Purpose – This study aims to address the state of teaching-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic by assessing the pedagogies used, evidence collected, best practices used and technologies used for instruction by the academics in higher education institutions (HEIs). This study also analyses the impact of online academic motivation (OAM) and online academic amotivation of the teachers on the online student engagement (OSE) during the emergency remote teaching (ERT) period.

Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a mixed methodology by incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis. Data used in this study have been drawn from a pool of educationists teaching in various HEIs in different parts of India (n = 900). Sentiment analysis, project map and mind map have been used to analyze the teachers’ experiences in the new teaching environment. Further, this study uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis to measure and validate the study’s scales.

Findings – The combination of empirical and qualitative analysis captured the ERT model followed by the teachers. The overall experience of teachers regarding the online mode of teaching-learning is moderately positive. This study reports a direct positive and significant impact of teachers’ motivation on perceived student engagement in the online mode.

Originality/value – This research proposes and validates scales to measure perceived OSE and the teachers’ OAM. This study also establishes an impact assessment of the teachers’ motivation levels on the students’ engagement from an educator’s perspective.