COVID-19 Pandemic and Teaching and Learning: A Literature Review

Nearly 1.7 billion students in more than 200 nations have been impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic, making it the biggest interruption to education systems in human history. More than 94% of the world's student population has been affected by the closure of schools, institutions, and other learning venues. Because of this, our entire way of life has been drastically altered. Policy decisions that limit people's freedom of movement and separate them from their communities have disrupted long-standing methods of teaching and learning. There are several new standard operating procedures that must be implemented before schools can reopen after restrictions have been lifted. Many scholars have quickly disseminated their findings on various forms of instruction since the COVID-19 epidemic. Face-to-face instruction has been phased out by a number of educational institutions. Some worry that the 2020–2021 school years will be lost forever. It is urgent that new approaches to teaching and testing be developed and put into practice. The COVID-19 epidemic has given us the chance to lay the groundwork for the widespread use of online education. This article's goal is to provide a detailed assessment on how the COVID-19 epidemic has affected online education and to offer suggestions for moving forward.


INTRODUCTION
Nearly every country and territory on Earth has been touched by the COVID-19 pandemic since its initial outbreak.Wuhan, China, is where the disease was discovered in December of 2019.All nations urged their citizens to practise proactive safety measures.
Many people have taken preventative measures, such as washing their hands frequently, using face masks, keeping their distance from others, and staying away from large gatherings.Lockdown and staying-home techniques have been implemented as the necessary measure to reduce the slope of the epidemic curve and bring the spread of the disease under control (Sintema, 2020) In the second week of March 2020, Bhutan announced that schools and institutions would be closed and business hours would be shortened (Kuensel, 2020, 6 March).On August 1, 2020, a total lockdown across the country was instituted (Palden, 2020).In the interim, travel was made possible, businesses resumed normal operations, and some levels of elementary, secondary, and tertiary education resumed while others continued online.Today, the school closure in Bhutan would affect more than 170,000 students in grades PP through XII.Because of this, students may struggle to learn this school year or in the days to come.
Face-to-face education has been abandoned by a number of educational institutions.The time has come to develop and apply new methods of instruction and evaluation.Our ability to prepare for the introduction of digital learning has been facilitated by the COVID-19 epidemic (Dhawan, 2020).
Research identifies several deficiencies, such as the inadequacy of online teaching infrastructure, the limited exposure of teachers to online teaching, the knowledge gap, the unfavourable home learning environment, equity and academic excellence in higher education.This essay analyses the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the teaching and learning process.The problems and prospects of online and continuing education during the COVID-19 epidemic are reviewed, and a course of action is proposed.

Techniques for Online Continuing Education
Schools, training centres, and universities across the world have been closed as a result of the lockdown and social isolation policies implemented in response to the COVID-19 epidemic.Educators are changing the paradigm by providing high-quality instruction through a variety of online mediums.Despite the difficulties encountered by both teachers and students, online learning, distant learning, and continuing education have become a remedy for this unprecedented worldwide pandemic.Since there are few, if any, alternatives to online education, both students and teachers may struggle with the transition from face-toface to virtual classrooms.Through a variety of digital mediums, "Education in Emergency" has been adopted by the educational establishment and the teaching community, despite the fact that neither is ready to do so.
As a result of the epidemic, e-learning platforms have played a critical role in facilitating student learning while schools and institutions were closed (Subedi et al., 2020).
Assessing and supporting staff and students' readiness to adapt to the new developments is essential.Students that have a growth attitude are better able to adjust to new circumstances in the classroom.No single instructional model can adequately serve the wide variety of online education options.Different types of subjects have different requirements.Online instruction must be modified for each subject and age range (Doucet et al., 2020).Students with mobility issues have greater opportunities to participate in online courses because they need less physical activity (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020).
Students, parents, and teachers all throughout the world have felt the unanticipated rippling effect of the COVID-19 epidemic as schools have been closed to deal with the global pandemic.Education systems are working hard to continue providing a high-quality education for everybody despite the outbreak; while governments, frontline workers, and health officials do everything they can to contain it.A lot of college students have mental health issues that prevent them from being productive at home.However, research on what makes for the most successful homeschooling through the internet is still in its infancy (Petrie, 2020) Both teachers' and students' familiarity with and comfort with ICT play a role in determining which pedagogical approaches are most appropriate for online learning.Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Canvas, and Blackboard are just a few examples of unified communication and collaboration platforms that have been deployed thus far, enabling educators to design online lessons, tutorials, and other forms of professional development (Petrie, 2020).Workplace communication tools such as instant messaging, video conferencing, and cloud storage make it simple to hold and manage meetings and save and access files for all students.Typically, you may upload and share several media formats, including documents (.doc,.pdf,.xls,etc.), presentations, and even whole videos.

Challenges in Teaching and Learning
With so many options for online platforms and resources, it's not uncommon for teachers and students to run into problems when trying to use them.The following is a summary of some of the problems that have been identified and highlighted by numerous researchers: Issues with e-learning that have been identified at the macro level include those of availability, cost, adaptability, learning pedagogy, lifelong learning, and educational policy (Murgatrotd, 2020).There are serious problems in many nations getting connected online and having access to electronic gadgets.Online education can be beneficial, but it comes with the danger of the student spending too much time in front of a screen, which is especially true in economically developing countries where children from lower-income families often lack access to such tools.Therefore, it is crucial that students take part in extracurricular activities and learn on their own outside of the classroom.The fact that both parents must find their own way in the world presents yet another difficulty, especially for young students.Physical classrooms that are well-suited to a variety of teaching methods present a number of challenges.Some students, those who are naturally curious and eager to learn, need little in the way of support or encouragement, and their academic progress is unaffected by this, but other students, those who are academically weak, have more trouble than their peers.
Unfortunately, students from low-income backgrounds who are otherwise capable of benefiting from online education are often shut out.
Due to fewer opportunities for students to consult with teachers about their learning and understanding challenges, students' academic performance is likely to decline in classes that culminate in a year-end exam or an internal assessment (Sintema, 2020).
There is a lot of trial and error, uncertainty, and confusion among educators, students, and parents when assessing students online.Exams can be administered online in a variety of ways, depending on factors such as the availability of resources, the familiarity of teachers, and the technical aptitude of their students.Due in large part to the large student population, many schools and institutions have yet to put in place adequate measures to check plagiarism.
The lockdown of schools and colleges has resulted in the cancellation of A-levels for the entire UK cohort in addition to affecting internal assessments and examinations for the main public qualifications like General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE).
Depending on how long the lockdown lasts, the entire exam or test may have to be rescheduled or cancelled (United Nations, 2020).As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdown, many upcoming statewide board exams, recruitment exams, collegiate exams, and collegiate entrance exams have been delayed or cancelled in India.As a result, many of the upcoming entrance exams have been moved or rescheduled, including the BITSAT 2020, NATA 2020, CLAT 2020, MAT 2020, and ATMA 2020.There has been widespread disruption to the nation's educational system as a result of the current crisis, affecting schools, colleges, and universities of all levels.

Conclusion
Although many studies have been conducted on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected education around the world, a recent analysis of the data suggests that more research is needed to determine the best pedagogy and platform for higher, middle, and primary school students in developing countries.Many people in developing countries lack adequate access to the internet because of its high cost, low bandwidth, and limited number of available access points.This problem needs to be solved at the policy level.Research is needed to better understand how to implement efficient pedagogy in online education.Moreover, research reveals the importance of creating methods for reliable evaluations and prompt comments on student progress.The developer of educational tools could prioritise adaptation in order to address the issue of affordability and accessibility for students from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.The need for policy-level intervention should not be underestimated.Taking into account the current state of affairs, education systems around the world, including Bhutan, need to invest in teacher professional development, particularly in the areas of information and communication technology and effective pedagogy.The second area of study is the development of user-friendly tools that will make online teaching more creative, innovative, and interactive.The educational system would benefit from this and be better prepared for future uncertainties.As a result of the COVID, we have learned the Because of the global spread of COVID-19, it is essential that educators and their students be trained to make effective use of a variety of digital resources.When classes resume after the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and students should be encouraged to keep utilising these kinds of online resources.