International virtual conference 2021 on Post COVID global scenario: Threats and Opportunities organized by St. Joseph's College, Irinjalakuda, Kerala in collaboration with Graduate Business, Christian Brothers University, USA on 27th - 29th January 2021

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A study on “Impact of ICT in Teaching Economics during
COVID-19”
Dr. C.V. Suresh Babu1
, Jagadesan Jayanthi2
1
Professor, Sathyasai B.Ed. College, Chennai, TN, India
dr.c.v.suresh.babu@gmail.com
2
M.Ed. Student, Sathyasai B.Ed. College, Avadi, Chennai, TN, India
jagadesanjayanthi64@gmail.com
Abstract –This paper discusses about the impact of sudden transmission of
learning from face to face to online mode education during COVID-19. It
discusses a positive usage of Information Communication and Technology in
teaching Economics by the teacher during school closures. This study reveals
that, how the learner have more control over when they can learn, progress on
their own pace with no distractions. It also revealed that more learners across the
world were benefited through ICT.
KEYWORDS: Economics, ICT, Integrated learning, Pedagogy, Technology,
1 Introduction
Online education of economics leads to a self-paced learning of the students. The use of on-line
teaching and learning is unavoidable for both teachers and the students. It is an important
component for enhancing the students’ skills and makes the knowledge wider. The outbreak of
covid-19 has forced the educational institutions to follow online education in teaching economics.
So, the learning and teaching stepped into the digital world. Now a days, the teachers are almost
supported with online tools during this lockdown period. The teachers are also used attractive
images, videos, animated explanation and real life examples, in order to explain the economics
concepts clearly. Thus learning and teaching of economics through ICT leads to more learning,
more progress and with no distractions to the students. The students who attended the online
classes spend less time for study, which leads to low stress and they can concentrate more on the
teaching extracurricular activities. The present rate of learning economics through ICT is high in
urban areas than in rural areas. More students from urban areas are more benefited through online
teaching of economics. ICT provides rapid growth in educational sector, which results in more
investment by the Government during this lockdown period. Thus through digitalization, the
teaching of economics by the teacher helped the learner to adopt new innovations in their learning.
2 Rationale background
Today, ICT are been used in schools as a separate entity, instead, schools must have an
integrating ICT into the learning and teaching processes particularly in Economics for effective
understanding.

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Primary Objective:
 To study the effective ICT practices in Economics teaching and learning done during covid-
19.
Secondary Objective:
 To improve the learning skills among students.
 To develop critical and innovative thinking.
 Frequently handling of technical tools.
 Fun based Economics activities.
.
3 Literature Review
The Literature review shows that “To overcome lockdown, online education became the primary
pathway amidst technological changes. Teachers had possibly more to do than the students and
those teachers who were technologically confronted had their limits tested.” Nearly 87.6% of the
world's total enrolled learners affected during school closures. Irtifa Mukhter & Dr.Richa
Chowdhary et al.(2020).
There has been numerous studies to investigate “ the effectiveness of computer assisted economics
classes learning by using e-learning(3G) support to determine if there is an effect of computer
economics learning. So they found out important role of computers in teaching economics in
education”.Cem Isik & Sumeyra Buran et al. (2012).
For instance, the following studies were conducted on “to find out the effect of E-learning strategy
on students achievement in economics. The findings of the study revealed that the mean
achievement scores of students taught economics using the e-learning strategy is higher than those
taught using the lecture”. Eric Oziegbe Obleabrieb et al. (2015).
A comprehensive description can be found in "The findings of the study show that there is
significant impact of the ICT by the teachers as a medium of instruction in the classroom on
learning outcomes in economics students.” More outcomes from the students comes from effective
teaching. (Wuraola L. Lawal et al., 2015).
It was as reported in literature that, “The papers in the volume are organized into four areas:
Innovation.in the classroom; greater encouragement to the application of economic concepts and
theories and advances in the teaching of Econometric material". New innovations will certainly
encouraged the students as well as the teachers to work efficiently. S.Cook &Elliot et al.(2016).
This section presents a review of recent literature on, “Ogunode(2020) conducted a research using
a survey design method to determine the effect of COVID-19 on education among teachers and
senior secondary school pupils in Abeyi area in FCT, Abuja, NNigeria." COVID-19 has affected
academic programme of senior secondary schools all over the world. Gbenemenekpae et al.(2020).
A series of recent studies has indicated that, “ Findings from regression analysis showed that
information and communication Technologies (ICT) tools, particularly digital teacher competence
and teacher education opportunities to learn digital to competence instrumental in adapting to
online teaching during COVID-19 school closures “.(Johannes Konig et al.,2020).
The authors bring some information about the background of the problem, “The cognitive
opportunities and limitation of ICT that address the challenges in learning and teaching
introductory Economics” Lim Cher Ping et al. (2003)
A large number of existing studies in the broader literature have examined, “The findings show no
statistical difference in students’ performance between face-to-face and online hybrid courses and

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contribute to the literature specific to the discipline of economics, which unlike other disciplines,
has shown in findings “. Dorina Tila et al. (020).
Previous studies have shown, “Internet enhancement seemed to have no significant effect on
attitude changes and the changes were not consistent in anyone direction. Thus the result were
mixed about the effect of Internet enhancements attitudes toward economics “. Rajashree Agarwal
& A.Edward Day et al (1998).This was successfully established as described by, “In 2019, the
percentage of Internet user based on ITU estimations reached 53.6% registering a positive progress
since 2005.In addition Netherland is the first country in the European Union that has incorporated
the economic education in the school curriculum at primary and secondary levels. There, Sweden
is the country where economic education is part of the school curriculum from first grade onwards.
“. Adina Teodora Pasa et al. (2020).
For example, research has provided evidence for, “The findings of the study reflect the impact of
E-learning students interest in using E-learning resources and their performance “
(V.Sathishkumar et al., 2020)
Previous studies have emphasized, “This paper focuses on the use of ICT in schools by
students to support the processes of learning and teaching. It will aim to describe the ways in which
teacher’s cold and/or should facilitate student use of computer systems and how they can progress.
“Stella Nwigbo, Dr.Madhu.B.K et al. (2016).
4 Research Design
4.1. Research Hypothesis and Research questions
Simple hypothesis:
i. Online economic education of the students leads to self-paced learning of the students.
Research Questions
1. What is the impact of online learning of education?
2. What is the positive effect of online learning of economics education?
Complex hypothesis:
ii. Online teaching and learning of economics leads to more learning, more progress and
with no distractions.
Research Questions
3. What is the advantages of using online economics education in learning and
teaching of economics?
4. In what way the online classes is suited in learning and teaching of economics?
Null hypothesis:
iii. The number of online classes attended by the students has no effect on their progress.
Research Questions
5. Do online class has any impact on students' progress?
6. What effect does the online classes attend by the students?
7. How many online classes are needed for for the students to learn?
Causal hypothesis:
iv. ICT leads to more learning, more progress and with no distraction.

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Research Questions
8. What effect does the ICT have on the students learning?
9. In what way ICT is more essential in learning of economics education?
10. In what way ICT is more helpful to the learner?
Directional hypothesis:
v. The students who attended the online classes have more benefited than those who do
not attend it.
Research Questions
11. How did the online classes where effective to the students?
12. Do the students need to attend online classes regularly?
13. What will happen to the students if they attend classes daily?
Non-directional hypothesis:
vi. The students who attended the online classes is related to the extra -curricular activities.
Research Questions
14. Is there any relationship between online education and extra-curricular activities?
15. In what way the online classes are related to extra -curricular activities?
Explanatory hypothesis:
vii. Rapid growth in online education results in more investment by the Government.
Research Questions
16. What is the reason behind the rapid growth in online classes in economics
education?
17. What will happen to the rapid growth of online classes’ results in?
5 Technology driven modules
Recent ICT provides free online modules to help students to learn and explore Economics.
Each tool is based on animated video involving interactive learning systems such as discussing
economics in real life situations and students can also undertake various activities and tests to
exhibit their knowledge and problem solving skills.
6 Suggestions
The following are recent apps which can enhance learning Economics:
Economic Times: This handy news app covers the latest developments in the field of business
and the stock market. If you’re looking to stay up to date on developments of economic
news, then this app has a global perspective that includes news, slideshows, stock tracking,
and push notifications for important updates. More international than other economics news
apps, this gives you a perspective on economic stories from around the globe.
EconBiz: For both students and researchers, EconBiz is a handy app to have to find information
about recently published economics papers. It gives you access to a vast range of books,
journal articles, and papers in the field of economics. While it started off as a German-

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language app, now it covers a large amount of English language content too, making it useful
for any economist who is trying to find a paper to reference.
iTunes U: If you’re an early stage economics student, then you can take online courses in almost
anything with iTunes U. This app lets you access full courses including videos and
downloads from some of the best universities in the world. There are economics courses
available from Westminster Academy, Khan Academy, Cornell University, and more.
World Bank DataFinder: When you’re writing a paper and you need quick access to important
statistics from the World Bank, you can turn to their DataFinder app. Instead of having to
trawl through the rather cumbersome website, you can check the app for data, including
charts and maps, which compare countries and indicators, advanced queries to sift through
large data sets to find what you need, and current data to get the latest information directly
from the World Bank API.
Yahoo Finance: One of the most popular finance apps is Yahoo Finance, which you can use to
track the stocks that you are interested in and get real-time information on the stock market.
There is also a section for finance news which has all the headlines you need to read to stay
updated about the current economy. The app is mostly aimed at investors, but with all this
information it’s also helpful for economics students who want to stay informed.
Khan Academy: Another resource like iTunes U that is very helpful for students – especially new
students – is Khan Academy. This app offers full courses on the basics of economics which
you can follow along online. The content is likely to be too basic to be useful for postdoc
students, but for new Bachelor’s students seeking to refresh their knowledge of key topics
like microeconomics or elasticity, it’s great.
Castbox: A great way to keep up with the latest news and discussions in economics is to listen to
podcasts. Podcasts like Marketplace, Planet Money, or Bloomberg Taking Stock are great
ways to learn, and you can listen to them while you are exercising or pottering around the
house. Castbox is a free and easy to use podcast app.
Bloomberg: Another very popular finance app like Yahoo Finance is Bloomberg. This app has
sections for business and finance news, market data, and portfolio tracking. Although the
portfolio tracking features are less likely to be useful for students, the news section is
outstanding and offers analysis and opinion pieces as well as the latest news in the field.
PocketCAS Mathematics Toolkit: If you’re doing advanced calculations for your data analysis,
then it’s useful to have a scientific calculation app on your phone. The PocketCAS app has
advanced features like creating 2D and 3D plots, performing calculus operations, algebra
functions, and conversion of physical units. For advanced statistics users, this app is a must.
The Economist: This app from The Economist magazine focuses on news and analysis for
economics topics from around the world. It offers a selection of free articles from The
Economist, plus reports on current affairs, science, technology, and other news. You can
save articles to read later and share articles over social media. If you’re a regular reader of
The Economist, then this app is a must-have.
Oanda Currency Converter: When you need to stay informed about fluctuations in world
currencies, it helps to have all of the important information in one place. This is what the
Oanda Currency Converter offers, letting you track daily rates for different currencies and
including an option to add a percentage to rates to simulate the actual rate offered by banks
and credit card companies.
Oanda Forex Trading: This unique app is highly educational and also a lot of fun. It is designed
for investors, but it also has a demo mode which is perfect for students. The demo mode lets

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you use fake money to make investments by buying and selling real currencies, and then
keep track of how successful your ‘investments’ are. This is a great way to learn the basics
of investing with no risk involved.
7 Benefits for Teachers and Students
 It’s a new model of knowledge sharing to the students with variety of tools to learn
effectively at their own pace.
 For example: using GOOGLE FORM allows Teachers to quickly create test and submit the
Students response immediately.
 Teachers and Students can access a variety of modern teaching and learning tools.
 Online attendance, Class recordings creates more accountability for learners and Educators.
8 Scope for Further Research
This study we identified following scope for research areas:
1. Current Issues and Trends in Economics Education
2. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
3. Concepts and Principles of Integrating ICT in Economics Classroom
4. Building Manipulative-Interactive Media with Application
5. Exploring Three Dimensional Space with Application
6. Building Digital Activity with Application
7. Game for Economics Teaching
8. Digital Economics Environment
9. Assessment in Economics Learning using ICT
9 Conclusion
Current COVID-19 pandemic have given new ways of Teaching and Learning processes,
the role of ICT have completely transformed from the traditional technologies to new generation
tools. Students get more involved when their classes blended with technologies. It’s clearly seen
that, effective use of ICT tools enhances teaching of Economics and improves students’
involvement.
10 Acknowledgment
We thank all our Faculty members, Economics Educators of various schools in Chennai and our
students and other anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on our draft paper.
11 Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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