach: This empirical study conducted in India utilized an online survey method between May 24 and June 14, 2022. The data were collected from 712 undergraduate and postgraduate students through a Google Docs questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), regression and reliability analysis were conducted to analyze the data. Findings: There are many studies related to the adoption of online learning. However, there are limited studies that explore the adoption and acceptance of online examinations and evaluations. This paper intends to fill this gap and tries to highlight important factors influencing online examination usage by the students. Five important factors emerged in the study include "pedagogy, validity, reliability," "practicality," "security," "facilitating condition" and "intention," The study concludes that taking tests online is preferred for several reasons, including the perceived increased dependability of grades and the decreased cost, time and effort associated with taking exams. Research limitations/implications: This research explores students' perceptions of learning management systems (LMS)-based online exams and provides insights for students to better prepare and adapt. It assists policymakers in developing fair assessment policies and improving LMS platforms. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of e-learning and calls for further research to enhance the effectiveness of online exams. It identifies gaps in existing literature and recommends larger sample sizes, broader representation, longitudinal data collection and conversational methods for future research. Originality/value: This study shows increasing research on e-learning and online examinations, mostly using quantitative methods. The important variables for understanding students' perceptions of online exams are "pedagogy, validity, reliability," "practicality," "security," "facilitating condition" and "intention." Concerns raised include validity, fairness and security. Electronic exams are more suitable for formative evaluation, and validity, reliability, security and adaptability are key pillars for successful online testing.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply systems modeling to explore the usability of the online learning platform in the future compared to its usefulness during the pandemic era. Design/methodology/approach: The applied systems research methodology has been used to develop a stock-flow model encompassing enablers and constraints for learning platform usage from the primary data collected through a survey of 163 respondents. Findings: The model simulation observed promising trends over one year for online learning platforms provided the challenges are reduced in seven to eight months. Challenges linked to the Internet and interaction need must be removed for future usage. Research limitations/implications: The results of the survey and model simulation suggest actions for product planning and development of online learning platforms based on customer insights. Product customization and feature enhancement will be required for the continued usability of online learning products. Actions for Internet service providers are to capture the online learner market by removing issues of Internet access bandwidth, and quality of content. Also, there should be sufficient teacher--student interaction in the online learning mode. Originality/value: This is an original study using systems modeling to evaluate factors contributing to students' intention to use online learning conducted at Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed to be University) Dayalbagh Agra, UP, India, 282005.