Teaching goes digital

Kochi: New modes of teaching are fast emerging and are assuming significance, said T.P.Sasikumar, Director of Academic Staff College, Kozhikode. At a discourse held in the city recently, he discussed the merits and demerits of various systems of teaching focusing on the importance of a digital path.

The learners and the teachers have their own styles. The teachers and the students identify the styles themselves. The quiz, test, feedback and the discussion in the class can help analyse the knowledge of styles.

The wrong answers need no be analyzed to understand why the student makes a mistake. The reason for the wrong answer could be confusion. This means that the teacher who taught the student or the text, which, he had studied, led to the confusion.

A software-based analysis supports this. The answer also gives a clue to the teaching style of the teacher, he said.

In the traditional method of teaching, the students do not have the option to select the teaching style according to their aptitude. As a result, they scores less marks in the examinations. The learning is incomplete as the teaching style is unacceptable to the learner, Mr.Sasikumar explained. “Assume that the learner can select the teacher of his choice in the style he likes, and then he will have cent per cent learning possibility.”

This is not possible where the traditional methods of teaching are concerned. Today, a buffet style of teaching is possible on the web site, he said. Web-based tuition across the globs has been using this technique. The students select the teachers of their choice. The students listen to one teacher and if they are dissatisfied with the teacher, they search for an other teacher.

To learn the same concept the student may approach multiple teachers. The system that will be developed for adaptive learning will have different methods in teaching the same concept. Thus, the learners will have multiple paths for learning. The system will direct the student to the appropriate learning style.

The student can learn the lesions slowly or wrap up the portions quickly. “There is no good or bad student. Only the path and time are different,” he said

The teaching process in the digital mode ends only when the student learns the concept and develops the skill to use it. Classrooms can be made more effective with the aid of animations, video, sound and recorded information. An advantage of the electronic method is that the student can repeat the class at his or her will. The lesson can be fast-forwarded or replayed. It facilitates time management.

The assignments, quiz and the feed back can be used to develop the teaching material or improve the teaching aids, Mr.Sasikumar added.

Teaching goes digital