The year 2020 ushered in disrupting all aspects of normal life and the major jolt was mostly suffered by the education sector globally. The indefinite closure of schools, colleges and universities has created a learning vacuum for students, but the crisis has been handled well, resulting in a tectonic shift in our education system from offline to online education. line. During this unprecedented time, teachers, parents and teachers have made the world’s largest pivot from face-to-face learning to online classrooms. So, in an effort to ensure continuity, online education has become the new norm.
There has been a significant and ongoing debate that online learning is not as effective as face-to-face learning and that online education has created a digital divide in society. Technology is an extremely important tool for educators that can help affirm and advance relationships between educators and students. Everyone had witnessed that the transition to online education at the beginning of 2020 had to be done urgently and educational institutions around the world came up with innovative ideas and showed the world incredible work in rethinking learning with a combination of online education and offline teaching to keep students engaged. The main motive was to give the best to the students and for this specially designed e-learning modules were added which gave new dimensions to the learning of the students.
Government of India is promoting several e-learning projects under the national mission on education through ICT initiatives such as Swayam, Swayam-Prabha, National Digital Library, e-Yantra, Virtual Lab which help students and teachers to improve. as well as providing quality resources. On the other hand, these efforts lead to the creation of knowledge tools that encourage creativity and innovation among the younger generation. The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 proposes an overhaul of the existing education system and the integration of technology to enhance teaching learning is an important aspect.
As the Digital India campaign is helping to transform the entire nation into a digital society, we need an army of tech-savvy youngsters with emphasis on critical thinking, creativity and better conceptual understanding to encourage students to become motivated learners. By fusing digital, human and human skills, the new reality prepares students for the future. Online education is considered the best option, but in a country as diverse as India, delivering technology-driven education cannot cater to all sections of society. Online learning has its challenges – unequal access to devices and internet connection, insufficient space at home to do online teaching and teachers lacking training to deliver online lessons, insufficient personalized online content and health impact of continued online exposure.
These realities must be recognized and the risks of moving education online must be accepted. Students from wealthier households have better access to the internet and computers and are more digitally literate. At the same time, we must accept the fact that education is not about technology but also about learning, interaction and the development of soft skills and social capital that only schools can provide through technology. in-person teaching. A teacher in a class exerts a great influence on the students, although it is supposed to impart the teaching in the same way to all the students and each student can imbibe and come out differently. In-person instruction under a strict school regimen also instills discipline and regularity in each child that a home cannot. In technology-mediated learning, the pace of learning is not determined by the teacher, and in face-to-face instruction, the teacher not only takes on the role of facilitator, but can also provide great support to students. marginalized learners.
In India, we have to accept the fact that online education is not a magic bullet for everyone. A mix of offline and online education should be the way of the future. Our young people have immense caliber to strive for excellence and they can certainly build a strong and empowered India by embracing the role of technology in shaping education – the Future Vistas.
(Author Mala Sood is Principal of Arvind Gupta DAV Centenary Public School, Model Town. Opinions expressed here are personal.)
(7).JPG)
