Effectiveness of Online Learning Strategies as Perceived by Teachers and Students of Senior Secondary Schools

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of online learning strategies as perceived by teachers and students in government and private senior secondary schools of Bhilwara city, Rajasthan. It contributes to the empirical understanding of teacher readiness and stakeholder perceptions within India’s evolving digital education landscape, offering valuable insights for policy formulation and school-level capacity building. The study also aligns with the objectives of the Ministry of Education 2020, which emphasises the integration of technology in teaching–learning processes across school systems. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 10 government and 10 private senior secondary schools. Subsequently, simple random sampling was employed to select teachers and students actively engaged in senior secondary education, including those with experience in online teaching and learning. The final sample comprised 81 teachers and 510 students from the selected 20 schools. A structured questionnaire, adapted to suit the objectives of the study, was used to examine the effectiveness of fully online and web-supported learning strategies as perceived by respondents. Data were collected through both online and offline modes, depending on accessibility and respondent preference, and were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques such as t-Test and ANOVA. The findings reveal that stakeholders from government schools reported relatively higher perceptions of online learning effectiveness, which may be attributed to a combination of institutional support mechanisms and exposure to digital initiatives. The study also found no significant gender differences in perceptions of online learning effectiveness, indicating a broad-based acceptance of digital pedagogies across male and female respondents. Contrary to the common belief that older teachers may be less receptive to technology, the study found no statistically significant differences in perceived online learning effectiveness between younger (20–40 years) and older (41–60 years) teachers across both government and private schools. An important finding relates to the differential influence of academic streams on perceptions of online learning effectiveness, which varied between teachers and students.