Whenever I see an elephant tied
to the pillar in a temple or in their health resort, I am reminded of a Digital
Board. Are you curious to know why? I think the digital board is like that huge
elephant which has immense strength and potential, but is tamed and hence
believes that it is tied by a rope and hence cannot move out. Should the elephant exercise its choice, the
rope is just feeble thing, it can brake in Nano-seconds. And the digital board
is conceptually tied to a classical model of teaching-learning, that we are not
in a position to unleash its full potential.
Honestly, in many institutions
the digital boards are an apology to the kind of technology that is being
exhibited. They are used more for window shopping of the organizations to
position them as technologically sensitive, relevant and fashionable. The real
use of the digital boards is far from average, much below its capacity utilization
and offered as a spice to the pre-cooked delivery of curriculum and pedagogy.
They need better respectability for their presence in a classroom.
From a letter-packed power-point delivery
in classrooms as proof enough for use of technology we need to move to ‘integrated’
use of technology in classrooms.
A few points to ponder
1.
1. Digital
Boards can help in transforming learning
For years, our
focus has been on teaching rather than learning. Hence teachers focused
finishing their ‘syllabus’ and covering the portions rather than uncovering the
curriculum and discovering the meaning of the concepts. Black Boards were used
to draw the attention of some important words or important drawings or to describe
the reply for a question that doesn’t provoke any thinking. Sometimes they were
also used to facilitate the learners to record their understanding. But digital
boards have a much better role to play. They can really transform learning methods
in the classrooms – because of their dynamic delivery, enabling different perceptional
opportunities, scope for variety of expressions, interactivity, visual treat
and ability to draw and sustain attention. If these advantages of the digital
boards are not exploited, their presence will be more ceremonial.
2. Digital
boards can facilitate better cognition
Effective
cognition can be supported through digital learning experiences. Many abstract
concepts can be brought to visual modes of expression, thereby facilitating learning
perceptions and bridging the gap between imagination and reality. It can help
in providing better neural connects and thus triggering thinking. They are less
volatile in their expressions as against the vocal model of conceptual transaction
happening between the teacher and the learner.
3.
Digital
Boards can integrate several technologies
Given its scope to
deal with several inputs and integrate them together to give a holistic picture,
the digital boards can offer a ‘composite’ view of concepts and hence
facilitate comparison, contextualization and comprehension of several points of
view in a unified approach. This would help in ‘integrated thinking’ and thus
in ‘problem solving’
What are the challenges in achieving the above
goals?
1. Infrastructural
support
The installation
of digital boards calls for a systemic infrastructural support in terms of
power, technical support, maintenance and service supports. In an earlier
evolution when the computers were initially introduced into the school system,
many of them were kept locked in the schools for the fear of being misused,
abused or being stolen. The protectionist approach deprived effective use of
them for several years till their use demanded improved trust factors and
belief systems. The Government needs to ensure effective support systems in all
educational districts/cities including timely and speedy redress of
grievances, so that they are effectively and meaningfully used.
2. Academic
support
The quality of
the academic content as of now, is both poor and of low motivation. The kind of
content that is largely prevalent appears to be an extension of classical
content developed for hard print models. Extension of same and similar
pedagogies will be a total mismatch in the digital model. It calls for a
renewed thinking which would help the learner to enhance their levels of
cognition, which in turn would help in problem solving, lateral and critical
thinking and creativity.
More non-formal
modes of conceptual dialogues that would help the search of new knowledge, more
evolved models of pedagogical interventions that would reach all and diverse
intelligence models, better delivery patterns that would further curiosity and
help in seeking new and contextual answers to local problems should be in place
to ensure the relevance of digital boards.
3.
Teacher
support
The critical issue of
its success lies in having teachers who not only handle this technology without
fear or reservation but with a sense of ownership, pride and joy. Teachers need
to be trained to diffuse the roadblocks in understanding their own limitations and
the limitations of the models they have been practicing for the past few years.
Intensive and extensive training to empower them to enhance their comfort level
in handling this technology has to be done. Rather, they should be able to
re position their pedagogical models in the ambiance of the digital technology.
Road to digital technology is a less traveled
road. Nevertheless, the traffic in this road is going to be acute in the next
couple of years to come. With Artificial Intelligence evolving with newer faces
of its existence and with augmented and virtual technologies in rhythm with
newer technologies, it appears we have a huge opportunity as well as challenge in
the years to come. Possibly “Miles to go before we sleep….”
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