Teaching-learning, it appears, is undergoing a sea change. The change is in the way the teachers engage the students and how the latter access the content and take up tests. Triggering the change is technology, which has come to stay.
From power-point presentations to audio and video sessions, teachers are using information-communication technology tools to deliver course content to students. The infusion of technology does not stop here, though. They use cloud-computing platforms, intranet or internet to transfer the content to students, who access the study materials through laptops, tablet computing devices or smart mobile phones.
A representative of a digital education company says that his company has been in talks with colleges in Coimbatore to use its software to deliver content to students. It is an operating system-independent, syllabus-independent platform that faculty will have to make use of to develop and transmit content.
K.K. Ramachandran, vice principal, GRD College of Science, says that similar digital education software has been around for a few years now and that their sophistication and presence is only increasing.
“Institutions, faculty and also students will have to adapt to the evolving technology, for it is here to stay.”
The effectiveness of such software is difficult to evaluate as it depends on how faculty or students use it to their advantage. There are students who are still comfortable with books, so it is difficult to give a judgment, he adds.
Institutes like the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University have been experimenting with paper-less exam for students for over two years now. Students write their exams on tablet-like devices and once finished their answers are transmitted electronically to faculty to evaluate online. And, the University had also sent by email the marks to the students. An academic says that such infusion of technology in all aspects of academics is welcome as students are tech-savvy and easily handle gadgets. It is the faculty who will have to be tuned to develop content on digital platforms.
The representative of the digital education company says that one of the biggest challenges before partner education institutions is training faculty and then the investment. For students, though, such facility helps access content anytime, anywhere till the end of the course.
(reporting by
Karthik Madhavan)
