CM Yogi honours 75 Basic Education teachers on Teachers’ Day; lays stone for new educational institutions virtually

Government News

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September 6, 2022

Honouring teachers on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said that the recognition given in the form of an award brings additional responsibility to the school teachers for contributing to nation-building.

“With this award, your competition with yourself has also started. After getting awarded at the state level, you must perform consistently well as the results of the student also depend on your performance,” said CM Yogi.

Paying tribute to Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan on his birth anniversary, the CM said that education can be a powerful medium for building modern India, adding that Dr Radhakrishnan was awarded the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna for his services to the field of education.

To honour the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers in the state, Yogi Adityanath conferred the State Teacher Award 2021 on 75 Basic Education Department teachers on the occasion of Teacher’s Day at an event held at Lokbhawan, Lucknow.

Besides, the CM also felicitated eight principals of UP, CBSE, CISCE Boards schools as well as Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Shiksha Parishad whose students topped this year’s exams.

CM Yogi also transferred stipend and escort allowance to girls of Kasturba Gandhi Schools as well as differently-abled children under ‘Samarth Programme’ (total of 1.02 lakh students) through DBT. Moreover, the CM launched ‘Pahuch’, ‘Pragyan’, ‘Pankh’, ‘Parakh’ and ‘Pehchan’ portals, which are related to the programmes of the Department of Secondary Education.

At the same time, the Chief Minister virtually laid the foundation stone of 39 new high schools and 14 inter colleges. MoU between the Secondary Education Department and Skill Development Mission was also signed on the occasion.

Stating that no work should be considered ‘menial’ or ‘inappropriate’, Yogi said that he saw no harm in teachers joining students to sweep the floors in order to maintain cleanliness at the school.

“The National Education Policy implemented by PM Modi in 2020 will boost India’s status in the field of education”, said CM, and expressed his happiness over the awards being given to the teachers of Basic Education.

NEP-2020 focuses on both theoretical and behavioral aspects, aiming at complete development of students. Through the new policy, the Prime Minister seeks to realise the potential of every child by honing their special skills. This will establish India as a world leader in education, the CM pointed out.

Mentioning the transformation being witnessed in the Basic and Secondary Education department, Chief Minister said, “Before 2017, most of the schools of Basic and Secondary Education were either on the verge of closure or in a dilapidated state. We worked towards changing the status of these schools through Operation Kayalap.”

The CM said that when he took charge as chief minister of UP, the secondary school exams were on, so he urged the then Deputy Chief Minister of the state Dinesh Sharma to do an inspection of some schools and ensure that a cheating-free exam is conducted.

“We also set a target to ensure no cheating in any exam in 2018. Around 56 lakh students appeared in the cheating-free exams conducted in the state”, Yogi said.

On transparency in recruitment process, the CM said that their government conducted fair recruitment of 1.26 lakh teachers in Basic Education whereas vacant posts of 40,000 teachers were filled in secondary school.

“In July 2017, we started the School Chalo Abhiyan and positive results were seen. Before that, only 1.34 crore students were enrolled in Basic education, now it has reached 1.92 crore which is proof of its success,” he remarked.

NEP being lauded globally, India on the right path to strengthen education: PM

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 6, 2022

India is moving in the right direction to strengthen its education ecosystem and the new education policy is being appreciated across the globe, with teachers having played a major role in formulating it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.

India surpassing the UK to become the world’s fifth largest economy is “special” because the country has left behind those who ruled it for 250 years, said PM.

Interacting with National Teacher Award recipients, Modi said teachers not only have to educate students but transform their lives for the better.

“Our new National Education Policy is being applauded across the world. India is moving in the right direction to strengthen its education ecosystem and people can see it.

PM further said, “Our teachers have played a very important role in formulating the policy. It is up to our teachers to prepare our youth, who will decide what India would look like in ‘Amrit Kaal’ by 2047”.

“We not only have to educate students but transform their lives, and lives cannot be transformed by working in silos or isolation. A successful teacher is one for whom every student is equal and there are no likes or dislikes. For teachers, an integrated approach is a must.

Modi said if a child sees something in school and something else at home, he or she gets trapped in conflict and contradiction, and there is no injection to pull them out of this confusion.

“A teacher has the strength of positivity and always motivates the students to face challenges. This helps them tackle every challenge. A true teacher motivates the students to dream, to achieve what is unachievable,” the prime minister said.

Earlier in the day, President Droupadi Murmu presented National Teacher Awards to selected teachers to honour their unique contribution to school education. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has been organising a function at Vigyan Bhawan here every year on Teachers’ Day on September 5 to confer the awards to the best teachers of the country who are selected through a three-stage tedious, transparent, and online process.

Rajasthan government launches India’s largest Personalised and Adaptive Learning (PAL) program

Schools News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 5, 2022

The outbreak of COVID-19 has created massive gaps in learning, especially for girls in non-urban areas, and has forced the entire education industry to bring up the inevitable changes in its practices.

Rajasthan government has successfully completed a pilot for Mission Buniyaad – an ambitious PAL program aiming to recoup learning level loss due to Covid-19 for 1 million adolescent girls and 2 million students in Rajasthan. Hon. Dr. Bulaki Das Kalla, The education minister of Rajasthan, and Hon. Smt. Zahida Khan, Minister of State, Education, announced the state-wide scale-up of Mission Buniyaad at an event on Monday to commemorate Teachers’ Day.

The EdTech pilot was conducted among 35,000 girl students in six districts – Udaipur, Bhilwara, Sikar, Karauli, Dhaulpur, and Sirohi, with an average learning outcome improvement of 16% between baseline and endline. The six-month pilot included grade 8-12 students spending two hours per week on digital devices for PAL and in-person school instruction.

Overall, the PAL intervention has produced early signs of extremely promising success in a short time, given that a change of 0.2 SD and above in a year is considered significant in educational interventions.

Mission Buniyaad involved several key initiatives, including alignment of content with the State Board syllabus, getting approvals on content before starting the program, on boarding the community by addressing their concerns, and creating ownership of the government as this initiative helps them achieve the goals laid out in National Education Policy 2020 and STARS program. The program also developed an SOP and WhatsApp groups for teachers to address their issues.

The roadmap for Mission Buniyaad targets improvements across all three pillars of digital education – Access, Equity, and Quality. This year, the government will scale the program by enabling ICT and Tablet labs across all 33 districts with the PAL platform to produce fruitful results. The PAL platform backtracks on a student’s progression to cover every possible gap in learning.

The students can access the PAL platform through school ICT labs or smartphones at home. Teachers would use real-time data and trends accumulated through adaptive assessments to calibrate the teaching process in a classroom. Student-wise and topic-wise insights are available for teachers to teach at the right level and further personalize their instructions as per the classroom’s strengths and weaknesses.

Around 130 million children attend government schools in India. It is more than the overall population of many countries. Many of these children can do wonders. EdTech programs like Mission Buniyaad fulfill those aspirations with the hope of developing long-term systemic reform in school education.

“MOBILE LEARNING” sustainable or harmful for School students

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digitalLEARNING Network

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September 5, 2022

With the advent of the 21st century, we were happy to pronounce that the world is now a Global Village, everything is so well connected, and well collaborated. Education, research, and innovation had no bounds. Students across the world got connected through technology. Children could interact with students of remote countries, share projects, and have webinars and everyone felt their collective actions can help to build a more resilient education system for the future and sure they did. When the testing time came, we stood like solid rock and demonstrated that learning never stops.

Then came the unprecedented lockdown when schools, colleges, offices, courts, airports, railway stations everything closed. More than 1.5 million students across the world got affected by the school and university closure due to COVID-19 pandemic. Educationists across the world started creating platforms for collaborations and exchange to protect the right to education. The Global Education Coalition launched by UNESCO was embraced by organisations like WHO, United Nations, and academia all across the world to ensure that Learning Never Stops.

In a UNESCO report, Shuler and Winters, defined mobile learning as the utilisation of mobile technologies, such as smartphones, mobile phones, e-readers, and tablets to facilitate learning. They argue that these devices offer ‘unparalleled access to communication and information. Yes, during the lockdown it was imperios, students needed personal learning pathways with micro–lessons to address the gaps in understanding and knowledge. There was a need to use Mobile Learning to get connected with students remotely, to communicate, and stay connected. Mobile devices helped deliver localised learning at a cost and scale which could be sustained by our masses. So yes, during the pandemic mobile was a boon.

However, the situations have changed now, do we deny that we are humans? We need to socialise, get connected, share educational content offline that human touch, and that sheer joy of running together in the playground or dancing to the same tune together in class. Reading, writing, and listening, the soft affectionate pat on the back by the teacher can never be replaced.

Yes, we have mobile/tablet apps that are meant for self paced learning. There are online lessons about nature available continuously during 5-week period between Earth Day and World Environment Day. Yet the experience of going to the school garden and observing the butterflies hop from one flower to the other or actually planting a seed in the soil, watering it for days together, and then understanding the process of germination that sense of accomplishment, joy, and sheer pride of a child will create an environmentalist for life.

We have wisdom walls all across the premises. Children when found not wearing proper school uniforms are asked to randomly say tables, numbers as big as 27 or 56. They, while standing next to the wisdom wall, have to calculate mentally, learn and say immediately Purpose? Yes, off course, the whole activity enhances their numeracy skills and above all, there is a sense of gratification after achieving the task. A teacher’s acceptance and an affectionate reminder to follow rules makes a great difference.

It is important for school Principals and Managements to realise that we are dealing with human beings,each child is an individual, they have their own strengths and attributes and that can be understood and nurtured by a teacher and not a mobile app. We, as schools, need to embrace them wholeheartedly and unconditionally, only then can we have geniuses created.

Views Expressed by: Supriti Katkar, Principal, Radcliffe School, Thane

Teachers’ Day 2022: Commemorating trailblazing innovations of educators

Article

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Sheeba Chauhan, Senior Sub Editor

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September 5, 2022

Innovation is the carrier of change for positive development. Teachers have been creating these innovations and enhancing best practices in education paradigm for a long. Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network (ENN) interacted with various educators to celebrate their commendable contribution and trailblazing innovations on the occasion of Teachers’ day. Edited excerpts:

Dr. Yajulu Medury, Vice–Chancellor, Mahindra University

“Remembering the great teacher and an influential Indian thinker, late Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on the occasion of Teacher’s Day which also marks his birth anniversary. From imparting wisdom to guiding and motivating future citizens, the role of a teacher goes far beyond the boundaries of a classroom. A teacher not only educates youngsters but also supports them in overall personality development, turning young minds into global thinkers and engaged leaders. While the pandemic was filled with setbacks, the period also led to the rise of a more passionate, resilient, and adaptable teaching workforce. A passionate workforce like this accompanied by an appropriate ecosystem that is capable of fostering the growth of both teachers and students can surely take India back to its glory days, turning our nation into a hub of knowledge and innovation.”

Rishi Khemka, Founder and CEO, MindBox India

“A teacher or ‘Guru’ has the power to influence, shape and direct an individuals character and caliber. As the nation charts its growth path towards Atmanirbharta, the youth will play an important catalyst in this journey. As technology takes the center stage, it has become pivotal for us to expose students to new-age future tech concepts at an early stage. In order to ensure this, there is a need to have an interdisciplinary approach to education that integrates learning with practical application and on-ground projects. At MindBox we endeavor to create an ecosystem of academic experts and teachers who inspire the students to follow their interest in technology, thereby empowering them with future skillsets”

Sarita Digumarti, Chief Learning Officer, UNext

“The last two years have seen a massive disruption in teaching frameworks, methodologies, and strategies. It is increasingly becoming clear that teaching a Digital First audience requires new ways of leveraging technology, which allows for greater reach and greater personalisation of learning journeys based on learning styles. However, the most critical aspect of learning, especially at younger ages, is the ability of a teacher to meaningfully connect with every learner, in person or online, and we need to ensure that our updated learning models appropriately cover this important aspect.”

Amit Singhal, Founder, Sitare Foundation

“We need to cultivate intelligence and an inquisitive mindset in order to realise creative possibilities uniformly across the socioeconomic fabric of India. The underprivileged children of our nation also need equal access to quality education to shape them into potential leaders of tomorrow. Just like education, a good teacher has the potential to alter the course of an individuals life as knowledge serves as a pillar of strength and a guiding force in a students life. Their capacity to provide inspiration, direction, mentorship, encouragement, and support makes them an indispensable part of any student’s life.”

Dr. Sindhura P, Director, The Narayana Group

“The education ecosystem is constantly evolving and changing. Effective learning is the function of retention and error correction. The mind requires strong associations to enhance retention and continuous feedback for error correction and deepening understanding. Innovations in technologies and teaching strategies target these two aspects of learning.

In recent years, teaching strategies incorporating multiple intelligences, project-based learning, peer-to-peer learning, game-based learning, and the Feynman technique have been adopted in classrooms. These methodologies direct students’ focus onto the learning outcome and build multiple points of association around specific concepts in their minds. They serve to retaining knowledge better and positively affect students’ emotions towards the subjects being learned. They also provide feedback for quick iterations which correct misperceptions and allow for creative thinking.

Rapid technological innovation has added several tools to improve learning. Improving visual content enhances understanding and increases retention. Specific and targeted feedback at a minute level helps students and teachers close learning gaps faster. They enable adaptive learning by matching the level of questions to the learner. They also enable remote doubt solving and proctoring for better reach.

We are at the onset of an exciting period of innovation in education. As research in neuroscience gathers pace, we will better understand our brain and how to be more effective at learning. This will lead to better tools and significantly improved learning outcomes for students.”

Dr. R Sugant, Dean – School of Management & School of Economics and Commerce, CMR University

“Marketers divide India into two – India that is affluent and can afford and Bharat that is the large majority who are aspiring to move up the value chain. Similarly, while we consider change and innovation, especially with regard to technology in higher education, we can divide India into two – India A – that are the top 20% of the students who are aspirational and fairly clear about their goals and get into top tier institutions – IIMs, IITs, NITs and other top Arts, Science, Commerce and Engineering colleges of the country; and India B – that constitute the majority 80% of students who are not clear about their goals and pursue their graduation for the sake of a degree. As an inclusive society, we should consider this India B while introducing change and innovation in education.

While India A quickly adapted to online courses, India B is not enthused about them and does not embrace them enthusiastically. For the learning to percolate to India B, technology has to go beyond plain vanilla online courses. The courses should be built on gamification and simulation, which can attract and retain the attention of India B. The irony is these courses are comparatively expensive to build and neither the students of India B nor the institutions where they are studying can afford them. Essentially for a majority of Indian students, change and real tech adoption in education is a utopian dream, at least for now.”

Sandhya Gatti, Head – Pedagogy and Professional Development, Chaman Bhartiya School

"The education ecosystem in India ironically has remained resistant to change despite glaring changes in, and demands of the society, economy, and in the needs and children today. The NEP 2020 clearly reflects the need to restructure not only our systems, but also our mindsets. Change and innovation in education are therefore, not only to be expected but actively thought about and implemented. This means school leaders, teachers, and parents must constantly challenge the status quo, and look at society as a vibrant, and dynamic entity. Education and education systems must keep the problems of such a changing world in perspective while designing curricula for young learners. A foresight into what kind of world our children will be getting into should shape the digital or non-digital innovations in the education space today.

Internships revamp the theoretical aspect of learning into praxis

Interviews

By

Sheeba Chauhan, Senior Sub Editor

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September 5, 2022

Theory and practicals are two parts of learning that need to be focused on equally. Educators & industry experts believe that now is the time to reverse the curriculum of 70 per cent theory and 30 per cent practical. We have a few professional courses that are already working towards a more practical approach in lieu of a theoretical one.

Most recently, something similar came up from the doors of the Bar Council of India and they decided to revamp the curriculum by allowing the final year students to act as paralegals for a period of six years. There are many other erupting alterations that are happening in the world of law students.

To delve into the topic deeper, Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network interacted with Adv. Kritika Padode Bhandari, Trustee, IFIM Institutions, Founder, Vijay Bhoomi University. The conversation was insightful and elucidative.

Bar Council of India (BCI) is all set to revamp the curriculum and allow final-year law students to act as paralegals for a period of six months. What is your take on the same?

It is definitely a welcome move. A legal internship of any sort will give students a chance to apply the knowledge of legal subjects they have acquired over the course of four years. Application of knowledge in a real- life setting will also allow them the freedom to explore which area of law excites them to pursue professionally and also the kind of lawyer they would want to be. A lawyer can play multiple roles in the profession- advocate, judge, briefing counsel, working in a firm etc and an experience of this nature will help them choose an appropriate role for themselves wisely. A longer internship will also help them get a better understanding of process and practice which is not possible in a shorter duration internship. Apart from all the benefits to the students, this will also help add manpower to the much-needed legal aid force in our country. With an exploding population spread across different parts, we are in a dire need of quality legal aid volunteers and this experience will motivate students to pursue legal aid in the future as well along with their private practice.

Similar to other professions, lawyers also need hands-on experience from internships. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing internships in the rural areas of India?

I only see advantages to this proposition and no disadvantages as such:

Application of knowledge of legal subjects in a real-life setting
Ability to develop skills that are essential for lawyers communication skills, listening skills, mediation skills, drafting, dealing with clients, and learning the ropes of the system
A chance to explore and make an informed choice are your specialisation and the kind of lawyer you would like to be
The ability to connect with the grassroots and inculcate social responsibility
To get a chance to work closely with practitioners and find your mentors

At National Law University, students go to district and high courts or corporate law firms. Do you think traditional law colleges will ever be able to compete by working on Rural Internship for Law?

The real learning from internships is agnostics of labels or higher forums. Key aspects of a good quality internship are being able to undertake more serious tasks during your stint like drafting, working closely with seniors to monitor their professional work, engaging in precise high-quality case research & analysis, and getting to go to Court regularly to monitor the progress of the case.

Theory and practical are two segments that need to be focused on equally. Though we have an ample amount of courses that work on the curriculum of theory only. Should all courses introduce some practical application to their theory courses?

They absolutely must because there is a sea of difference between what we study in the classroom and how these Statutes play out in the Act. Importantly for each subject it is essential to get drafting experience to understand the nuances of the Act in its entirety and actually ensure that your knowledge may be of ready use to the employer. Also, as many legal academicians may not have a practice background, it is a good idea for them to explore the opportunity to invite a legal professionals to co-teach courses especially procedural ones to expose students to the pragmatic nuances and give them exercises and assessments that are focused on knowledge and skill building for the professional world.

How is the adoption of technology changing things at Law Schools? What are the technologies that are presently in place at various institutions?

Technology is slowly penetrating Indian Law Schools. We see most of the future-looking law schools use advanced digital teaching tools to enhance learning. With the pandemic, we have witnessed an increased exposure of students to lectures from leading legal academicians and professionals owing to the robust use of platforms like Zoom. Competitions such as Moot Court Competitions, negotiation and mediation competitions have taken the virtual route- increasing access of students from all over to these competitions. Assessments, attendance, timetables, and access to lectures are now enabled digitally in forward-looking institutions.

Even the idea of the BCI introducing an aptitude test to place young lawyers in the chambers of senior lawyers is a welcome move as it will introduce more meritocracy in the system and give many students who are first-generation lawyers the chance to work with and learn from stalwarts of the profession.

President Droupadi Murmu addresses the IIT-Delhi’s diamond jubilee celebration

Higher Education

By

digitalLEARNING Network

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September 5, 2022

President Droupadi Murmu said that the multi-disciplinary approach of the IITs is well aligned with the new National Education Policy. These comments were made by her during the closing ceremony of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi).

“The IITs proved to the world the capability of India in the domains of education and technology. In more than one way, the story of the IITs is the story of Independent India. The IITs have contributed immensely to India’s improved standing on the global stage today,” she said.

“IITs have expanded outside their traditional strengths in science and engineering. They now offer qualitative programmes in humanities, social sciences, design, management and public policy. This multidisciplinary approach is well aligned with the new National Education Policy,” she said. President Murmu said that this multi-disciplinary approach of the IITs is well aligned with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

President Murmu highlighted how IIT Delhi is ‘encouraging research and innovation in a big way’, and the research and innovation park which was inaugurated on September 3 would give a boost to growth and innovation. The new research and innovation park aims to create an ecosystem in which students, faculty and industry would exchange ideas.Emphasising on the role the IITs have played in improving India’s standing at a global level, the President said that the nation expects the IITs to help them achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

IITians are leaders not just in the field of science and technology but also in the fields of education, industry, entrepreneurship, civil society, activism, journalism, literature, and politics.The President also hailed IIT-Delhi’s contributions during the pandemic, helping India overcome a public health crisis, and in the development of new IITs also such as IIT Ropar and IIT Jammu.

Edtech goes Hybrid: An innovative edge to the educational panorama

Interviews

By

Sheeba Chauhan, Senior Sub Editor

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September 5, 2022

The education sector has faced an ultimate challenge during the pandemic period and landed with its own solutions and methods like hybrid learning, and remote learning. Despite being a relentless journey, the outcome is revolutionary and gives an innovative edge to the educational panorama. To delve deeper into the current scenario in the educational landscape, Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network (ENN) had an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Chaturvedi, Vice President, AISECT Group. Edited excerpts:

After the pandemic, everyone is talking about edtech can replace classroom learning. What is your take on the same? Are there any positives that came along with edtech for classroom learning?

The pandemic has altered the ways of life we were used to. The entire scenario pushed people beyond their comfort zone and encouraged them to come become solution-oriented. Ed-tech as a sector saw unparalleled growth much before the pandemic, however, it was during the lockdown that people understood the true potential of e-learning. With blurred lines as to when the education will resume to its former state, schools and colleges made online learning a way of life for students.

There is no scope for ed-tech to replace classroom learning in totality, a hybrid model is a way forward. The pandemic has made it seamless for online learning and classroom learning to co-exist in a way that provides the best of both worlds for students. Edtech players like Byjus & AISECT Learn are doing the same by integrating self-paced online learning with center-based faculty-based classes.

As we have witnessed the main language that is used for learning in edtech is English. What is the scope of edtech courses being available in different languages and not being restricted to only one language?

With rapid innovation in ed-tech, the language barrier, in my opinion, is the least of the concerns. Regional content has seen a meteoric rise in the past few years, which is making education inclusive.

Due to the vast regional diversity present in India, ed-tech has taken a different approach as compared to the west. There is no dearth of content available in different languages, dialects and even scripts. With languages and dialects changing every few meters in India, the challenge is to provide personalised content. As far as regional content is concerned, I feel we are on the right track and there is immense scope for growth and innovation in the years to come.

There are many players like Learnvern and AISECT Learn, which offers courses in Hindi and other regional languages apart from English.

Edtech has been making headlines for instant firing from jobs. Do you think this should be the case for traditional institutes as well if the faculty or staff isn’t performing well?

More, than ed-tech, this is a pattern witnessed with most startups. This cannot be categorized specifically to ed-tech. Traditional institutes have teachers and instructors who have been loyal employees for years and they are fueled by their passion to teach. Hiring and firing is a highly subjective topic and it has to be assessed based on individual performance. Moreover, we believe that faculty should be periodically trained and upskilled so they are aligned to the current landscape.

Covid has forced ten years of digital technology into a month. Do you think the speedup of the process will lead to better results?

COVID accelerated innovation in a manner that could not have been imagined in years. With the ambiguity and fear of the unknown, people did not have a choice but to make the most of the situation to stay afloat and changed the way people look at life in general. It is safe to say it has impacted every arena of life, not just digital transformation. As for digital transformation, is concerned, COVID has been a major catalyst for innovation and fast-paced growth of the sector as well.

There are MOOCS (Massive open online courses) from platforms like Udemy or Coursera. Faculty or Staff is fearing that this transformation will ultimately replace them. What is your take on the same?

The biggest advantage of MOOCS is that they are a powerhouse of access. They complement traditional education but will not be able to replace that system altogether. Players like Udemy, Coursera & AISECT-MOOCs have played a pivotal role in making education accessible to a pool of students who do not have access to the traditional learning ecosystem, having said that, it has not impacted our traditional education system. On the contrary, it has been the biggest enabler to continue to support imparting education to the remotest parts of the country in case of students not being able to attend physical classes.

Technology as the harbinger of global connectedness – A revolution in education spectrum

Interviews

By

Sheeba Chauhan, Senior Sub Editor

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September 5, 2022

Educators are an imminent part of the landscape that built the foundation of students.With the development of technology aspects to the educational ecosystem, the faculty is also pushed to adapt to the new normal of education. Well, everyone is doing so with utmost credibility and acceptance. To know more about the same, Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network (ENN) interacted with Venu Gopal, Principal, MIT Pune’s Vishwashanti Gurukul to put the challenges and opportunities forward from their vision and how an educator looks forward to these changes. Edited excerpts:

Being associated with the education sector for such a long time is bliss in itself. How has been your journey? Please elaborate.

I am blessed to be associated with a field that holds the power to transform societies, nations, and the world. Association with the education sector is indeed blissful – intellectually, emotionally, socially, psychologically, and spiritually. My journey as an educator and now as an education administrator has been filled with moments of delight as I saw my students do well academically, with moments of pride when my students brought a positive impact to society, and now when my teachers win accolades for our school through their work. My admissions, marketing, and HR teams similarly awe me with their dedication. As their leader, I hope to have played my role in formulating processes, procedures, vision, and pathways that have led to benefiting everyone.

Your academic journey has been closely related to Mathematics & Statistics. Do you think the emergence of technology into the education landscape can bring easy aid to such complex subjects?

Technology is the harbinger of global connectedness, and it has revolutionised the field of education as never before. The power of technology to make education accessible to students in the remotest parts of the world; and to make the process of teaching and learning interactive and fun is unquestionable. The remarkable shift in thinking from the local to the global can be attributed to technology.

Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has institutionalised the applications of digital technologies in education exponentially, which has made a paradigm shift in the entire education system; with technology as a co-creator of information, a mentor, and an assessor. Technology has also facilitated school connections, buddy programmes and virtual competitions, internships, and collaborative opportunities among global institutions.

You are presently associated with an institution that is right at the “Centre of Excellence in the field of Education and Research”. What are your thoughts on the evolving education ecosystem with the technological push?

Ed-tech seamlessly bridges the gap between educators and students with its ability to go beyond geographical barriers. Technology is also enabling innovation, commercialization, and enterprise, which are the need of the hour.

At MIT Gurukul, being an IB School, technological innovations are arguably necessary, simply because of the nature of the said education program. Globalisation and student-centric educational pedagogy are central to it, and inclusivity and inter connectivity are the cornerstones of our tech-enabled educational approach. We at MIT Gurukul have the inherent intent of shaping the individual as a whole, and many can attest to its inimitable benefits. The level of education the students receive is unmatched and has been made world-class with technology amalgamation.

You have more than a decade of experience in teaching the CIE/IB curriculum. What could be the salient features and advantages of the IB Board in comparison to others?

From among the many national, international, and state boards, IB is certainly one of the most comprehensive, rigorous, and all-inclusive programmes that offer holistic education for the students.

The programme lays emphasis not only on academics, but also on sports and extracurricular activities, necessary life skills, and social values so that the students grow to become responsible global citizens. The IB programme makes the students future-ready by preparing them for higher education while instilling in them skill development for jobs so that they can compete with the outside world.

Being a CIE/IB teacher I also gained high-quality professional development training that encouraged my critical thinking, and self-reflection and provided me with diverse education frameworks, unit planners, teaching resources, and evaluation tools.

Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education and Research (MAEER) strongly believes in the virtues of the Guru-Shishya Parampara. In the fast-paced world of Machine Learning/AI, what are the possible challenges you face to equip the students with instructional technology in the Gurukul ecosystem?

MIT Gurukul features a modern learning process along with maintaining the Indian ethos. We believe that technology is integral to learning new methods that bring out the full potential of the child. Yet we uphold the Guru-Shishya Parampara at the core of our education where teachers enable and support students as they develop the approaches to learning they need – for both academic and personal success. The curriculum is designed in ways that enable teachers to invoke an interest in students’ learning.

Teaching and learning at MIT Gurukul celebrates the ways people work together to construct meaning and make sense of the world. We firmly believe that education empowers students for a lifetime of learning and independent decision-making.

Swaying the educational paradigm with nano learning

Article

By

Sheeba Chauhan, Senior Sub Editor

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September 5, 2022

With technological advancements, experiential learning is becoming the new norm in education. Facilitating conceptual insights and practical experience at learners’ own convenience, the simple yet effective nano learning model is swiftly taking over the innovative trend. Micro lessons and micro sessions, commonly referred to as nano learning, are videos containing multimedia-rich material, which explains complex ideas through interesting bytes, leading the next wave of learning in the education sector. Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network (ENN) explores the future of the novel method in the e-learning landscape.

From the era of gurukuls to landing on google for everything, the education ecosystem has witnessed a phenomenal transformation. In today’s fast-paced and evolving digital era, learning and teaching are embracing innovation to stay competitive & relevant.

The Covid-19 pandemic has further instigated and fastened the adoption of tech-driven innovation in the education system. It would not be hyperbolic to say that the pandemic has pushed us ten years ahead when it comes to technology adoption.

Though digital technologies existed earlier, they emerged more significant and effective during the pandemic, speeding up the adoption of innovation trends in the education sector. The significance of digital technologies has been amplified by the widespread use of various online learning methods like hybrid learning, blended learning, virtual learning, and obviously, the elephant in the room, nano learning.

Though the digital shift in education is revolutionising the learning process, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle with focussing on the screen for long periods of time. According to recent research by Microsoft, the human attention span has dropped to eight seconds – that is a shrink of about 25 per cent in just a few years.

Offering an effective alternative to traditional lessons, nano learning is emerging as the future of learning for the interesting methodology and flexibility that it offers. It is scouting over long monotonous videos, keeping online classes crisp, engaging and interactive.

It imparts highly-focused knowledge to the learners through multimedia tools. For the people who continuously crave more valuable content in a short time, nano learning is the best possible solution for them. It is valuable, efficient, and most importantly, significant for retention of content as you are not overloading yourself with feckless content.

Ever wondered why Twitter is still acing the game of social media? Well, it is delivering the most updated information, that too with credibility and in nuggets size punches. Nano learning is “Twitter” for e-learning. For instance, if you want to learn to create pivot tables or calculate the sum of rows, by applying a formula to a column in excel, you will get it all in minutes. This learning method is proven to be most effective due to its short duration and more worthy content. According to a study conducted by the Dresden University of Technology, short form of content drives 20 per cent more retention of information than the long form of content.

Bridging the learning gap with nano learning

Fortunately, teachers are more accustomed to using technology in remote learning and are more skilled with the tools that can enable youngsters to catch up. By giving students the chance to engage in nano learning, which is essentially condensed learning in an entertaining style, teachers can help students adapt quickly.

The pandemic was the time when educators started to adapt to this remote learning or online learning process. Technology has been a game changer for many sectors and it has indeed made a whirl in the education sector too. Nano learning is only possible because we have easy access to technology today and the various gadgets like smartphones, laptops, etc, that are making it handy to leverage tech-led innovation. Today, a three-year-old kid is also watching YouTube,but if we look some 15 years back, nobody would have envisioned this.

Nano learning is here to stay and it will make an impact all over the world. The only key rule is that educators have to effectively deliver content that is crisp, short, to the point, and easy to understand.

A few aspects of nano learning that are pertinently making their existence to create noise in the e-learning environment are:

Short bits of content: The ideal reading time for content is two minutes, but it must be brief enough to be consumed in five minutes or less. According to research, our working memory, which is where we process information, is very little. Giving students too much information at once can confuse them and make it difficult for them to learn the material. It’s crucial to keep the amount of input brief, whether it’s a lecture, a video, or a brief text. Even educational activities, such as playing a quick math video for the class and then having them do a few tasks, should be kept to a minimum.

Ample amount of examples: No matter the subject—math, physics, reading, writing—teachers must provide specific examples or explain a solution for nano learning to be successful. According to research, students require cognitive assistance to study. As a result, students can concentrate on each step when teachers illustrate how to solve a problem, which lowers the cognitive burden.

Measurable learning objectives: There should be no more than three measurable learning objectives included in the content, and at least one assessment method. When describing what you want your students to be able to do by the end of the lesson or unit, utilise action verbs. When you have defined measurable objectives from the beginning, it is considerably simpler to align assessments with course expectations.

Impact on Content & Assessments

Nano learning can’t be a replacement for comprehensive programs, still, it is an effective method to gain and keep yourself up to date with the enormous knowledge that is available. Educators have tried to make nano learning useful for comprehensive courses by creating short nano learning courses. These courses will be for 5-30 days but will stick to the base concept of delivering more in less time. It will be an amalgamation of images/GIFs, questions, videos, feedback, and responses to make it as efficacious as possible.

The content that is on various platforms has taken another leap because of the competitive edge that comes after the eruption of e-learning. The very fact, today, is that you have to deliver more in less time, and if you manage to deliver that with rich content that is worthwhile, you are the game changer. Hence, it’s not about making a long bundle of notes or working on some lengthy assignments that will take your entire month, it is about the smartness to stay integrated into the changing landscape.

Similar is the case with assessments. Today, we have Flipgrid, Edpuzzle, Mentimeter, Google forms, and many other options that don’t need much of teachers’ time to assess the students. It is more of a self-assessment than the traditional teachers assessing the students.

Catching up on ISTE standards

Nano learning is the real method which is provoking true learning. The various techniques used are transforming students from the process of learning from exams or academics to learning while having fun and retaining the same for a longer time. According to the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE), nano learning is addressing quite a few objectives of ISTE, be it empowered learners, digital citizens, innovative designers, knowledge constructors, creative communicators, and more. A thorough roadmap for the efficient use of technology in classrooms around the world is provided by the ISTE Standards, which offer the competencies for learning, teaching, and leading in the digital era. It is witnessed that the world has been constantly transforming with the changing time and it was the same for educators, administrators, and students too. They have changed themselves with the recent standards, adapting to the latest technologies, researched-based learning, practical learning, and more. Now is the time that the world should also adopt this utilitarian method of learning. It is effective, appropriate, customisable, and allows students to communicate creatively while learning in the most impeccable way

Is nano learning the way forward?

It is indeed a revolution for the education industry but at the same time, it is clear that it can never take the place of comprehensive education. It has been able to carve its own niche in the landscape but there is a long way to go. It is transforming the traditional education system and refurbishing innovation, efficiency and quality content. Nano learning supports lightning-fast learning, giving an upper hand for learning with higher adoption rates. The road for this learning method is indeed full of bright opportunities. To create an ecosystem for this, we need educators to be tech-savvy ‘content curators’. Though it is not very much recommended for andragogy right now, researchers are working towards making it more worthy for them also, by creating engaging & inclusive content.

There is no denying that technology has made life simpler and easier for us, but some of us have never fully believed in technical advancements. Prove that to the elder generation, and they’ll regale you with a fascinating story about the doubters who questioned the digital medium’s viability. They characterised it as a bubble that would eventually burst, but digitisation has already happened and has flourished citizens with its pros & cons.

Likewise, with nano learning, it is a fresh idea that is starting to take off. Learners have already experienced the advantages of text message courses, which are easily created, effective, and accessible. According to experts, nano learning is here to stay, given the futuristic trends and the overwhelmingly positive reception it is currently experiencing.

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