The Role of Technology in Improving the Quality of

EducationAbraham Tharakan

General Manager,NIIT Ltd.

Space Land Land & Building Real & Virtual Spaces

Time Day & Night 8 hours/day5 days/week Temporal Extensions

Speed Horse Airplane Light

Communication One to One One to Many Networking

Media Voice & Handwriting Phone & Telex Digital Content

Learning One to One One to Many CollaborativeLearning

Agricultural Era

Industrial Era

Information Era

Media

CommunicationSpeedTimeSpace

Chan

ging

pa

radi

gms

From an industrial society

•stable structures•national economy•national cultures •educated for life•local labour market

To a networking society

•flows of information•global economy•global cultures•lifelong education•global labour market

Society

The fountof all

knowledge

Becomingspecialised

Highly specialised

All knowledgethrough

technology?

1800 1900 TODAY 2000 +

No one knows anything anymore...

The Blossoming of Knowledge

In the last 2 decades there has been more written about history than in all previous recorded time

Literature on Chemistry growing at around one million articles per year

The stock of knowledge available doubles every 7 or 8 years

Who Survives?

Not the strongestNot the most

intelligentThose most responsive to

changeCharles Darwin

The Role of Technology

90s-00s: Constructivist

Change of personal attititudes & models

New Millenium: Collaborative Technology

••••••

70s-80s: Cognitivist

Growth of abilities & Knowledge

•••90sHypertext Technology

Changing Paradigms

• Levels of collaboration ( )•• Interactivity ( )•

60s: Behaviourist

Transfer of rules/ facts/ procedures

80s Multimedia Technology

••

Learning Design and Technology Differed Waves

obje

ctiv

es

models

enabling technology

NCF Recommendations on ICT

Transform Schools to ICT-Rich Environments

Use Satellites, DTH and Other Technological Aids

Access to Interactive rather than Disseminative

Technologies/ Materials

Focus on Democratization Enabled by Internet

Paradigm Shift in Teachers’ Role to Being Facilitator/

Guide

Promote Universal Access; Facilitate Participatory

Forums; Develop Communities and Interest

Groups

Equipment Driven Programs Do Not Work

Touch points

Education Delivery

Educators

The Learning Ecosystem

Quality of Education - Touch Points

The Learning Ecosystem

The learning ecosystem is• Restricted to the community the learner

is a part of• Restricted to the people the learner

comes in contact with• Shaped by local customs, habits, beliefs

The learning ecosystem is largely passive

The learning ecosystem is local

What Technology does

•Allows visualization of abstract concepts•Demonstrates cause and effect visually•Provides visuals of phenomena that are otherwise not visible•Frees student from data capture in experimentation•Provides access to plurality of content•Enables collaboration•Presents content in more engaging manner

Human Impact

•Increases productivity by decreasing teaching time•Inculcates and sustains interest in students to learn•Addresses different learning styles•Caters to varying pace of learners•Eliminates delay between theory and practical sessions•Allows verification of concepts learnt

Imperatives•Technology must integrate into individual teaching styles as well as learning styles•Technology solutions must be teacher / learner driven, rather than technology / content driven•Equipment driven solutions do not work

Education Delivery

‘No man is an Island, sufficient unto himself…’

Teachers are islands of excellence…

None of us is as skilled as all of us

Educators – Teaching/Learning Communities

Information

Knowledge

Experience

Education

The Pillars of EducationCurriculum

Learning of Individual Teachers

Experience of Individual Teachers

16

Teaching Learning Community

Knowledge Repository

Semi-structured

Experience Repository

Highly Structured

Child

School

Home Ecosystem

World Wide Web

Learnings

Investment in infrastructure

, by itself does not

transform the education process

Adoption of technology in teaching/lear

ning is a gradual process

Involvement of school

management is vital

Technology integration is all

about change

management and change

management requires a catalyst

“Ignoring human response to change is often the single greatest pitfall to successful implementation of technological change”— Rubenstein

Thank You