11.2.1 Video Conferencing/Meeting Software (VC/MS) for Higher Education Institutes

The VC software provided for meeting online for conduct of regardless of location, role, experience level, language, and device preference, which was of prima face importance in times of coronavirus. The author had tried to scan major videoconferencing software used by Higher-Education institutions particularly the B-schools imparting management and technology education in Delhi-NCR region. The discussion, however, is restricted to common features that are available in all VC software. Thus, an attempt was also made to enlist the features that the institutions considered/would like to consider in near future in case they would want to change the software. The major critical features of VC software are presented below:

1. Meeting Capacity

   The number of participants that are allowed in a meeting in the VC software generally varied from 100 to 500. These were live interactions and allowed participants to unmute, speak and open their videos. Higher education institutes generally have a class size of 60 and have 3-6 sections in a batch. Hence, this meeting size was apt for taking classes and batch wise interaction. However, this was insufficient for addressing all the students of the institution together. The alternative option available is a webinar/livestream mode with live feed in which attendees as passive audience with chat option for interaction. The webinar mode could support up to 10,000 audiences. The batch interaction was facilitated through this option.

2. Meeting Scheduling

   The meetings could be prescheduled from the calendar or could be instantly initiated via a call. Some software allowed for web calls as well. The upgraded plans allowed for HD video and audio calling, as well. The calendar also had provisions for showing meeting conflicts, if any. With unlimited meeting call durations, meetings could remain valid for few days to 2 months. The meetings as per requirement could be scheduled as one-time or as recurring. The meeting links notification could be sent to individuals or group with the meeting notes. The meeting reminder was also an inherent feature. Meeting’s provision was supported through desktop, browser or mobile depending on the resource’s availability. The recipients had provision of accepting, denying, or replying to the meeting notification. The scheduler/presenter had access controls by options of wait/allow to join the meeting. He could also remove an attendee from the meeting. The meeting attendance feature was subsequently added by many vendors. These features allowed teachers to schedule classes, ensure punctuality, attendance, and discipline in classes.

3. Meeting Control

   The presenter had options of audio/video and chat controls. The presenter could disable attendees to mute others or remove from meeting. He could also mute all attendees and limit presentation rights. The presenter could ask the attendees to open their videos. Most VC software allowed for 25-49 screens to be viewed simultaneously. The provision of pinning a screen was also available for closer viewing and monitoring. This allowed the teacher to monitor the student activities online. This feature was also used by institutions to proctor the online exams. Although, this mechanism had its own limitations, it did make some psychological pressure on the examinees.

4. Meeting Interaction:

   This was facilitated through audio, video, and chat options primarily. The meetings provided for an audio/video preview to prepare oneself for the onscreen presence. The participants had the provision of using natural/customized backgrounds while sharing their on-screen presence. They had the raise hand feature to showcase their queries. Some VC software also looking to provide backgrounds with a running video. The meeting software also automatically adjusted layouts on screen to display most active participants. The presenter window could be zoomed/toggled for having an enlarged and clear view of shared content. Most vendors provided whiteboard feature that simulated a classroom blackboard. The presenters were allowed to share screen with screen annotation facility as well. The provision of chat was used for responding to queries of attendees and providing feedback. Chats could be broadcasted or be directed at individuals or a specific set of individuals. The chats also have emoji support for personalized responses and reducing notification. Chats could be pinned, and specific chat threads could be saved. Announcements, deadlines, or anything with a future reference in a chat could be also pinned to serve as reminders. Some VC software also provided auditorium view of presenter and attendees simulating the sitting in a class/conference. Also, the transcript facilities were provided in the VC software with translation provision in multiple languages for better understanding. Further integration with other applications, such as mail, document etc., could also be managed via the VC software for quick access, composure, and management. Further, enhanced, and improved features included cancellation of background noise, light adjustments, refreshed user interfaces and enriched reliability features along with data saver features on video calls.

5. Individual and Group workspace

   The meetings provided a forum for simulating a classroom with all students as attendees and teacher as presenter. The meeting further has breakout rooms’ provision for group activities, which is an essential feature in higher education. Further, VC software provided for individual and collaborative group space. The presenter/teacher was assigned exclusive space for content creation in terms of uploading files, assignments, and exercises. This space was viewable and noneditable for the attendees. Further, Individual workspace and group workspace allowed for attendees, in terms of uploading files for assignments and assessments. Further, cloud storage space was also allocated to all users by the meeting software. Almost all VC software allowed for high-speed upload and download of files in multiple file formats and that too with a secure cross platform synchronization.

6. Assessment Provision

   Assessment provision in the meetings was incorporated through polling and quick surveys. Further, a few VC software gave provision for designing a quiz or form like assessments with both multiple choice and subjective assessments. Automatic correction was also supported. Provision of scheduling, distributing and assessment was also inbuilt. Further, the attendees could see their scores and feedback too. Report generation for the given assessment was also included. The test link could be provided in chat or could be entered through a QR code. This was of immense relief to teachers as it provided them with some mechanism for administrating assessments online during pandemic times.

7. Security

   This was a prima face concern as teachers and students have known to be operating in a secure and protected physical boundaries away from online nuisances of auto play of advertisements, security breaches and privacy invasion. One of the important market strategies was to play the security card. Most of VC vendors used anti-hijacking measures and secure controls for anti-abuse measures by using secure service layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TSL) protocols. They attempted to provide a secure environment for their meetings and messages were encrypted in transit. Further, safety features were continually enhanced from the vendor side by continually verifying and updating their security, privacy, and verification compliance.

8. Cost

   When the pandemic started, most of the available VC softwares were free for education except a few. Others had upgraded business plans that included enlarged meeting capacity with enhanced features. While the free ones required a few compliances from the institutions side for the basic licensing plans. As pandemic progressed, the vendors switched the free plan to business plans for education institutions with only a few notable exceptions. The paid plans and features varied as per different subscription plans.

9. Infrastructure requirement, Support and Training

   Considered essential in the educational sector as all stakeholders were new to the usage of software, it was considered not only important but vital. The training support provided by the vendors tried to reduce the anxiety level of the users. Many big players provided free trainings and had ongoing training schedules. Further, customized training schedules were also provided on request. Most of the vendors provided business hours support for free plans and 24*7 phone and web support for pricier plans.

11.3.1 Extension of TOPSIS Algorithm: Fuzzy TOPSIS

Hwang & Yoon [3] proposed the TOPSIS method in 1981. The linguistic TOPSIS method for group decision-making and the choice process was proposed by [4]. According to this technique, the best alternative would be the one that is nearest to the positive ideal solution and farthest from the negative ideal solution [5]. The positive ideal solution is a solution that maximizes the benefit criteria and minimizes the cost criteria, whereas the negative ideal solution maximizes the cost criteria and minimizes the benefit criteria [6–8]. In other words, the positive ideal solution is composed of all best values attainable of criteria, whereas the negative ideal solution consists of all worst values attainable of criteria [9, 10].

The detailed steps are described below:

1. Fuzzy Ratings for Criteria

   Identify the ERP vendors and the experts’ ratings. Use linguistic rating variable to assess the importance of the criteria as given in Table 11.1.

   Linguistic scale	Corresponding fuzzy numbers
   Very High (VH)	(0.9, 1.0, 1.0)
   Medium High (MH)	(0.7, 0.9, 1.0)
   High (H)	(0.5, 0.7, 0.9)
   Medium (M)	(0.3, 0.5, 0.7)
   Medium Low (ML)	(0.1, 0.3, 0.5)
   Low (L)	(0, 0.1, 0.3)
   Very Low (VL)	(0, 0, 0.1)

2. Fuzzy Ratings for Alternatives

   The decision makers use the linguistic rating variable to evaluate the rating of alternatives with respect to each criterion. The linguistic scale used is given in Table 11.2.

   Linguistic scale	Corresponding fuzzy numbers
   Very Good (VG)	(9, 10, 10)
   Good (G)	(7, 9, 10)
   Medium Good (MG)	(5, 7, 9)
   Fair (F)	(3, 5, 7)
   Medium Poor (MP)	(1, .3, 5)
   Poor (P)	(0, 1, 3)
   Very Poor (VP)	(0, 0, 1)

3. Fuzzy Decision Matrix and Fuzzy Weights

   Convert the linguistic evaluation into triangular fuzzy numbers to construct the fuzzy decision matrix and determine the fuzzy weight of each CSF. The importance is computed as

   (i)
   (ii)

   Where  and  are the ratings and the importance weight of the Kth decision maker.

4. Normalized Decision Matrix

   Construct the normalized fuzzy decision matrix

    where B and C are the set of benefit criteria and cost criteria, respectively and

   (iii)
   (iv)

   The normalization process ensures that the values of fuzzy numbers lie within range [0, 1].

5. Weighted Normalized Decision matrix

   Construct the weighted normalized decision matrix using eq. v

   (v)

   where

6. FPIS and FNIS Determine the Fuzzy Positive Ideal Solution (FPIS, A^*) and Fuzzy Negative Ideal Solution (FNIS, A⁻).
   (vi)
   (vii)

   where = (1,1,1) and = (0,0,0) j = 1, 2,..., n

7. Distance Calculation

   Calculate the distance of each candidate from FPIS and FNIS.

   The distance of each alternative from A* and A⁻ can be currently calculated as

   (viii)
   (ix)

   where d(.,.) is the distance measurement between two fuzzy numbers?

8. Closeness Coefficient

   The closeness coefficient is defined to determine the ranking order of all alternatives once their FPIS and FNIS is calculated.

   The closeness coefficient of each alternative is calculated as

   (x)

   Candidates are ranked based on their closeness coefficient. The alternative that is closer to FNIS (A*) FPIS and farther from FNIS (A⁻) is selected. The one with approaching to 1 is selected as the best among feasible alternatives.

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