I had been a teacher and I
continue to be. I have been somewhat passionate about what I used to do and I
continue to be. This has given me a conviction that the teacher has a role to
play in the classroom and he can never be replaced. Convinced as I am that the
teacher cannot be replaced, I am equally convinced that the role of the teacher
is fast changing and if they are not sensitive enough to be a part of such
changes, the ailing classrooms will shift gratification of their needs to other
portals of engagement. That is exactly where the technology steps in to bridge
gaps wherever they are and also to provide scaffolding roles to the classrooms.
In his book “Bridgital Nation”, the author sh. N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of
Tata sons, observes “Technology alone does not solve difficult problems. But
when technology is applied in context with reimagined purposes, the results can
be magical.” This magic can happen in education sector also.
Technology is no more a guest to
our schools. It is a part of our organizational structure that facilitates,
resources, manages and delivers our intents. It is not going to be just an
information- management system, but will be a pedagogical tool for improving
our educational content, its spectrum of pedagogy, and our methods of objective
assessment. Over the years it had taken several Avatars to make its impact in
classrooms in the form of : Tele-classrooms, Computer-Aided-Learning (CAL),
Computer-Based Learning (CBL), e-learning, Web-based learning, Remote learning,
Satellite supported classrooms (edusat), Virtual learning and the like, with each of
them emerging to cater to a specified audience, purpose or a strategy. On-line
learning, therefore, has come to stay. It is entirely up to us how effectively
and how quickly we use the portals of technology to make learning efficient,
effective, purposeful, stress-free and self-motivating. There need be no fear that online learning
would make formal education an outlaw. Says Peter Dickson, the author of the
book “The Future of (almost) everything”: “Despite the growth of informal
online education, most people will spend even more time in formal education by
2030.”
The following are the expected
pathways through which technology may make its inroads into the portals of
education:
1. Online
learning for scaffolding the teacher
Essentially,
online learning is a supplement to formal learning at the school level; at
higher pedestals of learning it could be considered as a tool of distance
learning. The role of technology, therefore, is to facilitate the teacher for
reaching out concepts which are otherwise difficult in the absence of
technology. The visual effects, the audio effects, the multiplicity of resource
inputs it could provide has the capacity to engage the learners more
effectively. Thus, it could help a teacher for concept stabilization,
enrichment and for intellectual engagement with the learners. It does provide a
very powerful scaffolding effect to the formal classrooms.
2. Online
learning for learning enrichment
It is claimed
by the brain scientists that neither the presence of the teacher nor the
student does guarantee learning. Learning happens as a natural human instinct
empowered by the brain. It could be formal or informal, instructional or
non-instructional. Learning happens continuously dependent on several factors’
characteristic to the learner. Online learning, can indeed help in learning
enrichment by reaching out to varied interests of the learners, varied
intellectual requirements of the learners and through varied strategies of
pedagogical intervention including edutainment. Thus, online could bridge some
of the existing gaps in the learning systems through rich resources housed on
its clouds and enabling the learner to seek them at one’s own will and time.
Further the scope of resources provided by a teacher could be limited to their
own experience, while online resources bring with them a treasure house of
resources from global platforms at nanoseconds.
3. Online
learning for managing learning styles
A lot of
research has gone to understand the learning styles of the learners. However, a
number of psychologists do question the validity of the ‘VARK’ questionnaires,
as no direct correlation has been found between the preferred learning style
and effective learning. However, there does exist a relationship between the
preferred learning style and the memory, with memory not being a factor to be
singled out either as a source or resource for learning at all times.
Nevertheless, the online learning inputs do provide enriched resources to the
learners with preferred styles of learning; thus, facilitating repetition and
spaced- repetition for revisiting the content, thereby reinforcing the process
of learning. It thus helps, in eliminating the monotony that would arise out of
linearity either in pedagogical deliveries or linearity in learning.
4. Online
learning for stress free learning
The formal
classrooms have been associated with the terminologies – bag load, curriculum
load, transaction load, psychological load, homework load and the like. Over
the years, an impression has been created that all learning in schools is
associated with stress, whether there is any truth or not, in such a belief.
The online learning is possibly a home remedy for this ‘belief sickness’. The
leaner is neither under fear nor any compulsion to learn in a given manner,
unless it is a synchronous classroom where the dominance of the teacher
continues to exist. With a variety of learning inputs, the online could make
learning more learner-friendly, more edutaining, more engaging and more
participative. Though, the physical absence of the teacher is to be factored
with a negative note, the resource inputs are good enough to gravitate, engage
and motivate the learner and to sustain the curiosity. No doubt, the teacher
has to plan and work adequately to create the necessary environment.
5. Online
learning for self-learning
In the
‘ivory-tower’ approach of the formal classrooms the ‘knowledge flow’ is
projected from a higher pedestal to the lower one. As it is less participative,
it creates a sense of fear and inadequacy in the learner. Further, it creates a
myth in the mind of the learner that one would not be able to engage with
learning without a superior or supervisory person. This often leads to a
self-defeating approach demotivating the learner from intense personal
engagements with knowledge. Once introduced to digital portals, with access to
a universe of knowledge and several gateways to access the same, the learner
feels like one who has been relieved of the shackles of compulsions. The
learner is able to freely make his real time and virtual journeys to the vistas
of learning. This does offer the learner a sense of fulfilment, a sense of
achievement and being exploratory in nature, the much needed “Aha” experience.
Self-learning is indeed vital to the growth of the brain as brain is not at all
designed for linear learning and to be more specific ‘not at all for learning’.
It enjoys challenges and discovers knowledge through experience and
exploration.
6. Online
learning for anywhere, anytime learning
Formal
classrooms don’t have the necessary environment or time schedules for enabling
customized learning. Possibly because of the shortage of time, pressure on
completion of courses, management issues in the classroom arising out of large
numbers and for ensuring uniformity right across the school bandwidth, the
possibility of learner specific customized learning opportunities are
minimized. With digital support, the learner can free himself from the clutches
of time and space, and can enjoy learning anywhere, anytime so long as the
individual stands gravitated to the content and the delivery process. This
‘freedom of learning” is indeed a trigger to enhance the learner’s universe of
learning and learning domains.
7. Online
learning for extended learning
Normally, the
formal classrooms provide limited learning opportunities, largely restricted to
the definitions of the curriculum, and then the outfit of the syllabi. Even if
the teacher is a great motivator, the compulsions of a defined architecture of
learning limits the scope for extended learning like visiting a library,
seeking sources and resources for further learning. But in an online platform,
the opportunities for extended learning are tremendous, as the learner can
transport himself to search portals immediately for search, research or for a
journey to the digital libraries. The access and the quantum of resources
available to the learners is immense and can keep the learner engaged for a
long time.
8. Online
learning for Research based learning
The future
holds a huge promise for ‘research’, ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’. With
self-learning enabled, research-based approaches in online pedagogy, is found
to be a very powerful tool for enhancing learning, facilitating extended
learning and to provoke the learner into an investigative approach to learning
based on logical thinking. With innumerable number of search engines at their
disposal for accessing information, there is every opportunity for redeeming
lost avenues of information and using them in the current context for synthesis
of new knowledge. As such, several convergent as well as divergent approaches
to knowledge management have opened up in prime institutions, who are willing
to discover ‘themselves’ in a newer world of knowledge consciousness. Research based learning provides both
challenge as well as satisfaction to the learner simultaneously enhancing their
self-esteem. Further, online research-based learning can also promote
‘collaborative learning’ thereby raising opportunities for effective ‘social
construction’ of knowledge, thereby making it more authentic, credible, valid
and transparent.
Though online
learning has been initiated in some of the educational institutions, the
approach appears more cosmetic than founded on futuristic vision. It is
important that educators need to position online learning as a tool for long
term futuristic requirements which will prepare a generation of competent
professionals and entrepreneurs for the country. It calls for a purposeful
self-learning on the part of educational leaders and policy makers, leave alone
teachers. The future of ‘online learning’ is no doubt, very encouraging.
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