3. Impact of Internet on Education: Anytime-Anywhere Learning

Technology has the power to connect with and communicate to large communities of learners at the same time. Traditional classrooms are the common learning spaces in our system of education. Technology has the potential to alter the dynamics of classroom-based teaching-learning system. Technology cannot be allowed to erode the learning process and eat out on the available learning time. But the fast-paced growth of technology has made sure that it cannot be ignored. The new millennium learners are tech-savvy. To ask these learners to disconnect themselves from technology is not motivation for them to come to classrooms with enthusiasm and to enjoy the learning process. In general, traditional classrooms don’t promote learner autonomy or autonomous learning. For the scenario to change, we need teachers who see themselves as knowledge workers.

In India, teachers are scared of allowing technology inside the classroom because of their inherent fear of losing control over their class. The emphasis is more on what the teacher teaches and less on allowing the learners to be independent and take ownership of their learning. Technology promotes autonomous learning. There is a strong need to change two things in the way we perceive education: one is to encourage peer learning and two is to promote anywhere learning. Learning is not a classroom-centric process; it is lifelong commitment.

Teacher vs Technology

For so many years, teachers have been benefitted from traditional methods of delivering a lecture in a passive learning environment where the students are neither required nor allowed to critically respond to the teaching or the lecture. Such passive listening experiences would not motivate the learner to ask questions or to apply the mind to solve a problem. Salman Khan in an interview titled, “Meet Sal Khan: the Seinfeld of the Education Revolution” published online in the website kqed.org, stated the following about the mentality of some teachers:

“But it’s going to be hard for teachers who have trouble letting go of the idea that they’re the sage on stage that they have all the information, “Do not question me, be quiet,” and it’s all about classroom management. It throws all that stuff out the door. But the people who are attracted to this model are exactly the type of people we want and who this will work for.”

An article in the Bangkok Post, titled “Bringing the next billion people online” quoted, Adam Smith, head of YouTube Asia Pacific, stating: “"YouTube can promote and protect diversity." Also, “It used to be that you only had access to the teachers in your hometown. The internet and YouTube in particular has started to change all this." It is noted that the website has over 700,000 videos from 100,000 education partners. There are also video channels promoting 450 major universities around the world, which feature the best lecturers and the best professors for free.

Internet Technology in Education

Classroom is a point of confluence of different learners who can create new ideas to work together, discuss on those ideas, attempt to understand concepts, share and pool their collective wisdom to solve problems, and help other learners in their learning.

Technology can be seen as an extension of traditional classrooms. Internet technology has multiple dimensions: one, they can be used to supplement and enrich classroom learning using tools including A-VIEW and Aakash tablets. Amrita University has indigenously developed a multimodal, multimedia e-learning platform A-VIEW (Amrita Virtual Interactive e-Learning World) to address the most pressing issue of higher education in India – the shortage of highly qualified teachers. A-VIEW is part of “Talk to a Teacher” program coordinated by IIT Bombay. It is funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). A-VIEW has to capability to bring classroom teaching live from teachers at reputed institutions to learners at numerous locations all over the country.

The Flipside of Technology in Classroom

Today’s “plugged-in” learner is finding it hard to “disconnect” technology. If lessons are available online, the students naturally show less interest in listening to the teacher in the classroom. The problem with online lessons is that there are a lot of distractions. In a face-to-face classroom scenario the teacher plays a very important role engaging the student to an area of study and creating an ambience for the mind to stay focused. A wandering mind gets the attention of the teacher in the class. A question put to a particular student, narration of a story or an incident related to the topic of discussion, seeking interpretations of the understanding of a topic of study, appreciating a student for a relevant question asked, connecting to the mind of the student through the eyes, etc. are all part of the experience of teacher-student interaction. It is difficult to simulate a rich, vibrant classroom culture.

Parents all over the world are worried about the amount of time spent in front of a screen by their wards including TV watching, playing video games, using the computer, using the smartphone, reading in an e-reader, etc. Many universities in developed countries incorporated electronic devices like iPads, iPods, iPhones, smartphones, tablets, etc. directly and indirectly into their teaching learning process. This resulted in increase of screen time for the learners. The US Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Health in their websites have warned parents on the risks of increased screen time for children. The website also offers tips to reduce screen time.

Even after seeing the flipside of technology, we cannot ignore technology; and we should not. Internet Technology if it becomes ubiquitous will help in democratizing education. The poor will be able to get access to the same quality education as the rich. The role of the teacher is in no way diminished. Teachers are only empowered with technology. In India, the wave has just started to rise. But it is always sensible to learn from the mistakes of the developed world. The government has taken a lot of initiatives such as sending satellites to improve communication technology, investing in Internet infrastructure, increasing connectivity, and also specifically by introducing the Aakash tablet to promote ICT enabled education. The onus is now on the teaching community to usher the change that is deemed to be necessary to democratize education and to give the learners what they need.