Edu-leaders

While most students look at education as a route to better jobs, inside the classroom it is not just a download of information that they seek. They look for inspiration, and for teachers who can hold their attention. This is where the teacher gets a chance to transform lives by inspiring students to develop “a firmness of will”. How this is accomplished could vary, but the fact is that teachers, who take that extra step and change the class dynamics, can influence change.

In ancient times, when the guru-shishya parampara flourished, the Indian classroom put students at the centre. Today, institutions often have a nonchalant engagement with students. Birendra N. Dubey, professor of sociology at Ambedkar University in Lucknow, says, “Teaching remains a monologue...Nothing more than an anathema for students.” Echoing a similar thought, Asha Kaul, an associate professor of communication at IIM Ahmedabad says, “Somewhere down the line we lost sight of that tradition in which learning, learners and teachers were imbued with a unique sanctity,”

Dubey and Kaul come from two ends of the formal education spectrum. The IIMs and IITs, which Kaul represents, have surged ahead while government-run institutions have collapsed under the pressure of mediocrity. “The IIMs have experimented with curriculum design and methodology, giving it a contemporary twist. A lot of planning and work goes into making our classrooms engaging,” reveals Jabir Ali, assistant professor at the Centre for Food and Agribusiness Management of IIM Lucknow. Besides improving the curriculum, teachers in higher education need to adopt new methods of teaching to make their classes interesting.

Sages on Stage or More?
The practice of “spoon feeding” is the essence of the Deficit Model of Teaching and Learning—focusing on the individual learner. The model chooses to label students as “good” or “bad”. It attributes failures to poor motivation, low interest and ability, and absorption—and several Indian higher education centres seem to subscribe to it. The model translates teaching into a unilateral process: lectures are “delivered” , while dialogues are minimised. Covering the curriculum is key, rather than promoting comprehension.

“This is an irony,” feels Avijit Pathak, professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He attributes such ideas (of teaching) to a general lack of creativity, low sense of self, mediocre people joining the vocation and systemic flaws. Pathak admits that his constant desire is to liven up the classroom. “In social sciences, it is imperative that teachers and students have a sense of society and self.”

To cultivate this attitude, Pathak recently encouraged his students to do a little social sleuthing. For their mid-term assignments, students were encouraged to understand the concept of education by reminiscing and writing about their school days. Then, armed with cameras, they doubled up as detectives and “captured the silent anxiety of parents and children” during the board examinations. The results will be shown through a photo exhibition followed by a panel discussion on the “pathology of examination”. This is the mid-term assignment.

All this effort is being taken to make the pedantic paper involving intricate theories and lengthy monographs more interesting. His alternative model of teaching and learning addresses yawning gaps in the deficit model. It does not assume learning to be a fixed concept, but a constantly changing and interactive one. British educationist J. Biggs explains. The new model encourages the idea that “as students acquire new information,
they change the way they think; ownership of new concepts and ideas arise through the process of acquisition and changes that we undergo.” Kaul, too, feels teaching by enabling life experiences makes it more engrossing.

Knowledge Dichotomy
Anwar Ali, professor of operations management and director of Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad, believes, “Concerns regarding the relation between knowledge gained from experience and knowledge gained from scholarship are being raised worldwide. The prevalent idea is to balance the two.” Institutes such as Harvard Business School (HBS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Oxford University have tried to strike a balance.

In 2004, HBS established C Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning to support innovation in teaching. The centre specialises in case-method teaching and participant-centered learning. Named after late C. Roland Christensen, a faculty member and a legendary case-method teacher, the centre’s focus is to help faculty develop. It augments HBS’s traditional system of faculty-to-faculty mentoring by providing additional resources and programmes to strengthen pedagogy. MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory, established in 1997, collaborates with faculty, teaching assistants and students to “contribute to MIT’s commitment to educational innovation and its standing as a leader in science and engineering education.”

Yukteshwar Kumar, the course director of Chinese at University of Bath (UK), believes that Indian classrooms are evolving. The sooner the better. “All this while the government has been obsessed with ideas such as equity, expansion and enrolment,” admits Dr Mohammed Firoz, the associate professor and head of journalism at the Dubai campus of Manipal University. He is cautiously hopeful for the future.

Professor Gurinder Singh, the Pro Vice Chancellor of Amity University and director general of Amity International Business School, feels that the “Indian system is plagued by systemic and operational faults”. According to him, unchecked proliferation of neighbourhood institutions, lack of quality curriculum and weak industry interface are the
key reasons for the predicament.

Shifting Paradigms
However, the shortcomings do not deter Singh from seeking innovation. “I encourage students to think through,” says Sunetra Narayan Sen, associate professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) New Delhi. Sen completed her masters and PhD in communication from University of Pennsylvania (Penn). “I recall how Professor J.S. Nichols, the associate dean, would ask questions and then encourage us to think of solutions with a gentle nod,” she said. Ali at IMT, a fellow of management from IIM Calcutta, feels that teachers should not be perceived as the authority. “We guide and support learners. Learning should be a studentcentric instructional model in a collaborative learning environment.”

“I taught honors multivariate calculus when I was at Dartmouth…I would spend two-thirds of a class lecturing. Then, I would pair students up to work on a specific problem. Those who did not understand the problem at the first go ended up getting it, thanks to their partners. While those who did, solidified their understanding by having to explain it,” said Geoff Davis in a blog post on his website PhDs.org. Davis currently works as a senior researcher. Speaking at a seminar on “Innovation in Engineering Education-2006” at The Royal Academy of Engineering in UK, Daniel Hastings, the professor of aeronautics, astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, listed the attributes of the engineer of 2020. “First, strong analytical skills. Secondly, practical ingenuity. Thirdly, and just as important as the first two, leadership and ethical standards. Emphasis should be on the candidate being dynamic, agile, resilient and flexible. More than half of these people are going to end up doing something other than engineering—being lifelong learners, an ability to understand what they are doing in a socio-technical and operational context. If all we do is educate people who fit into the classic definition of ‘nerds’, it will be a strategy for failure.”

Clarion Call
All over the world education is getting re-defined and India seems to be at the cusp of a similar change. The approach note to the XII Five Year Plan is chock-a-block with ideas, such as universalisation of the semester system, internal evaluation and assessment to replace annual tests. It also includes the introduction of credit system with the possibility of spatial and temporal flexibility or mobility, and curriculum revision at least once in three years. The plan will also emphasise on mandatory accreditation system and creation of multiple-rating agencies with a body to rate these agencies. It also advocates the need for greater autonomy and accountability in higher education. However, the ideas will remain at the conceptual stage if teachers do not come forward and adopt new teaching practices that put students back at the centre.