CNV2-I2-5-Higher Education
“Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing.”
....Warren Bennis
Education has a meaningful role to play in preventing India’s large youthful populace from slipping into “vulnerabilities” by creating “greater resilience” in society. Education holds a key role in creating a just society and strengthening democracy, experts said while discussing higher education’s impact on inequality and empowerment of youth. Talking about the two-fold role of education in a democracy, let us remember that education plays an important role in strengthening democracy while working on perfecting it. Acknowledging that India is at a stage where the greater priority is also increasing the employability of the youth, the heart of higher education system “should not be only building a just society, but also building a sense of justice’’.
A significant change that we are seeing happening around us is the rapid emergence of skill-based courses in areas such as retailing, banking, selling, mobile repairing, embroidery, fashion & jewellery design to name a few. These courses are typically of short duration ranging from 3 months to 12 months maximum and include a great amount of practical training. They are skill based and the theory content is optimum; exams are often based on practical and offline / online quizzes. Many of them include a job guarantee and this make these courses very attractive to the applicants .However caution needs to be exercised as many of these do not yet qualify as programmes with academic recognition as per our current education system .However the demand for these is very high as assured jobs within a short period of course completion make it a very attractive proposition for the younger generation. However, the government through the NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) has instituted a system to recognize some of these skill based programmes to ensure academic rigor & standardization .More efforts are on in this direction and once this is institutionalized will bring about a sea change in the employment patterns in the country .Another innovation that is the need of the hour is to allow flexibility in completion of a course to allow genuine breaks and also allow the student to pace his education based on his comfort .Further we could have system that the students can acquire learning on a continuous basis and get certified upon completion of certain milestones ..Say a certificate after writing an exam after 6 months, a diploma after a year and a degree after 2 years ….with the caveat that they should complete the degree with 4 years of starting. This will allow a good blend of theory and practice and also minimize dropouts during the education process. This has also led to establishment of new deemed & private universities and several college and institutes coming up all over the metros, mini metros and even smaller towns.
As technology is rapidly changing the world around us, many people worry that technology will replace human intelligence. Some educators worry that there will be no students to teach anymore in the near future as technology might take over teaching our students. However, technology could be a huge enabler and facilitate the learning process as under:
1. Anytime learning & at any place
Without the wonders of the internet, people wouldn’t be able to get access to any type of information at the very moment they think of it. Today, distance learning is one of the most trending learning methods. Virtual lessons are slowly taking the place of traditional lectures. Students can organize their time in a way that works for them, and they can easily gain the knowledge they are interested in. For example, let’s say one of your students shows great interest in Astronomy, but the traditional curriculum does nothing to feed that hunger for knowledge. You can recommend him/her to take beginner’s course online.
2. Flexible paths & more choice of subjects
By using technology in the classroom, both teachers and students can develop skills essential for the 21st century. Students can gain the skills they will need to be successful in the future. Modern learning is about collaborating with others, solving complex problems, critical thinking, developing different forms of communication and leadership skills, and improving motivation and productivity. What is more, technology can help develop many practical skills, including creating presentations, learning to differentiate reliable from unreliable sources on the Internet, maintaining proper online etiquette, and writing emails. These are very important skills that can be developed in the classroom.
3. Project based and Experiential learning
Experiential learning is the key factor of acquiring knowledge through experiencing things. It addresses specific teaching methods, which are believed to achieve a beneficial outcome to the learning ability of students. Project Based Learning is such a modern teaching method. The core idea of Project Based Learning is to connect student's experiences with school life and to provoke serious thinking as students acquire new knowledge. While there are some negative implications related to PBL, the method can leverage the advantages of modern teaching techniques. Finally, through Experiential Learning and in particular through PBL, connection with problems of real world is achieved.
4. Being paperless & more computers based
Classrooms would move towards being paperless & more computers based. Not only that, examination patterns will change completely with increased use of online quizzes, group projects and group discussions. Can you imagine the amount of paper and number of trees that would be saved if every school decided to introduce digital textbooks? Of course, that goal is far from realistic at this point, but you can make a change when you start from your own class. For example, you can instruct your students to take online tests and submit their papers and homework through email. You can also encourage them to use eReaders to go through the literature you assign.
5. Responsible learning
Student ownership in the learning process will increase and he / she would need to take more responsibility in the learning process. However, the teacher would now be the clarifier and the problem-solving specialist as mentoring will become more important. Though the students will incorporate so much independence in to their learning process, mentoring will become fundamental to student success. It is here that a career coach or a mentor can be of great help. Very often, many people consider that visiting a counsellor is a sign of one’s own ignorance. However, the fact is that the counsellor can give you lots of invaluable information in an unbiased manner that can help you make the right choices.
Changing times do warrant a change in the education options that are available to students; in my opinion, the time has come to radically evaluate existing programmes and re-invent them as needed.
Prof R S S Mani, Vice President (Institutional Development), ITM Group of Institutions