This is a post by Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra, Vice President (Academic Training/ School Audits) Next Education India Pvt Ltd.
A Teacher, who is now a facilitator in this generation, encapsulates a new order of delivery with extension of a knowledge society and not a content delivery or an interpretation of book knowledge in real life. The innovation is the ultimate to generate interest of learning for the kids today. It mounts a lot of energy and thoughts to be an innovative educator who is of certain requisite to deliver the knowledge to the cyber society of today.
The mantra is Engage Me or Enrage Me, from the side of the students at large.
As a matter of fact it is true to the world that the teachers are no longer the sole imparters of knowledge but they need to empower the students to learn at pace and at their leisure through personal learning networks keeping their special traits of talents and interests. The teachers just don’t end up after the class is over but on the jolt for 24 hours around the cyber linkage or social networks further. There is no wall now or the boundary of learning. The innovative educator has to evolve a personal learning network for his or her improvement first. Not only this, it has to reach to the students as well where in there is no boundary of limitation in a big way. It is a way to build ones’ own classroom and one’s own network of learning. The change or the shift here is that we can connect around and share ideas which is not so in the one to many mode of classroom learning.
The fact lies in the teacher being an innovator of traits and essence to explore the attention in the classroom. The priority of taking Education and technology as a means to go together and it laminates with the questions in our minds viz. Should we do more, less? What about virtual schools? Interactive white boards? Smartphones? Facebook and Twitter? Should kids be using internet? Should kids choose what they learn on internet? are legitimate conversations, and each person has to make these kinds of decisions based on their own comfort levels and according to the needs of the individual student.
The 21st century innovative learning is not limited to a physical space but an open learning scenario with preface to one’s comfort at his reading home at home or a TV room at large. It is very much unlike the classroom learning with a same group all days, all the time. Here the community is different and the learning is more spectacular further. Here the teacher concerned is the one who has to be engaged and involved in the conversations as a leader or a facilitator further.
The priority for the educators, policy makers and the private sector is the need to strive together and make India a global super power by 2020.
As per the demands and researches, the challenge is to create an integrated education system that:
- Provides access to quality education that is practical, relevant, customized and effective.
- Can adopt tech-based innovative ways to provide faster expansion of opportunities of education to all.
- Looks for bridging the gap between education and employability.
- Promotes social equality/economic viability.
It is evident that one policy is not going to help all. The need of the hour is to have specific policies for various levels and areas of education, and also specific to various regions.
As an academician, I do feel that ”Everyone is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” as do one of the inventors of past years.
