How Technology in Indian Education System and Schools is transforming Learning
Children do not need any introduction to technology today. They use it every day and adapt to new technology in the blink of an eye. In such a scenario schools and educationists, the world over is using technology to deliver value to students and help teachers make the teaching process fun and interactive. Technology in the Indian Education System is coming of age with fast data plans becoming cheaper and smartphones and tablets have entered almost every household.
The technology used in the Indian Education System
It has been quite some time that attendance and performance tracking has been taken over by technology in Indian Education System. In fact, those days are also behind us when teachers come into the classroom, read or teach a chapter, then leave. However, the teachers’ problem regarding the allocation of time for teaching and solving doubts still persists. A few teachers who are able to balance these two have no idea how to distribute time for practice.
These problems saw the advent of smart classrooms where teachers started teaching on smart and interactive boards. This technology solved the problem of school teachers who had to give time to write on the blackboard. At the same time, the use of visuals and graphics helped the students understand concepts like science and geography since they could see concepts coming alive before them rather than just reading them in books.
The New Online Classroom
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced most schools and teachers to turn towards teaching online. There has been enough said about how students are not actually learning from online classes and maybe these classes are just giving students extra screen time since after school hours students are going to play video games and watch videos.
Although teachers are adopting video conferencing apps to teach the students, they are following the same old process of teaching students like they would in a classroom. Most teachers don’t realize that technology demands its own process and the teacher lecturing in a brick and mortar classroom is different than the teacher in a virtual setup. In a virtual classroom or online classroom, the teacher needs to engage the students in discussions. This also helps them in gauging the students’ knowledge.
What technology offers to student
Since concepts that are taught in classrooms do not change, repeating the concepts every year doesn’t make sense. The smart thing to do is to record these concepts in any way possible, for example, video, and allow students to watch them whenever convenient. This will save teachers’ time which can be used for other productive things like planning more interactive sessions for students.
Introducing the flipped classroom
Many schools the world over have adopted the flipped classroom system, where students watch conceptual lectures on their own, and the classroom time, be it online or offline, is spent on solving doubts. This way schools ensure that every student has got the teachers’ attention and has understood the concept. This is a good way of using technology in the Indian Education System.
Blended Learning
Blended learning is another way of teaching concepts. Here the students learn from computers and tablets, although they may be in the classroom. The teacher is able to give personalized attention to each student who has difficulty in grasping a particular concept.
Digital Books
The Digital book is so much more than traditional books. Words can be easily understood by a simple touch or click. Concepts can be linked to videos and graphics for a better explanation.
Practicing with a Learning app
Practice in the digital scenario need not be just answering questions but can be turned into a game with a proper leaderboard to compete with other students. The gamification of the questions, which can include tasks, treasure hunts, and much more, will attract most students to compete with each other for the fun of it.
How schools can create their own learning app
Schools are institutions that drive education. Creating apps even for learning is not their core competency. However, schools must start going beyond the conference apps if they want to help their students and teachers achieve higher grades and be competent in this new era of education. A ready-to-deploy app such as Zepto Learn gives the advantage of content distribution, attendance and performance management and gives the teacher the advantage of interacting with students. The app allows teachers to author their own course content through simple-to-use content authoring tools. These tools also enable teachers to upload their videos, images, notes, or links to YouTube videos, etc.
Zepto Digital’s bouquet of apps gives schools and educational institutions the advantage of flipped classrooms and blended learning while leaving space for innovation and creativity to teach students.
How a digital learning app transforms learning
Digital apps can be programmed in such a way that each student can chart his or her own learning path. The way a particular student learns and the way he is able to tackle questions can be personalized so that every student regardless of learning style will be happy to learn more. Storytelling can be transformed into actual storytelling with presentations and videos. Technology in Indian Education System will help students learn all practice-based subjects like maths, chemistry, and computer skills by application rather than simply being taught from books. Other subjects that need visuals for example history and geography to enhance learning can be taught by using multimedia presentations. Landscapes and mountain topography become easy to explain when the media being used is digital.
Conclusion
Technology in Indian Education System and Schools can transform the lives of students by giving them a method of delivery and interaction in a device they love to hold in their hands. With proper time management and interactive methods of teaching students can achieve much more than they would learn in a classroom.
Posted by: Rahul Mahurkar
An Edutech Evangelist and Founder at Zepto Digital Labs