According to a study by the HP India on Future of Learning (2022), around 89% of parents, 85% of teachers and around 68% of the students prefer to continue the use of online learning as the supplement of traditional learning methods.
By Amit Kapoor
Do not limit children to your own learning… for they were born in another time. —Rabindranath Tagore
The quote is true for every generation. My parents didn’t relate to my style of learning when I was growing up. Today, I’m catching up with the learning style of my own son, that’s tough. And this shall continue forever. The form and factor are contextual. And this context is with the given circumstance which is very different from earlier. That’s evolution, I guess.
The ‘boomers’ and ‘gen-x’ (generation born before 1980) had limited choices and exposure. At best 2 sports to follow, 2 places to go, 2 ways of looking at things – ‘black’ or ‘white’, 2 ways of learning – ‘books’ or ‘teachers’. Pretty much 2-dimensional life. The ‘millennials’ and ‘gen-z’ (born between 1981 and 2012) had a huge departure from the previous generations in every form. They truly enjoyed and lived the multi-dimensional life. And then the ‘gen-alpha’ happened (generation born after 2012). They are the digital first generation and are capable enough of customising a dimension for themselves. And the likes of ‘metaverse’ is fuelling it.
This transition has happened at an unprecedented pace and the only thing lagging this growth is our ability to manage it. This managing requires rewiring in each one of us and education and learning has a huge role to play in this. But then, the same play book of education and learning is insufficient. It requires a re-haul of the approach. And it requires clear roles of key stakeholders to perform for a larger impact. The physical school and the textbooks have an irreplaceable role, however, this needs to be enabled with technology for it to render relevance and relatability with the new generation. Our Teachers and Parents have played a key role in the lives of the learner. Now the same teachers and the parents need to adopt to the new normal of handling the 21st Century Learning skills. Every student is unique; hence the learning abilities are unique. Therefore, the traditional learning aids need to be upgraded with technology which reads the data points of each student and personalises learning solutions.
Thankfully, NEP 2020 has recognised it and put in motion a framework which expects outcome from boards, school principals, teachers, parents, publishers and has a clear role defined for ed-tech companies as well. With the changes articulated in the NEP 2020, the true demographic dividend of the future can be ensured. India has around 230 million students enrolled in 1.4 million schools in the K–12 segment. Unlike the recent pandemic, no calamity in future should be strong enough to disrupt the learning continuum for our students.
The disconnected gears in the education environment today aggravated the pain in the recent pandemic. With this in perspective, the role for the ed-tech is clearly carved out. The EdTech companies will add value while delivering the following in the Indian education ecosystem.
Curriculum and pedagogy in Schools – this requires a three-dimensional approach. (a) the updated curriculum and pedagogy need to transcend both at school and at home for seamless and integrated learning. Hence bundle aids to strengthen subject wise learning outcomes, for e.g. virtual labs for core subjects of math, science and language. (b) offer an engaging UI and UX for end users – teachers and students. (c) introduce learning solutions which are flexible, multi-faceted, multi-level, play-based, activity-based, and inquiry-based learning. This promotes experiential learning and competency-based learning and education.
Transform assessments for student development. AI-based software to be used by students to help track their growth based on learning data and interactive questionnaires. Enable the student progress card which will be a holistic, 360-degree, multidimensional report that reflects in detail the progress as well as the uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.
Enable an environment at schools to download a printable version of all textbooks provided by all States/UTs and NCERT to help conserve the environment and reduce the logistical burden. Deploy online apps with quizzes, competitions, assessments, enrichment materials, and online communities for shared for student.
Offer continuous professional development (CPD) platform for teachers for regular updation of their skill set.
Help evolve efficient resourcing and effective governance through school complexes/ clusters.
In the last 2 years, there has been a massive adoption of online learning – obviously out of necessity – however, this was the need always. While the supply of bandwidth is available, the supply chain around consumption of this bandwidth is insufficient still, leading to only a partial population residing in the metros and urban India benefitting from online learning today. And while the ‘bharat’ is showing a massive growth in data consumption, the device penetration per capita is still limited, stumping the online learning potential. Out of the total number of schools, only a portion of them have provided online classes, trained teachers, and helped them with online teaching materials, while others continue to struggle for multiple reasons.
According to a recent study conducted by the HP India on Future of Learning (2022), most of the participants suggested that hybrid learning is here to stay. The study, which covered 13 cities in India, including tier II and tier III cities, stated that around 89% of parents, 85% of teachers and around 68% of the students prefer to continue the use of online learning as the supplement of traditional learning methods in the post-pandemic world. This is good news for the ed-tech companies to work towards making the technology stronger and source the best content from around the world and cater to Indian schools.
Even when the schools open across India, a unified platform from ed-tech companies can enable complete school management system for schools including – content management system (CMS), learning management system (LMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). In the hybrid world as well, this will go a long way in not just tracking the school’s business, however, managing learning and assessments in an easy manner possible. Such a system helps educators better understand their students, allowing them to create tailored sessions, lessons, exams, and content.
To summarise, gen-alpha is better placed to acclimatise to new-age learning. The educators and parents will have to put extra effort and adopt various techniques to gain/ maintain students’ concentration levels. To borrow from António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, “the future of education is here. We must take bold steps now, to create inclusive, resilient, quality education systems fit for the future.”
The author is co-founder, Eupheus Learning.
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