"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows." P.S. Rayman

Educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities) in our era are currently based only on traditional methods of learning, that is, they follow the traditional set up of face-to-face lectures in a classroom. Although many academic units have also started blended learning, still a lot of them are stuck with old procedures. The sudden outbreak of a deadly disease called Covid-19 caused by a Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) shook the entire world. The World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic. This situation challenged the education system across the world and forced educators to shift to an online mode of teaching overnight. Many academic institutions that were earlier reluctant to change their traditional pedagogical approach had no option but to shift entirely to online teaching–learning. The article includes the importance of online learning and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Challenges (SWOC) analysis of e-learning modes in the time of crisis. This article also put some light on the growth of EdTech Start-ups during the time of pandemic and natural disasters and includes suggestions for academic institutions of how to deal with challenges associated with online learning.

The major part of the world is on quarantine due to the serious outbreak of this global pandemic Covid-19 and therefore many cities have turned into phantom cities and its effects can be seen in schools, colleges, and universities too. Betwixt all this online teaching and online learning can be termed as the panacea for the crisis. The Corona Virus has made institutions to go from offline mode to online mode of pedagogy. This crisis will make the institutions, which were earlier reluctant to change, to accept modern technology. This catastrophe will show us the lucrative side of online teaching and learning. With the help of online teaching modes, we can sermonize a large number of students at any time and in any part of the world. All institutions must scramble different options of online pedagogical approaches and try to use technology more aptly. Many universities around the world have fully digitalized their operations understanding the dire need of this current situation. Online learning is emerging as a victor ludorum amidst this chaos. Therefore, the quality enhancement of online teaching–learning is crucial at this stage. Online education in Chinese universities has increased exponentially after the Covid-19 outbreak. There was an overnight shift of normal classrooms into e-classrooms, that is, educators have shifted their entire pedagogical approach to tackle new market conditions and adapt to the changing situations. During this tough time, the concern is not about whether online teaching–learning methods can provide quality education, it is rather how academic institutions will be able to adopt online learning in such a massive manner (Carey, 2020).

Resistance to change will not help any educational unit across the world. They will be judged on their pace to adapt to the changes in such a short period and their ability to maintain the quality. The reputation of educational units is on stake and under scrutiny. How well they behave and how well they maintain their quality of education amidst this crisis shows their adapting capabilities. The shift from face-to-face lectures to online classes is the only possible solution. Indeed, academic institutions would not be able to transform all of their college curricula into and online resource overnight. Distance, scale, and personalized teaching and learning are the three biggest challenges for online teaching. Innovative solutions by institutions can only help us deal with this pandemic (Liguori & Winkler, 2020). There is a requirement of a quick shift to online learning mode; therefore, the products by Google can be really useful under such problematic situations; they are (a) Gmail, (b) Google Forms, (c) Calendars, (d) G-Drive, (e) Google Hangouts, (f) Google Jam board and Drawings, (g) Google Classroom, and (h) Open Board Software (not a Google product, helps in recording meetings in the form of files). These tools can successfully be used as an alternative for face-to-face classes (Basilaia et al., 2020).