Opinion
Evolution of Learning Environments – How Educationists would build Indian School of Future Part 13
Read on for amazing insights into the vision of building the school of the future…
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We were keen to feature views of School Leaders and Educators on 'The Evolution of Learning Environments: Building the Indian School of the Future'. The excitement was palpable. Educationists across the country were preparing to gather at the ScooNews EdBrainstorm with Professor Sugata Mitra on April 2 in Mumbai. In preparation for this exercise to discuss the building the Indian School of the Future, ScooNews invited key delegates at the EdBrainstorm to share their vision on the Evolution of Learning Environments. The result was a smorgasbord of ideas and beliefs, a melange of thoughts and concepts, lively agreements and livelier arguments!
The complete story featured in our April 2018 issue, we are reproducing this online as a series of articles to make it comfortable and easier for our online readers, read the 13th episode for some more amazing insights into the vision of building the school of the future…
A school system which is more focussed on skills than information
What my brother studied in 1995, I studied the same in 2002, and I see my students studying nearly the same in 2018! Unfortunately, the assessment and reporting to is still the same. That speaks about where we are in the fast-changing world.
The school system needs to quickly come off its assembly line system to become effective and relevant to the changing needs of the industry, society and the world. There is a huge shortage of good teachers, learning levels across grades haven't shown significant improvements and there is high unemployment rate amongst the graduates. It is indeed time to critically look at our problems and design a school system which is more focussed on skills than knowledge and information.
Let's look at some features, system, and processes of the future schools of India.
Technology-driven learning and assessments: The future schools will have technology at their core. Technology is a great enabler and a leveller. With the presence of digital content providers, personalized learning apps (free and paid) the access to curriculum knowledge has become easy. Thanks to YouTube, it is quite frequently observed that, in topics which are interesting for students, by the end of the topic students have more knowledge than the teachers. The availability of content ensures that all students can have the same access to high-quality curriculum, irrespective of the location and quality of teachers. Besides that in case of doubts, they replay the video again.
Once the concept has been learned, students will take an assessment, which will help them find their areas of difficulty and put them on the self-learning path, till they gain mastery. With technology, students become responsible for their lifelong learning.
The Role of Teacher: In a technology-driven classroom the teachers assumes the role of facilitator (mentor) as all the students are in self-learning mode. In a big size class which is the norm across schools, a teacher could never become a facilitator, but technology would ensure that teachers transit into this role with ease. The classroom curriculum would be run based on themes and project-based learning. The teacher would be creating the right environment, give the right experience, make learning hands-on and relevant to real life, guide students based on their teaching-learning reports, drive discussions and idea formation in the class. Through this, the teacher would be driving the skill and attitude development of students. Viz: teamwork, co-operation, thinking skills, communication skills, and other skills (Observation, experimentation, analysis, hypothesis testing etc.)
Learning in Action: The whole purpose of education is to take right actions. The future schools would be action-oriented and hubs for innovations. We would be seeing schools which are green and self-reliant. They will be powered by green energy created by students, students would be creating and preserving the local ecology on the campus, water would be harvested and recycled. The schools would be run in democratic set-up led by students (social science in action). Through arts (visual-performing) awareness on critical issues would be created. These schools would function like a ‘model village’.
End result: We will have people in the system who are self-learners and can adapt to the changing scenarios, have the skills to succeed and contribute to the economy, enjoy healthy personal and social life, make meaningful contributions to society and make the world a better place to live in.
Ain't that what education is for!
About the author:
Vaibhav Shukla is Head of School – Vidyamangal School, Surat.
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