By Ananya S Guha
In a rapidly changing technological world, the world being characterized as a global community etc. not much emphasis is being given to the impact of technology in education.
The changing contexts of education are: 1) Technology driven education 2) Distance Education
3) Skills Education. 4) Unleashing market forces in education.
Distance Education has made the first change in education. It has made adult and continuing education palpable realities. It has addressed the problems of drop outs and one time failure in education. It has adopted certification in short term programmes, and has given education continuity and contiguity. It has given options to working professionals and house wives to pursue higher and professional education. It is NOT an alternative form, it is mainstream but has introduced flexibility in terms of entry point, certification, examinations and completion of courses. It has assailed the fundaments of education in terms of choice, compatibility and learning processes which are NOT teacher centric. Moreover it has used profitably technology, the television, the radio and the internet to make teaching learning more sensory, innovative and immediate. The traditional form of Distance learning has now been replaced by e learning or web based learning, an incursion of modernity into traditional learning. In fact ” Distance is dead ” as Negroponte asseverated.
Skills Education is another significant matrix in the ethos of education. Skills and vocational education have decapitated the notion of an obsession with degrees, emphasized on hands on education compounded with theory and has given pertinent importance to psychomotor skills. In fact the www can be used to impart skills education, especially soft skills. However regarding technical skills there must be creation of virtual skills, together with uploading course content.
The ramifications of accessibility in education, must be viewed in terms of these changing contexts where there is upward mobility and education is more holistic and a contiguous reality, what I mean to say is that, now there is something called basic education and those who want upward mobility can do so.
The market forces and ‘marketization’ of education is now today an obvious reality, sad as it maybe to many. It is a matter of ‘ buying ‘ and ‘ selling’ course ware, as well as sustainability. These contexts of education are a welcome sign to educational processes, as they enunciate the freedom of choice and the free will to study and acquire certification. Moreover concepts such as Prior Knowledge emphasize on inherent skills in a person.
We must augment more use of technology in both distance and conventional education, including the simple use of the internet for teacher student transaction. Modern and contemporary Distance Education will have to incorporate e learning as an essential mode of open and distance education. This would mean also multi tasking methods of teaching and learning such as lectures, group discussion, quiz, one to one learning etc. Moreover the virtual classroom simulates the ‘ real ‘ so that those who suffer from the hangover of traditional classroom, can feel at home in a simulated ambience. The sacrosanct ‘ four walls ‘ of a classroom will not wither and should not but the critical point is that appendages of educational innovation such as e learning, web conferences and pod casting are and will continue to capture the imagination of teaching and learning.
In such a rapid changing contexts of education, the real and the virtual, the traditional and the virtual are getting blurred, and education is seen in more holistic terms. The emphasis now being given to skills education is a pointer towards the university education consortia, prima facie the emphasis being on acquisition of jobs, and employment. The market forces of education, whether it be ‘ organized ‘ or ‘ unorganized ‘ are cases in point when we talk of education, skills and employment.
The maxim of education today is also : ” Earn And Learn” and alternates between profession and studies or learning. The changing contexts of education are necessary for us to understand that there is a growing need for vocationalisation of education, as also is there the need to be trained and up graded in one’s profession. Distance education has radicalized pedagogy where the lecture method of teaching is subverted and innovative means such as contact sessions, use of technology, interactive media, seminars, extended contact programmes are introduced to make education more reciprocal, rather than teaching or teacher centric. With innovation must come changes in pedagogy, and with changes there must be more reciprocity between teacher and taught. Technology also titillates curiosity in the learner, its usage and enables transaction in learning to be innovative and exciting.
Gone are the days when the teacher is considered to be omniscient. Free Source Software enables the inquisitive mind to download and browse more and more material read, information. The teacher must be a facilitator in this process to augment online or mobile counseling via the internet or the mobile phone. Moreover computer broadcasting or podcasting are an amalgam of the radio, television and the computer. Such remarkable synchronicity of teaching and learning are the direct effects of technology and the virtual world. The four walls of a classroom will never go, but classrooms will surely be multiplied with alacrity, in rapidly changing contexts of education.