Education 2047 #Blog 08 (17 JAN 2022)
The COVID pandemic has hit the world like a tsunami leaving behind the systems gasping for oxygen; academic institutions left entangled completely in the world-wide-web of uncertainty and tottering on their course to normalcy. The biggest assault of the pandemic in academics- is not on the universities or colleges, not on the learners or teachers, not on the syllabus or examinations but the classrooms. Yes, the classrooms have gone on a toss! But this is not a sudden development as classrooms have progressively been laid redundant since the arrival of smartphones; the virus only catalyzed the process. And what has been attempted to fill the gap during pandemic is imitation or recreation of classrooms on the web, which is not so appealing to the digital learners and is only helping in completion of courses.
Today the learning material can be accessed by the learners anywhere, anytime. A learner can choose from text, audio, video- the best s/he is comfortable with, and can even choose the teacher to learn from. Despite an interface for assured learning possible at click of a button, the classrooms are surviving because of compulsory attendance; remove it for a semester and you will find students still passing to the next semester. That's because what has been a preserve of classrooms is not so any more, learning is happening in a democratized manner outside also; practicals conducted in the lab are already on a low pedestal as most jobs get automated or outsourced to machines. A close look suggests that classrooms, their design and operational hours are teacher-centered and operated for delivery of service rather than learning, and this gets accentuated even as teacher-learner equation tilts in favour of learners.
The conventional layout of classroom places a teacher or an instructor at the focus. There is a delivery of knowledge/ instructions- through speech, writing on the board or demonstration- 'staged' in front of students. The students are expected to listen, take down notes, ask question in case of lack of clarity, respond to questions etc. To check that knowledge has been transferred and grabbed, there are tests. These are the things that happen in a typical classroom and to ensure that all these take place, there is attendance. The classes are (only) on the subjects/ topics in which there are teachers available. Doesn't then the term 'class' itself, sound suggestive of differentiation?
It's a group of learners organized as per the convenience of the academic institution that fills a classroom. The setup doesn't help a learner in pursuing her/his calling, choose subjects, skills, competencies and to excel therein. It also does not support sizeable introverts in each class, not to mention all those who have no liking for that subject/ teacher and those with learning disabilities. Neither does it allow collaborative learning nor is laid out for it. The classrooms may be useful to initiate learning but do not assure its completion. In such settings, it is not possible for an instructor to create a personalized environment for each student. Aren't the classrooms then, as we have them, redundant? Aren't they actually designed to encourage study and pass solo, stay silent and suppress curiosity, ensure education but be unsure of learning?
Classrooms no longer excite the digital learners and will continue to be pushed to the margins. Ever thought when, during the day, are the learners most alert and receptive to instructions? Difficult to pinpoint, right? Most certainly it's not the first half of the forenoon; but that ironically is the time, teaching is at the peak in all academic institutions- alike offices and factories. Schools and colleges operate as service providers, operations at best when the time suits the teachers (and management) and not the learners. Are we having the right timings for our academic systems that really maximize learning? Have you ever noted that technology is shifting the hours of study since your days as students; will the classrooms remain same then? Possibly get transformed to support new age learning, instead of pushing industrial-age education.
With spatio-temporal-linguistic barriers getting liquidated by emerging technologies, the classrooms of future will support- interactions and discussions between learners who would teach each other. Also, share the common space- to learn from volumetric screens and holographic images, which will give whopping immersive experience. These systems will be smart enough to capture the interaction with learners, update themselves and give enriching experience to the learners thereafter. Touchscreens (user interface), fabric-embedded screens (mobile projection), holographic images (near real simulation) along with other technologies will possibly convert classroom into an immersive walkthrough- with right-sized images and their projection on demand. This will offer the learners, options to create new scenarios with available information/ knowledge or fetch an existing content from anywhere in the digital repositories- to support and enhance learning. Advancements in use-interface technologies combined with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Augmented/ Virtual Reality, Brain-Computer Interface etc will enliven the classrooms to power- adaptive, personalized and purposed (APP) learning instead of peddling- corrective, prescriptive and restrictive (CPR) education, and that will truly be, a 'class' apart!
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Author is an Adviser with All
India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on deputation from
Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC).
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Previous blogs
Reconfiguring Education as 'APP' Learning
Rejigging Universities with a COVID moment
Reimagining Engineering Education for 'Techcelerating' Times
Uprighting STEM Education with 7x24 Labs
Dismantling Macaulay's Schools with 'Online' Support
Moving Towards Education Without Examinations
Disruptive Technologies in Education and Challenges in its Governance
Synallagmatic Industry-Academia Linkages