"When the student is ready, the teacher arrives"
Google has been that teacher for me whenever the student in me is ready. It has been my best friend, mentor, guide, and many more in the last 15 years and has taught me most of what I know today. Does that make me a big fan of the online education system? Maybe, not entirely.
In my view, online, learning is ideal for adults who want to augment a new skill, for job seekers to clear that last mile employability hurdles or those who are looking for a certificate of merit. Proficiency in a subject alone does not make you a capable person. You can never replace the overall personality development basics inculcated by the formal education system. Most of the top companies across the globe are led by Indians. They did not learn online to get to where they are. I believe that a complete online system can and should never replace the traditional system. Of course, that does not take away the need to upgrade the current education system.
Also read: Artificial Intelligence or Natural Stupidity
Less than 30% of Indians have access to online and less than 15% have a computing device at home. So we are a long way away from online education. However, from a business point of view, this is the industry to be in for the following reasons.
- Survey statistics might say that only 15% of Indian students have a smartphone or a device. But a tiny percentage in India is still more than the entire student population of many countries. So this will become one of the fastest-growing industries in India for sure.
- With the present governments focus on Digital India and several initiatives launched to promote online education programs, we will see growth.
- Gamification is the key to this model. Especially for the kids. Byju's of the world are getting better at it and that explains their popularity.
- The cost of traditional education is still very high for many. Online can be an affordable solution if accessibility issues are addressed.
- India does not have many teachers. Our student-teacher ratio is really bad. So we need this model.
The online education system will learn, adapt, improve, and play a major role in the future. Technology will advance and technology is a good friend of this model. Kids of today, naturally gravitate towards gadgets so they will fit in well into this model as well. However, the diploma alone will not help tackle the many curveballs that life would throw at us. Education will. And education is not just about getting a diploma or graduation.
Real-world challenges are never a straight line graph solved by plotting the curve. It's about braving the adversity, taking one on the chin for your team, about having the data but looking outside of it for the solution.
New need not be the enemy of the Old. The generations thus far, haven't done too bad with the traditional systems. I hope we continue the traditional systems and augment it with the online education system to produce a better generation.
Online studies can make a person highly literate but best education is comes only at Guru's feet. Quoting a translation from sanskrit subhashitam. 0.25 education obtained from teacher, 0.25 from peers, 0.25 from study and another 0.25 from life experience. So nuances can be learnt through gurumukhe. Online study may be good for certification improvement of CV.
ReplyDeleteNicely articulated.
ReplyDeleteOn line in one line, a short term solution. In the long run people to people skill makes the world. On line only makes zombies. On line students will only burn out their eye sight and loose motor skills. A school is a mix of everything for wholesome development. As you said it could be best for last mile connectivity.
ReplyDeleteGood One Bhaskar, online study has become the most sought after in todays world, Nice to hear your thoughts on this.
ReplyDeleteMy view is that less is more.
ReplyDeleteLets turn the clock back....The gurukula system of the yore had a small set of students with a wise teacher, for a captive period of time, that helped the Vidyarthi, learn, discuss, debate, unlearn, relearn and apply in his chosen trade. Practice the preached topic, help put the learning to practical value. The system repeated with his new born.
Fast forward to today, where one wants the whole gamut of knowledge with minimum effort (Google has made us all lazy to research, learn, discuss and debate). The new acronym is FOMO. This has left us all with well read , yet less informed people, with minimal practical capability to do what they are tasked to do.
Educational system seems to be more oriented to the fees and earnings, than to actually imparting real knowledge with practical usage. Online and the like are only a new channel for the ones who can afford it and have the inclination to learn, else, like the Chinese proverb, is like a book closed being a bunch of pages.
How do we integrate all channels-Classroom, teacher-student low ratios, Developing Logical-Cognitive, Intuitive, Aware pupils: Through online for 10x extensions of reaching where teachers can't or won't go; but having hungry students, Global mentor-mentee relationships, coaches and coached outside of the alma-mater, entrepreneurial advisors, debating forums, Vocational/practical hands-on learning/Shadowing, soft skills development, psychology and learning to use the tools, economics of practical usage to the young learners....This is the key.
VUCA and its handling needs to be given to young kids, to deal with any and every Vulnerability, Uncertainty, Complexities and Ambiguities; the curved balls of life that gets thrown at every turn of life.
We don't want to create industrial robots. We want intelligent and well learned children, who can create value in the society.
I started by saying less is more. Dwell on it.
Wonderful Blog. No mode of learning is superior to another. Online and traditional method of learning can complement one another but never replace.
ReplyDeleteBeing a 90s person I agree with the meme. Shout out to people who learned without internet :)
Kudos to you !!