(TL)ea(cr)(hn)ing
The
title (TL)ea(cr)(hn)ing is by intention. Without rubbing much of our
brain it spells out Teaching and Learning in a single line.
Teaching
and Learning are two sides of the same coin. Someone not so famous
said, can I learn without teaching and can I teach without learning.
Guess you learn even more as you teach and you teach only when you
learn.
Learn
anytime, anywhere is the current trend with all those online courses
being made available. Initially it was just the digitization of
mortar courses and not it is using multimedia to stream the concept.
People say that we have moved from a stance where it was bookish and
limited to a few to a more open leaning system which is available to
almost anyone and most of the times “free”.
I
still believe in a Guru shishya kind of a setup, where a student
served the guru and in return may be he was imparted knowledge. The
amount of effort that a student put in, in some sense displayed the
thirst for knowledge and when the knowledge was imparted it was
absorbed in spirit and body. I wonder if the leaning that the
students derived would be as intense or as absorbing if the knowledge
was imparted the day the student joined the guru. Today the stance is
you have information (not knowledge) on the platter, it is for you to
absorb the knowledge, you absorb the quantum which is determined by
your focus and need.
Information
is available and not knowledge is a fact. The upside of this is you
have so many sources of information – but to try and find the
information that is backed by an expert is often not considered. Just
imagine a learning material put up by a person on effective cooking
who has never cooked! The other aspect of this is that when there are
several choices you need to appropriately select and quench your
thirst for knowledge. In the good old days it was the teacher who did
that; she acted as the funnel; disseminating information
appropriately. If you were a bright student probably the outlet of
the funnel was larger else it was smaller. Today in the online
learning this important aspect of funnel is missing.
The
anytime anywhere extension of the knowledge learning has a problem in
a very different dimension. Discipline. 0830 morning lecture means I
need to be in the classroom at 0829 and I plan and be there. But the
anytime anywhere makes you less disciplined. If not now I can learn
later, may be after a delay of 30 minutes, 1 month, 1 year of never!
But the aspect of discipline is definitely at risk. While
there is a notion that online and non-mortar courses are free a
fiercely detailed person would immediately suggest that there is a
cost involved in terms of data download and power used to run your
device etc. My personal opinion as far as learning is that When you
put effort - time and money you usually learn better.
Appropriateness
of information. There is too much of material that might not be
applicable globally. While I can not think of something in the
college learning, I recall buying a book for my toddler son. Guess it
was on learning manners or something equivalent, and when I was on
the page that spoke about manners on the road, it said “always walk
on the right side of the road”. Well it was a right statement
expect that it was correct for the countries that drive on the right
side of the road and not on the left like what we do in India. I
immediately discarded the book. But the learning from this is “use
local material” to (TL)ea(cr)(hn)ing.
My
own vote is for classroom teaching (I do miss the chalk dust; the
screeching noise of the chalk on the blackboard). The aspect of group
learning is much much different than learning in silos. The questions
being answered almost immediately versus the need to search for
answers when you take an online course are some of the reason.
Learning
for marks or certification is probably “just sufficient” learning
so that you get the certificate or pass the exam. But the real
learning will only happen when there is no pressure of marks or a
need to get a certificate.
Happy
Teachers Day.
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