For nearly a
decade and a half, the ministry of human resources development has been
advocating the need for upgrading the spread and quality of higher education.
It has done so by first spreading the scope of higher education across the
country by setting up the Indira Gandhi National Open University at the centre
and similar open universities in every state. The open universities provide
free entry, flow of subject-oriented study material (as mostly with printed
textbooks earlier) and organised and structured interaction with teachers,
finally leading to examination and the award of degrees. Such an approach has
significantly raised the number of students pursuing higher education across
the country.
Secondly, the ministry has been insisting that the quality of education should not be compromised at a time when network-enabled education has been going through a big transformation across the world over the past 15 years. Besides the development of fast and heavy memory chips in smaller sizes (that’s where today’s smartphones come into the picture), research & development in the delivery of education software has been defining the creation of effective courseware.
A still larger change has been occurring in the transmission of information through expanding broadband connectivity, resulting in speedier exchange of knowledge in a highly interconnected world. Sadly, against this backdrop, India has been struggling to adopt the gamechanging evolution across the world in the delivery of quality education.
The brilliant development of open courseware (OCW) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has changed the global approach to education. A lot more changes are happening with the creation of several other open courseware and open educational resource initiatives besides MIT’s OCW. Rice’s Connexions, Carnegie Mellon's open learning initiative, public health materials from Tufts University and Johns Hopkins, Vietnam’s “Opencourseware” and the China open resources for education (CORE) stand out. In India, the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have collaboratively created the national program in technology-enabled learning, which consists of 129 web-based courses and 110 video-based courses, all in English and freely available. Many of these institutions are participating in the open courseware consortium, which is extending the reach and impact of open courseware by encouraging the adoption and adaptation of open educational materials around the world. The Hewlett Foundation has sponsored many of these initiatives.
Yet, MIT’s OCW must be credited with the way many things started in higher education with a faculty committee. In the fall of 1999, MIT raised two questions, viz., how is the internet going to impact education, and what should MIT do about it? These two simple but focused questions changed the MIT’s strategy, triggering a change in global attitude to education, mainly because the teacher community realised that the longer-term implications of OCW and similar initiatives could be really profound. The meta university concept is now slowly being accepted worldwide. The meta university is where much of higher education worldwide can be constructed or enhanced through resources made freely available to the global community. The boundaries between traditional universities and open universities are disappearing. Network-enabled education has particular significance today because open-education resources mean more than the course content; they include a variety of resources that support learning — interactive content, simulations, and hands-on activities. MIT now has iLabs that provide access to real laboratories over the internet.
The open education that we are talking about here is certainly competent in accessing, evaluating and communicating information. But with that kind of sharing, it can also develop competency among students to work with people in other countries and cultures.
Why then is Indian education in such a mess that it is unable to trigger a change in its delivery model? First, we need to blame the academicians and management of educational institutions for the sorry state of education at home. The academicians are still stuck in the past, resisting the impending change. There is a dichotomy in their behaviour. Being highly educated, they understand the change taking place worldwide and want their own children to participate in technology-driven global knowledge sharing. They also appreciate that a larger number of students in rural, semi-rural and smaller urban centres need network-triggered education to break the ceiling created by brick and mortar institutions. They are also clear that they must demolish the boundaries between face-to-face, open learning and technology-driven delivery processes. Yet, they simply shy away from using blended processes of face-to-face and e-learning as a powerful option.
Local hardware and software developers too have not made an earnest effort to meet the needs and aspirations of youths across the entire nation. True, a few major IT companies did make initial attempts, but they were mostly focussed on their indiviual corporate requirements. A few smaller companies were fully focussed on modern educational requirements, but never got the required funding or full support of academicians, with the result that most such efforts remain scattered and disorganised.
The bottomline is that India is still struggling to deliver quality education to its citizens. This is also reason why both the state and Union governments must put out a comprehensive national policy with a game changing operational structure to deliver quality education to the masses.
Secondly, the ministry has been insisting that the quality of education should not be compromised at a time when network-enabled education has been going through a big transformation across the world over the past 15 years. Besides the development of fast and heavy memory chips in smaller sizes (that’s where today’s smartphones come into the picture), research & development in the delivery of education software has been defining the creation of effective courseware.
A still larger change has been occurring in the transmission of information through expanding broadband connectivity, resulting in speedier exchange of knowledge in a highly interconnected world. Sadly, against this backdrop, India has been struggling to adopt the gamechanging evolution across the world in the delivery of quality education.
The brilliant development of open courseware (OCW) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has changed the global approach to education. A lot more changes are happening with the creation of several other open courseware and open educational resource initiatives besides MIT’s OCW. Rice’s Connexions, Carnegie Mellon's open learning initiative, public health materials from Tufts University and Johns Hopkins, Vietnam’s “Opencourseware” and the China open resources for education (CORE) stand out. In India, the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have collaboratively created the national program in technology-enabled learning, which consists of 129 web-based courses and 110 video-based courses, all in English and freely available. Many of these institutions are participating in the open courseware consortium, which is extending the reach and impact of open courseware by encouraging the adoption and adaptation of open educational materials around the world. The Hewlett Foundation has sponsored many of these initiatives.
Yet, MIT’s OCW must be credited with the way many things started in higher education with a faculty committee. In the fall of 1999, MIT raised two questions, viz., how is the internet going to impact education, and what should MIT do about it? These two simple but focused questions changed the MIT’s strategy, triggering a change in global attitude to education, mainly because the teacher community realised that the longer-term implications of OCW and similar initiatives could be really profound. The meta university concept is now slowly being accepted worldwide. The meta university is where much of higher education worldwide can be constructed or enhanced through resources made freely available to the global community. The boundaries between traditional universities and open universities are disappearing. Network-enabled education has particular significance today because open-education resources mean more than the course content; they include a variety of resources that support learning — interactive content, simulations, and hands-on activities. MIT now has iLabs that provide access to real laboratories over the internet.
The open education that we are talking about here is certainly competent in accessing, evaluating and communicating information. But with that kind of sharing, it can also develop competency among students to work with people in other countries and cultures.
Why then is Indian education in such a mess that it is unable to trigger a change in its delivery model? First, we need to blame the academicians and management of educational institutions for the sorry state of education at home. The academicians are still stuck in the past, resisting the impending change. There is a dichotomy in their behaviour. Being highly educated, they understand the change taking place worldwide and want their own children to participate in technology-driven global knowledge sharing. They also appreciate that a larger number of students in rural, semi-rural and smaller urban centres need network-triggered education to break the ceiling created by brick and mortar institutions. They are also clear that they must demolish the boundaries between face-to-face, open learning and technology-driven delivery processes. Yet, they simply shy away from using blended processes of face-to-face and e-learning as a powerful option.
Local hardware and software developers too have not made an earnest effort to meet the needs and aspirations of youths across the entire nation. True, a few major IT companies did make initial attempts, but they were mostly focussed on their indiviual corporate requirements. A few smaller companies were fully focussed on modern educational requirements, but never got the required funding or full support of academicians, with the result that most such efforts remain scattered and disorganised.
The bottomline is that India is still struggling to deliver quality education to its citizens. This is also reason why both the state and Union governments must put out a comprehensive national policy with a game changing operational structure to deliver quality education to the masses.
Source | http://www.mydigitalfc.com
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