WHY ONLINE LEARNING IS AN EMERGING NEED IN EDUCATION?

I had been a teacher and I continue to be. I have been somewhat passionate about what I used to do and I continue to be. This has given me a conviction that the teacher has a role to play in the classroom and he can never be replaced. Convinced as I am that the teacher cannot be replaced, I am equally convinced that the role of the teacher is fast changing and if they are not sensitive enough to be a part of such changes, the ailing classrooms will shift gratification of their needs to other portals of engagement. That is exactly where the technology steps in to bridge gaps wherever they are and also to provide scaffolding roles to the classrooms. In his book “Bridgital Nation”, the author sh. N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata sons, observes “Technology alone does not solve difficult problems. But when technology is applied in context with reimagined purposes, the results can be magical.” This magic can happen in education sector also.

Technology is no more a guest to our schools. It is a part of our organizational structure that facilitates, resources, manages and delivers our intents. It is not going to be just an information- management system, but will be a pedagogical tool for improving our educational content, its spectrum of pedagogy, and our methods of objective assessment. Over the years it had taken several Avatars to make its impact in classrooms in the form of : Tele-classrooms, Computer-Aided-Learning (CAL), Computer-Based Learning (CBL), e-learning, Web-based learning, Remote learning, Satellite supported classrooms (edusat), Virtual learning and the like, with each of them emerging to cater to a specified audience, purpose or a strategy. On-line learning, therefore, has come to stay. It is entirely up to us how effectively and how quickly we use the portals of technology to make learning efficient, effective, purposeful, stress-free and self-motivating. There need be no fear that online learning would make formal education an outlaw. Says Peter Dickson, the author of the book “The Future of (almost) everything”: “Despite the growth of informal online education, most people will spend even more time in formal education by 2030.”

The following are the expected pathways through which technology may make its inroads into the portals of education:

1.     Online learning for scaffolding the teacher

Essentially, online learning is a supplement to formal learning at the school level; at higher pedestals of learning it could be considered as a tool of distance learning. The role of technology, therefore, is to facilitate the teacher for reaching out concepts which are otherwise difficult in the absence of technology. The visual effects, the audio effects, the multiplicity of resource inputs it could provide has the capacity to engage the learners more effectively. Thus, it could help a teacher for concept stabilization, enrichment and for intellectual engagement with the learners. It does provide a very powerful scaffolding effect to the formal classrooms.

2.     Online learning for learning enrichment

It is claimed by the brain scientists that neither the presence of the teacher nor the student does guarantee learning. Learning happens as a natural human instinct empowered by the brain. It could be formal or informal, instructional or non-instructional. Learning happens continuously dependent on several factors’ characteristic to the learner. Online learning, can indeed help in learning enrichment by reaching out to varied interests of the learners, varied intellectual requirements of the learners and through varied strategies of pedagogical intervention including edutainment. Thus, online could bridge some of the existing gaps in the learning systems through rich resources housed on its clouds and enabling the learner to seek them at one’s own will and time. Further the scope of resources provided by a teacher could be limited to their own experience, while online resources bring with them a treasure house of resources from global platforms at nanoseconds.

3.     Online learning for managing learning styles

A lot of research has gone to understand the learning styles of the learners. However, a number of psychologists do question the validity of the ‘VARK’ questionnaires, as no direct correlation has been found between the preferred learning style and effective learning. However, there does exist a relationship between the preferred learning style and the memory, with memory not being a factor to be singled out either as a source or resource for learning at all times. Nevertheless, the online learning inputs do provide enriched resources to the learners with preferred styles of learning; thus, facilitating repetition and spaced- repetition for revisiting the content, thereby reinforcing the process of learning. It thus helps, in eliminating the monotony that would arise out of linearity either in pedagogical deliveries or linearity in learning.

4.     Online learning for stress free learning

The formal classrooms have been associated with the terminologies – bag load, curriculum load, transaction load, psychological load, homework load and the like. Over the years, an impression has been created that all learning in schools is associated with stress, whether there is any truth or not, in such a belief. The online learning is possibly a home remedy for this ‘belief sickness’. The leaner is neither under fear nor any compulsion to learn in a given manner, unless it is a synchronous classroom where the dominance of the teacher continues to exist. With a variety of learning inputs, the online could make learning more learner-friendly, more edutaining, more engaging and more participative. Though, the physical absence of the teacher is to be factored with a negative note, the resource inputs are good enough to gravitate, engage and motivate the learner and to sustain the curiosity. No doubt, the teacher has to plan and work adequately to create the necessary environment.

5.     Online learning for self-learning

In the ‘ivory-tower’ approach of the formal classrooms the ‘knowledge flow’ is projected from a higher pedestal to the lower one. As it is less participative, it creates a sense of fear and inadequacy in the learner. Further, it creates a myth in the mind of the learner that one would not be able to engage with learning without a superior or supervisory person. This often leads to a self-defeating approach demotivating the learner from intense personal engagements with knowledge. Once introduced to digital portals, with access to a universe of knowledge and several gateways to access the same, the learner feels like one who has been relieved of the shackles of compulsions. The learner is able to freely make his real time and virtual journeys to the vistas of learning. This does offer the learner a sense of fulfilment, a sense of achievement and being exploratory in nature, the much needed “Aha” experience. Self-learning is indeed vital to the growth of the brain as brain is not at all designed for linear learning and to be more specific ‘not at all for learning’. It enjoys challenges and discovers knowledge through experience and exploration.

6.     Online learning for anywhere, anytime learning

Formal classrooms don’t have the necessary environment or time schedules for enabling customized learning. Possibly because of the shortage of time, pressure on completion of courses, management issues in the classroom arising out of large numbers and for ensuring uniformity right across the school bandwidth, the possibility of learner specific customized learning opportunities are minimized. With digital support, the learner can free himself from the clutches of time and space, and can enjoy learning anywhere, anytime so long as the individual stands gravitated to the content and the delivery process. This ‘freedom of learning” is indeed a trigger to enhance the learner’s universe of learning and learning domains.

7.     Online learning for extended learning

Normally, the formal classrooms provide limited learning opportunities, largely restricted to the definitions of the curriculum, and then the outfit of the syllabi. Even if the teacher is a great motivator, the compulsions of a defined architecture of learning limits the scope for extended learning like visiting a library, seeking sources and resources for further learning. But in an online platform, the opportunities for extended learning are tremendous, as the learner can transport himself to search portals immediately for search, research or for a journey to the digital libraries. The access and the quantum of resources available to the learners is immense and can keep the learner engaged for a long time.

8.     Online learning for Research based learning

The future holds a huge promise for ‘research’, ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’. With self-learning enabled, research-based approaches in online pedagogy, is found to be a very powerful tool for enhancing learning, facilitating extended learning and to provoke the learner into an investigative approach to learning based on logical thinking. With innumerable number of search engines at their disposal for accessing information, there is every opportunity for redeeming lost avenues of information and using them in the current context for synthesis of new knowledge. As such, several convergent as well as divergent approaches to knowledge management have opened up in prime institutions, who are willing to discover ‘themselves’ in a newer world of knowledge consciousness. Research based learning provides both challenge as well as satisfaction to the learner simultaneously enhancing their self-esteem. Further, online research-based learning can also promote ‘collaborative learning’ thereby raising opportunities for effective ‘social construction’ of knowledge, thereby making it more authentic, credible, valid and transparent.

Though online learning has been initiated in some of the educational institutions, the approach appears more cosmetic than founded on futuristic vision. It is important that educators need to position online learning as a tool for long term futuristic requirements which will prepare a generation of competent professionals and entrepreneurs for the country. It calls for a purposeful self-learning on the part of educational leaders and policy makers, leave alone teachers. The future of ‘online learning’ is no doubt, very encouraging.