The Changing Face of Education
It’s been almost two years since I’ve been out of college (experiences), and more than two years since I’ve actually sat in classes listening to lectures. What gives? No I wasn’t the spoilt college kid, who roamed around corridors, sat in the cafeteria watching people pass by! If anything my college life was a brilliant experience of learning something new everyday, and that has become a habit that continues to this date.
It is just that as a part of the early adopter culture, I skipped a few of the traditional ways of doing things back in college.
Education has for a very long time, been always about teacher/student relationship. In 2010 when I was in my final year, many places across India the way the knowledge was imparted to Students remained fairly the same as it was in the 1980’s. Yes! The invention of computers has impacted the world of technology. So much, that in 30 years the face of technology has changed to the extent that today no longer resembles what it was in the early 80’s.
But how much of this rapidly changing technology has transformed the way Teachers teach Students? Not much I’d say. Or rather not much, not yet! And the reason is simply because till date there were no tools by which students could experience complete interactivity while learning. All of that is about to change in the next 10 years. When we look back in 2020, our kids are gonna come back to us and say “You went to a school, sat in a class to learn things?”. Classroom teaching as we know may no longer exist by the time we get there.
Apple with the iPad, and iBooks is fulfilling that vision. But it is going to take more than Apple, to change the face of education as it exists today. People today fail to realize that Technology has the potential to change the face of education. Today in India internet is slowly starting to be an ubiquitous commodity. India in the past has always been a generation behind our western friends. I think this time we have a major opportunity to jump ahead, and unleash in a new era of education.
Projects like the Aakash tablet is not the answer. It really is the baby steps for us to get there. Indian Government should not be looking at low cost solutions, but should rather be looking at highly functional solutions. The way the markets work, falling price is just a question of when, and not if.
Growing up as a kid, my parents always aspired to have me study at the IITs. I never fulfilled that dream for them. And there are scores of Indians who every year fail to realize this dream. But should high quality education be restricted to the elite few of the IITs and MITs of the World? I don’t think so. Education should never be the comfort of a elite few.
The world has a limited number of inspiring and brilliant teachers. For Humanity to progress, every aspiring student should be able to connect to these teachers. I think Technology will bridge that gap in the coming years. Today Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseware are sowing the seeds for what will be a brighter future for tomorrow’s generation.
The Day is not very far off, when quality education and information is not very far off from the reach of every individual on this planet. Technology will fast blur the lines, between who can and who can’t access knowledge.
If you are in your twenties today, your kids will grow up to an entirely new system of education. As parents you need to step up to the new rules of the game!
P.S : Thanks to Divya for inspiring me to write something!
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