By Anuradha Uboweja
The earliest use of technology can be traced back some 3.5 million years ago when tools like hammers and anvils were used by our genetic ancestors, the Australopithecus, as discovered in Lake Turkana in Kenya. Homo Sapiens then invented fire a million or so years ago.
Technological inventions and innovations have defined human evolution – from the hammers and anvils to fire, from the Neolithic invention of the wheel to the modern-day internet; such that human progress just cannot be divorced from technological advances. If anything, technological advances define human progress.
The pace of technological advancement has accelerated since the late 18th century with the inventions of the telephone by Graham Bell, the internal combustion engine, automobiles, electric light, radio, and airplanes, thus enabling instant communication between anyone and location became an irrelevant factor in communication and sharing of ideas. The advances in technology have deeply impacted education.
Throughout modern history, the classroom remained at the core of education. The source of information was restricted to the available books in the library or the local bookstore. Higher education was possible for the lucky and deserving ones. But then, the first personal computer in the early 1970s and later the world wide web in the early 1990s brought a paradigm shift. What was possible but never implemented was compelled upon us all in the aftermath of the global Covid pandemic of 2020. The rest, as they say, is history.
As the world came to an unprecedented standstill, tectonic shifts occurred in the world of education. Adjustments were made, but technology took over to ensure no child was left behind.
Traditional classrooms gave way to online classes. There was an overnight mushrooming of platforms and products catering to the education sector. Access to education remained open only due to prior technological advancements that were readily available to address an unexpected problem.
However, a lot remains to be achieved. To date, technology has only addressed the surface issue of access – access to unlimited resources online and access to an expert on any topic from anywhere in the world. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Technology must become the catalyst in redefining education, enabling a shift away from rote learning and memorization towards an education system that develops the art of thinking critically and reasoning logically.
Technology and education will have to advance together now; hence it’s becoming crucial for the education system to keep up with the advancements occurring in the technology sector. Today, a high school student from a small town in Himachal Pradesh can take an online course from Harvard University – that is the new benchmark of access.
With a willingness to learn, he has all the possibilities to educate himself from anywhere in the world. In the very near future, Harvard could start offering college degrees in many subjects to anyone with a fast internet connection.
The information on the internet is far more interesting and fun-oriented to learn from than the way it’s taught in the classrooms. In addition, distance learning has reduced education costs and enabled all prestigious educational institutions to offer distance certification programs. With no limits on student capacity, access will no longer remain the privilege of the few.
With all these opportunities available, the Indian education sector now runs a high risk of losing its audience of 250 million students to homeschooling, self-learning, or to innovative, inclusive schools that allow the freedom to students to personalize and customize their educational experience.
“More is lost by indecision than wrong decisions. Indecision is the thief of opportunity,” said Marcus Tullius Cicero, the famous Roman lawyer, writer, and orator.
The indecisiveness of not questioning the current protocols and practices of our education system will hurt our future generations – 19th-century syllabi cannot address 21st-century needs. The demands of the 21st century are far more alarming than we realize. No more can we teach our children just about the tools unless we have shown the applications of the devices.
We must leverage technology to alter our teaching protocols fundamentally.
With access to the Metaverse, for example, any student can acquire practical skills like carpentry and machine design without having to enter a workshop or a design lab. No more is education curtailed by the need for physical infrastructure and physical facilities. Tectonic shifts are occurring all around us, yet our education system remains the proverbial dinosaur.
Wrong decisions can be rectified and course-corrected, but indecision in redefining education will rob our children of future career opportunities where organizations are not looking for test scores and grade cards. They won’t look at certifications or from where you graduated, but instead, they would look at just one thing – how one solves problems.
Because the future belongs to problem solvers.
Technology must redefine how we educate our children, where the focus is shifted to educating them to think critically, reason logically, and, most importantly, have a voice of their own. Nrichminds.com is working towards that vision of empowering children and enriching young minds through a portfolio of online tools and apps, helping school children think critically and become problem solvers. Vexors is a word-based puzzle that promotes the art of problem-solving and develops cognitive skills in inductive and deductive reasoning, which are ignored by traditional syllabi.
The author is country head for Nrichminds.com. Views are personal.
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