ICTpost Education Bureau
What we are seeing in 2016 and 2017 is a transition to an educational system no longer dominated by traditional education and one or two alternative models. Educational technology and new educational courses and programs are interacting to create new language and models for education.
Online learning appears to be a classic disruptive innovation with the potential not just to improve the current model of education delivery, but to transform it. Online learning started by serving students for whom there was no alternative for learning. It got its start in distance-learning environments, outside of a traditional school building, and it started small.
A recent ICTpost survey says that in 2005, roughly 25,000 K-12 students took an online course in India. But by 2015, over 10 million students in India are participating in some kind of formal online-learning program. The preK-12 online population is now growing by a five-year compound annual growth rate of 20 percent and that rate is accelerating. In true disruptive fashion, online learning is expanding beyond its roots in distance learning. Educators and entrepreneurs are increasingly creating blended-learning environments where rather than doing online learning at a distance, students learn in an adult-supervised school environment for at least part of the time. A small but growing number of schools are starting to introduce blended learning into their core programming for mainstream students.
Blended learning
The need for effective blended learning environments the best of online and face-to-face learning, coupled with tools driving continuous assessment of progress and personalization of content is on the rise throughout India. The findings of our survey, three key takeaways are apparent.
First is the positive impact that blended learning has on those teachers who choose to incorporate emerging models of practice into their classroom environments. Clearly showcased in these results is a strong correlation between a teacher’s ability to innovate and their enjoyment of teaching (as well as their self-efficacy). Educators in the field know that enjoyment of and confidence in their work are essential factors to retain great teachers in the profession.
Second is a correlation between the opportunity for self-pacing and the quality of a student’s work and perseverance. Allowing students to work at their own pace provides them ownership of their education and enables them to achieve mastery on their individual timetable. It also reinforces for them the notion that persistence can lead to success throughout their learning.
Third is the importance of comprehensive teacher training for blended and online learning environment. The report emphasizes just how essential it is to identify and incorporate pedagogical strategies specific to blended and online teaching into teacher preparation for new models of education. Beyond merely turning on a tool, educators must perceive and embrace the need to change their teaching style in order to engage and enrich each student’s individual education more effectively. editor@ictpost.com
