Choice of platform for online classes at Well-Known Institute of Management

Abstract

Well-Known Institute of Management is situated in New Delhi, India, and offers a 2-year fully residential post-graduate programme in management (MBA). Dr. Vivek Gupta joined the Well-Known Institute of Management in the year 2018 as an assistant professor in the area of information technology and system management. He is also heading the IT team of the institute. The critical and unprecedented COVID-19 situation brought another challenge for Dr. Gupta and his team. Going virtual is inevitable. But which platform will serve the purpose of running the next academic session in virtual mode? The IT team proposed a three-stage process in deciding and recommending a plausible online platform for conducting online classes. In the first stage, requirements for conducting online classes are to be analysed and recorded. In the second stage, the options available in the market are explored followed by their assessment based on the requirements recorded in Stage 1. The IT team simplified the assessment by first mapping these requirements with 20 important functionalities of these five platforms. However, the outcome was not favourable. Not a single platform is meeting all the requirements. The IT team is back to square one. In addition, there are other major considerations that needed thorough analysis like managing the desirable behaviour from the users of the selected online platform. The next few months are going to be a real challenge for Dr. Gupta and his team in aligning the institute with a new norm in the upcoming academic year.