Shift and adapt

Education is a constant movement in learning — one that encompasses the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.

August 31, 2014 03:52 pm | Updated September 07, 2014 05:24 pm IST

01EPBS Backpacker

01EPBS Backpacker

As “consumers” of education in today’s overly demand-driven environment, we are often very clear about what we want out of a programme or course. We want it to take us to a job, equip us with skills, we want the teacher to be competent, the institution to have excellent infrastructure, and so on. Some of us who are more conscious consumers of education might have other requirements — the peer group, placement services, hostel facilities, extracurricular activities, etc. Only rarely do any of us stop to think about what is required of us to do a course or a programme of study. Of course, we may take stock of whether and how we are equipped in financial terms, or if we have the necessary (formal) educational qualifications, but is that really all we need to think about?

Let go

Prof Geetha Durairajan of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad, speaking at a recent event, said that “movement” is one of the central features of a good teacher. She went on to explain this, describing four different kinds of movement that a teacher must be prepared to undertake: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Her idea of movement was akin to flexibility, a willingness to occupy different places/spaces, to give up the comfort of staying with (and within) the familiar, to make the shifts necessary to understand her students better and adapt her methods to suit them. In other words, she was emphasising the idea that an effective teacher is one who is also always willing to learn.

Taking that idea to the other side, I would suggest that this “willingness to move” is equally, if not more, relevant for all learners. This becomes particularly important when you enter a new programme of study. We tend to carry the baggage of our earlier academic experiences into every new space we enter, and that can be a huge limitation that prevents us from making the most of a different context that could potentially open up many new experiences. We get stuck to old ways of thinking and doing, and “movement” becomes restricted to taking a different bus or a new route. We need also to think about the mindset and the learning styles required for a particular course — does it demand a systematic approach or more openness? Does it require one to spend time thinking and reading, or be open to meeting people and working in groups? In this sense, does it require us to “move” from one kind of learning approach to another?

Open out

Physical movement is perhaps the easiest kind for young people; but let’s think of this a little differently. In the school classroom, most often we are assigned places by someone else, but once we come to college, we have a little more flexibility in terms of where we sit and who we sit with. We could make active choices to occupy different positions in the classroom, or break free of the temptation to sit with certain people rather than others, but how often do we do this? Going to college (as opposed to being in school) also can mean going from a small, contained campus to a large space where buildings are far apart and one’s experience could be that much richer if we make the effort to learn about different facilities, walk around the library (instead of always depending on online resources), check out the canteen, and make friends in different departments.

The more difficult kind of movement is the intellectual kind, where we need to develop the flexibility to set aside a certain way of knowing and try another one (or many others). This is easier said than done, and many a time the difficulty is because we are not used to thinking about ways of learning or about how the way we think about things can impact how we understand new material. I have often seen engineering or biology students struggle with social sciences, and students of humanities struggle with editing equipment. Even more basic is the shift we need to make from school-style instruction to college-style “non-instruction”, where the responsibility for learning rests mainly with the student. This means you need to be able to refer to a variety of material, pull ideas from many places, and build your own understanding of a topic or a lesson. Classes are no longer about “taking down” notes but about discussion and debate and problem-solving. This demands a more active intellectual engagement.

Emotion and spirit

The other two kinds of movement — emotional and spiritual — are important for all of us, if we are to get along in life and build relationships that are fulfilling and productive. But let’s leave that for another discussion.

The ability to shift and adapt, to develop the capacity to see things from many points of view and the willingness to give up one’s position and take up another so that one gains a different perspective, can help one learn in unexpected and effective ways.

So, now and then, try to unsettle yourself, take another seat, find another point of view, and do things just a bit differently. You might find that the reading becomes easier, the problems a bit less challenging, and the answers appearing somewhere you least expected.

The author teaches at the University of Hyderabad and is the editor of Teacher Plus. Email: usha.raman@gmail.com

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