Edu-leaders

In what way does the infrastructure at an IIT or an IIM differ from that of a degree college? Is it the quality of the furnishings? Not really: the chairs and desks at our hallowed institutions may even have antique value. Is it the general ambience? No. Many colleges have better lit rooms and wellequipped labs. Is it the level of technology- enablement? Many of you would overwhelmingly agree.

The government is steadily paving the way for such ‘national’ level institutions to take shape in various parts of our country. Thousands more are enrolling in them each year. However, it is wishful to think that someday there will be enough institutions of this stature to cater to the 15 million students, who are currently enrolled in higher education.

In stark contrast to the 20th century, college-goers today have many more options for the programmes they wish to pursue. Thousands of engineering and medicine seats are left unfilled each year, mostly due to perceptions of poor quality. In their stead, law, biotechnology, commerce and media streams are finding enthusiastic takers, as the 21st century opens up rich avenues for graduates of these programmes.

Although the chalk-and-talk lecture method is the dominant form of pedagogy in our classrooms, some instructors have begun to experiment with slides, play videos off the internet, and run applets and animations. Students tend to assimilate knowledge better when the instruction is accompanied by dynamic demos, which they can try out on their own. Technology, it can be argued, holds the key to bringing about a revolutionary change in our colleges.

The perception that IT-enablement is complicated and expensive is flawed. Any college with an open-minded management and committed faculty can be transformed into a dynamic learning environment. The enablement can take place at several levels:

Classroom: install projector, computer console, sound system with cordless mic

Campus: install network over fibre or wireless, arrange for internet connectivity

Students: mandate laptops with software for productivity, scientific computations, etc

Faculty: earmark funds for instructors to procure laptops, and train them in technologies.

Cloud: provide essential services such as email and document sharing over the internet

Cloud computing is not just a fad: it is here to stay, in business as well as in academia due to the low set-up costs. A college need not have everything ‘on premises’ to benefit from IT; its resources (hardware) and services (email, file storage) can be made provisioned over the internet, by signing up with a cloud provider like Google. Students with broadband connections can access the services from outside the walls of the campus i.e. extramurally, using a choice of devices including mobile phones and tablets.

What becomes of the college’s IT personnel in the cloud model? It is natural to worry that their responsibilities may be reduced to maintaining status quo: attending to any computer and network problems that arise, ensuring constant internet linkage, and so on. On the contrary, IT personnel must be encouraged to play a more strategic role, with a mission to modernise the college’s IT setup, and adequately prepare it for the challenges of scale. Institution-wide platforms such as learning management systems enable instructors to publish their course materials in a structured manner, and to mediate their courses extramurally, over the internet.

Lecture capture systems allow instructors to record their classroom activities via the console. These streams are assembled into a searchable video, which can be accessed by learners over a network.

Ours is a country blessed with an unquenchable thirst for education. All colleges have a staple of good instructors, albeit a small number, who can teach well and inspire their students. These teachers must be empowered to perform more effectively. Merely increasing remuneration does not suffice. Equipping them with the skills to exploit the benefits of IT and reach out to wider audiences is critical. IT-enabled colleges that have mastered IT can make the leap into distance learning, which is fast becoming a credible option for learners who are unable to receive their education in brick-and-mortar settings, either due to the paucity of funds, or because they are working professionals. This is one feasible approach to double India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by 2020, and to satisfy the insatiable demand for trained manpower.

(This is an extract from a forthcoming three part series on “Building Bridges to Distance Education” in EDU)