Education Next

   
                   Siddarth is a first year engineering student sitting along with his batch mates in a ecture hall in Hyderabad paying attention to the screen  front of him. The Hall was filled with many students like him but has no teachers or no professors. Eyes gulled into the wall front on them. All his friends were watching the screen with rapt attention. It is not a cricket match of a documentary that were keeping them much involved into the screen, but a lecture from Dubai. Welcome education 2.0 where the physical presence of teachers is no longer needed for the students to learn. Like Siddarth, Vikas  attended virtual lectures delivered by professors from Singapore as a part of management course from the french management school. Over 90 students from various parts of India , along with Vikas  are able to connect to their teachers and peers over very high definition video  which made it possible extend the room  environment and create anywhere learning experience. With classroom being virtualised and lectures being broadcast remotely, on demand learning is as easy as the click of a button .

Technology In Education

The use of technology as a tool to collaborate and change the way of classrooms function arose out of a  need to provide education-related information`to students in remote areas , where there is a huge shortage of teachers and professors . While they continue to serve that purpose, collaboration tools enabling students to extent their learning environment and attend guest lectures of interest by experts from their fa besides learning about things beyond regular curriculum. The next generation students who have the flexibility of accessing information from within or outside the campus using web-enabled laptop, mobile phone, tablets etc..... can connect with experts and peers and benefit from a connected education experience. Technology advancements in video conferencing and unified communication are making it possible for the teachers and professors deliver lectures to a bigger group of students simultaneously irrespective of their physical location. A case is the BITS at Palani which recently connected four of it's campus - in Goa , Hyderabad Dubai and Palani through video and put in place a new model of education that allows students to join live classroom sections without having to travel. Similar examples are the Delhi University and the Jumia Millia Islamia in Delhi which began the first 'Meta University in the country. Envisaged as a boundary less education model promoted by the Central government , the Meta university will enable collaboration between various institution via programs and activities to reach out to a large number of students and promote joint research.
The ability to share the course content in ways, including video online communities help promote a more active learning process -and create a generation of students that is more engaged and takes ownership in the learning
process.

Challenges Enroute     

While technological advancement enable large sections of students to come under the umbrella of learning, the network infrastructure is of  prime importance to enable  connectivity. It must be upgraded to the level that will sustain the load of high definition of data exchange. Educationists need to become more open-minded to technology implementations. Proper training is to be provided to teachers in collaboration with industry experts either through conference or seminar so that they can be acclimatised  to impart education in a better way.

Given the above various organisations along with government are working to overcome the hurdles and enable better connectivity and information exchange. The Indian government had played a significant role and is helping to increase broadband connectivity which s crucial for education 2.0 across the country.

What's In the Store ?

The wheels of change are moving fast and the remarkable blend of technology and education will bring an all round change in in the way our next generation  absorbs information. This means day is not far off when virtual labs will become the order of the day and 3D blackboards are the norm